A Memorial to the Greatness that was Toonami

"Everything that has a beginning has an end, Neo..."

- Agent Smith, The Matrix Revolutions 

The first order of business shall be to address the commentators...

KimberlyStephens: I thank you for acknowledging my use of slightly more advanced vocabulary. You will find that I will say much more on this blog than I do in reality.

As for your question, it is not really a "traumatic experience" as it is a simple lack of effort on Hollywood's part. These days I find many of the movies to be rather bland and/or generic, and they fail to offer something spectacular and memorable, unlike the movies of the years prior. So it is merely a matter of personal tastes rather than anything debilitating to my psyche.

RaMaSot: Thank you for the compliment, dear reader.

I am more of a casual gamer, though I can become a bit of a "hardcore" gamer is given enough time. I am somewhat of a perfectionist at heart, and I always find myself going back to replay certain games in order to obtain absolutely everything said game has to offer. My preferred genres are first-person shooters such as Halo and Call of Duty, adventure games like Dead Space and Soul Reaver, and fighting games such as Tekken and Street Fighter.


squeakzz: I like the name. Simple as that.

And now that the comments have been addressed, I shall proceed onward to the main event.

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Late 1990s. Another day in school which, even then, I loathed with a passion. Perhaps I simply had a natural aversion to religious hypocrisy.

In any regard, I was eager, as always, to return home - not only to escape from the torment that was the school of Catholicism, but to once again indulge in the greatness that was Toonami.

Toonami, hosted by the short, chubby, faceless robot named TOM. It was the network that introduced me to the vast world of Japanese animation, though I did not realize it at the time. It aired shows such as Gundam Wing, Outlaw Star, Tenchi Muyo, and the one and only Dragonball Z. It was the one thing I always looked forward to after a dull day at school, and it always brought joy to my dreary thought processes whenever I saw my most favorite show air - I shall let you take a gander as to which show it was.

And then there were those small tidbits that Toonami itself aired. I remember the first time I witnessed it, after yet another mind-numbing day at school. I performed the usual routine: say hi to everyone at the house, sneak into my cousin's room, turn the TV on, tune in to Toonami, and watch some Dragonball Z. Everything proceeded as usual, until a certain commercial aired.

The site that greeted me was shocking, to say the least.

TOM, the host, was running from some kind of sentient red goop. He had a some kind of makeshift weapon with him - it was probably used for maintenance - but it did nothing to fend off the "beast". TOM eventually made his way to an elevator, but just as the doors closed, the goop managed to force open the doors of the elevator and consumed TOM. Soon all that was left of the benevolent host was a single, damaged arm, which was inevitably consumed as well. It was the first time that such an event had occurred, with the host of my favorite network dying at the hands of an unknown entity. Granted, TOM came back - with a new design to boot - but for a while, I was positively shocked.

I was so infatuated with the network, that more than once I went so far as to disobey some of the rules that were laid down by my parents and other elders. My eldest cousin, Shane, always forbade me from entering his room; I went in regardless, because his room had cable and I wanted to watch Toonami. My parents would instruct me and my cousins to take a nap; I would merely wait until they were occupied with something that did not involve being vigilant, and sneak into my cousin's room to watch Toonami.

Toonami was easily the greatest thing that ever existed in my childhood. That single memory is one of the few things that brings tears to my eyes, and it saddens me that the network had to even in 2008. Toonami, its great shows, and TOM will be missed dearly.