Toonami: The Shows that Shaped Us
S3E3: Ah, Toonami. The after-school programming block that shaped a generation and had no business being that cool. American millennials especially love to wax nostalgic about Toonami; If you've ever found yourself outside that conversation for whatever reason (too young or old, not from the US, weren't interested at the time, didn't have that channel, etc.) and wanted a quick guide for understanding the millennial Toonami experience, Rae & Josué have you covered in this episode of Otaku Ryoho!
Josué and Rae dive a little deeper in their respective anime origin stories, shaped by the iconic Saturday-morning cartoon blocks that first brought anime to the west (salute the real ones- WB Kids and Fox Box) and later Toonami. They cover a brief history of Toonami and reflect on the shows that shaped us, year by year.
Also we have a(n unofficial) slogan now! Otaku Ryoho: Everything's Better With A Mech!
Themes/Topics Discussed:
Josué and Rae dive a little deeper in their respective anime origin stories, shaped by the iconic Saturday-morning cartoon blocks that first brought anime to the west (salute the real ones- WB Kids and Fox Box) and later Toonami. They cover a brief history of Toonami and reflect on the shows that shaped us, year by year.
Also we have a(n unofficial) slogan now! Otaku Ryoho: Everything's Better With A Mech!
Themes/Topics Discussed:
- Change
- Cultural representation
- Finding Oneself/Identity Development
- Resilience
- Discovery of new cultures and mediums
- Nostalgia
Relatable Experiences:
- Clarity/Understanding
- Coming of age/Getting older
- Loss (other than death)
- Transitions and change
- Shared cultural experiences
- Fallible human memory
- Formative media
Anime/Characters Mentioned:
- Pokemon
- Ranma 1/2
- Digimon
- Cardcaptor Sakura
- Escaflowne
- Fighting Foodons
- Ultimate Muscle (Kini Kuman)
- Dragon Ball/Dragon Ball Z
- Sailor Moon
- Macross/Robotech
- Ronin Warriors
- Tenchi Muyo/Tenchi Universe/Tenchi in Tokyo
- Blue Submarine Number 6
- G-Force: Guardians of Space
- Mobile Suit Gundam Wing
- Zoids: Chaotic Century
- Mobile Suit Gundam
- Mobile Suit Gundam: the 8th MS Team
- Mobile Suit Gundam: 0080 War in the Pocket
- Outlaw Star
- Cardcaptors
- Hamtaro
- Mobile Fighter G Gundam
- Cyborg 009
- Astro Boy
- .hack//Sign
- SD Gundam Force
- Dragon Ball GT
- Yu Yu Hakusho
- Ruroni Kenshin
- Astro Boy (2004)
- Gundam Seed
- Zatch Bell
- Yu-Gi-Oh!
- Naruto
- One Piece
- Cowboy Bebop
- Inuyasha
- Samurai Champloo
- Trigun
- Rent-A-Girlfriend
- Slayers
- Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood
- Zoro and Sanji (One Piece)
- Gundam Age
- Mobile Suit Gundam: GQuuuuuux
Non-Anime Media Mentioned:
- WB Kids Saturday morning cartoons programming block
- Fox Kids/Fox Box programming block
- Toonami cartoon programming block
- Thundercats
- Voltron
- Johnny Quest
- Cartoon Roulette [Space Ghost, Birdman, Galaxy Trio, the Herculoids, Superman (1940's)]
- Super Friends
- Beast Wars Transformers
- Reboot
- The Powerpuff Girls
- Superman: The Animated Series
- Batman: The Animated Series
- Batman Beyond
- She-Ra
- Star Wars
Contact Us:
- Join the discussion on the GT Forum at https://forum.geektherapy.org/ and connect with the Geek Therapy Network through the links at https://geektherapy.org/.
- Check out our other shows on the GT Network: https://network.geektherapy.org/
- Join us in the Geek Therapy Discord
- Follow Geek Therapy on Bluesky: @GeekTherapy.bsky.social
Conversation Starters:
Which Toonami-era shows were formative for you? How do they still influence you to this day?
