If you were awake at midnight eastern time, you were probably excited to see Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim show the popular Toonami lineup. Being a kid of that generation, I was certainly excited to see shows like “Bleach,” “Dragonball Z,” “Gundam Wing,” “Tenchi Muyo,” “Outlaw Star,” “Big O” and more.
If only the night never ended!
The saddest part is that the Toonami lineup was an April Fools prank. Every year, Adult Swim does something crazy with their shows, like insert mustaches randomly on cartoon characters, but this is the first time I can remember that Adult Swim has used a whole cancelled block of programming as an April Fools’ joke.
The fact that they went through such lengths to bring back an even better version of Toonami, complete with host TOM who’s now allowed to curse (voiced once again by Steve Blum), leads me to think that Cartoon Network is testing the waters to see how fans would react to Toonami coming back (they do have to find a way to compete with TeenNick’s The ’90s Are All That). Well, I’m the first to say that I would love for Toonami to come back, and judging from the intense blow-up of the internet at the news, tons of fans would love for Toonami to return also.
Last night and today, fans have taken to forums (including the official Adult Swim forums) as well as YouTube. Also, today on Twitter, Toonami was the the second-highest Twitter trend. It’s currently the third-highest Twitter trend.
Also today, Blum–who is chief among the fans who want Toonami to return–took to his Facebook and Twitter pages to release this statement:
“Yo, Toonami Faithful…
Thanks for tuning in. Hope it kicked in some happy memories and kicked off a happy April! As you (hopefully) know, bringing Toonami back isn’t up to me. I’m just a voice guy. Many of you want to know how to make your voices heard. Maybe start here… http://www.cartoonnetwork.com/feedback/ Go to “programming” then “Toonami”
Love you guys from the bottom of my servos.”
So, if you love Toonami, take to Cartoon Network and Adult Swim and tell them you want Toonami back!
