Toonami Crosses Major Milestone With Adult Swim Broadcast

Toonami has crossed over a major milestone with its broadcast on Adult Swim as it has now lasted longer than the block’s original incarnation with Cartoon Network! Toonami first launched as a special programming block on Cartoon Network back in 1997, and has since undergone many changes to both its line up and presentation. Not only did the programming block tell its own extended story over many years, but it introduced many current anime fans to shows that are massive franchises today like Dragon Ball, Mobile Suit Gundam, and much more. But its success in the current era is a welcome surprise considering it came back from cancellation. 

Toonami was brought to an end with Cartoon Network back in 2008, but made a brief comeback as part of an April Fool’s Day joke with Adult Swim in 2012. This proved to be such a hit that Toonami was brought back in full not long after, and has been going strong on Saturday evenings ever since. So strong in fact that the latest broadcast of Toonami meant that the Adult Swim era of the block has been running longer than its initial run with Cartoon Network. 

Toonami Reaches Big Milestone With Adult Swim

Taking to social media, Toonami co-creator Jason DeMarco celebrated with the following message to fans “[Toonami] fans, tonight’s [December 3rd] broadcast officially means the Adult Swim version of Toonami has aired longer than the Cartoon Network version. That’s 11 years on the air, twice. We never imagined we’d still be running this block in 2023, waaaay back when we started it in 1997. Thank you to everyone who has watched, supported, argued with and come to see us at cons over the years. You made this all possible. Hopefully, we’ve given you some good memories in return, and at the very least, been a place where you could relax and kick up your feet.”

DeMarco continued, “This little block that could has made all of my dreams come true. And given me so many opportunities to do so many fun things, meet some of my creative idols, and be creative full time in a corporate world. Please know that no matter what version of Toonami you engaged with, the mission has always been the same: to make the absolute best cartoon block we could with the tools and budget at our disposal, whatever that might be in the shifting media landscape.”

DeMarco concluded with, “We hope you feel our passion and our sincerity, our love for the shows, the characters, the music, the games and everything else we broadcast. It’s never wavered. Who knows how long Toonami can go, but no matter what, we did our damn thing. Nobody can argue with that. So until the sun sets (again) on a world without Toonami, we remain the first, and STILL the best. Only Toonami.”

How do you feel about Toonami’s run with Adult Swim after all these years? Let us know all of your thoughts about it in the comments! You can even reach out to me directly about all things animation and other cool stuff @Valdezology on Twitter!