March 19th, 2008: Why Toonami?
Toonami Fan has only been around for two short months - I know, it seems like a lot longer (or maybe that's just me). Yet it's surprising how many emails I get from people who've stumbled across the site and are nonplussed. "Why Toonami?" The logic isn't clear at all to them - why go to all the effort of remembering a crusty old animation block? It seems kind of pointless, especially in an age of dirt-cheap bootleg DVDs, BitTorrent, Usenet, rentals, and fansubs. Indeed, to a lot of people the whole concept of televised animation itself seems outmoded, much less Toonami in particular - a block which is about three years past its last high-profile era. So this article essentially demands its own creation. These are the reasons Toonami Fan exists: why it is necessary, and why it will continue, even if Toonami gets cancelled. I drew these up for the sake of the unitiated - true Fans know this stuff already. However, in light of the ever-present 'why'-ing, I feel that a formal explanation of our purpose is warranted.
1) - Nostalgia
I'd be a liar if I didn't say this was a factor. It is, and it's a huge one for most people - unfortunately it's not exactly communicable; you either have it or you don't. But time and time again I hear from fans talking about how Toonami sends them back to better days. (I've already touched on this for myself.) Toonami was a big element of many viewers' teenage years, and to this day it serves as a connection to those times. Even now, when life seems insane and things aren't going the way we expected them to, the music, characters, and attiude of Toonami remind us of how things were back then, and how we thought our lives would be today.
That's why Toonami's promos and between-show dynamic continue to be so popular. (The Digital Arsenal is proof enough of this. It's nostalgia, pure and simple - the desire for years past. For those who grew up with Toonami at 'full strength' - every weekday - this emotion is probably the most potent. We want to have that feeling again - that sense that anything's possible and that the entire world is bright and full of opportunity. That's why we make fansites, and keep talking about Toonami, and get worked up when our 'lifeline' gets slashed to two hours a week. There's always the dream that if Toonami returned to what it was years ago, we'd be able to taste a bit of the old magic once again.
2) - Packaging and Culture
How many times must this be said? What set Toonami apart from any of its predecessors, contemporaries, and successors was its presentation. The music, the promos, the special events, the attitude, the aesthetic. It's what made Toonami special, and it's the one thing you cannot get on a DVD, an .MKV fansub...or Adult Swim, for that matter. Cool sells, and Toonami made it patently clear that it was very, very cool. The sense of style that Toonami constructed around itself was brilliant from a marketing sense - it gave the block definition, a face - as if Toonami was a television show unto itself. And like any good show, the result was a devoted fan following. Those fans were attracted to a culture of sci-fi action and drama - while simultaneously creating that very culture through their loyalty to Toonami as a whole, and not just the shows it aired.
Toonami established a framework with its packaging (the advertising and vibe), and the viewers helped flesh out the details by building a community (culture) of Toonami addicts. Jeff Harris started things with CNX: Toonami Revolution - now The X Bridge; Tyler L. and Zogg assembled the Toonami Digital Arsenal; Blkcloak maintained Toonami: The Unofficial; Dan ran Toonami Power. Sean Akins and Jason DeMarco, the producers of Toonami, listened to the fans, and a two-way line of communication was quickly established - a rare thing in the world of television. So in short, Toonami successfully made itself worthy of a fan following, then cemented those fans' trust and respect by establishing a relationship with them. Something you don't see in, for instance, Starz's Anime on Demand.
3) - The Influence
Groundbreaking influences and revolutionary forces deserve remembering, right? Toonami qualifies. It changed the rules of cartoon programming in the US, airing uncut Gundam Wing and running a lightly censored Rurouni Kenshin. In addition, the way it handled the editing of potentially controversial titles such as Dragonball Z - beer to water, HELL to HFIL, digital bikinis - was unheard of at the time. Toonami cut what it had to for FCC regs, yet still worked to deliver an authentic experience. Sure, you might laugh at 'Home For Infinite Losers' now, but watching Vegeta and Goku smash each other until they bled was intense as a nine-year-old. Nowadays the kiddies get to see TV-PG Naruto and faithful cuts of One Piece, all thanks to the groundwork laid out by Toonami in the early years.
And you anime fans have Toonami to thank for your current golden age. Animes are licensed and released to the US much, much faster than they ever were during the '90s, and in general the entire anime subculture has found the post-Toonami world to be a very accepting place. Toonami alone is responsible for mainstreaming anime in the US through properties such as Sailor Moon, Dragonball Z, Gundam Wing, and Outlaw Star. It's hard to say, but odds are good that Starz, Sci-Fi, G4, and the other networks currently running anime would have been less eager to pick up shows had it not been for Toonami's radical renovation of the Stateside anime world.
Hopefully this little primer gave you a better idea of Toonami Fan is here. I'll be honest - the current Toonami is hardly reminiscent of the block's rich history. It's probably pretty hard to get the idea if you just saw Toonami for the first time a little while ago. In fact, without first-hand experience of the block's beginnings and prime years, I would hazard a guess that it's basically impossible to become a true fan. That's the long-term danger facing the block - that as we older Toonami Fans move on with our lives, there won't be any new adherents to fill the ranks. A return to the three factors mentioned above would be a great first step towards bolstering Toonami's reputation and attracting new obsessors.
Because without the fans, Toonami is nothing.
Discuss this topic in our forums.