Toonami continues to air plenty of great anime as a Saturday night block on Adult Swim, but the original Cartoon Network block, which ran from 1997-2008, nonetheless seems to dominate in cultural memory. This is mainly due to the shifting media landscape; whereas the current Toonami highlights shows that have already found success via streaming (with occasional but rare world premieres), old school Toonami had the ability to turn shows most Americans had never heard of before into major hits. The following seven series are the most iconic from Toonami's original run.
Before we begin, let's acknowledge a few disqualified runners-up: Voltron and Robotech were the first anime to air on Toonami, but they became iconic in the '80s and were already retro nostalgia reruns by the time they hit Toonami. Pokemon is easily one of the most iconic anime in history, but only a handful of episodes aired on Toonami with the majority of the series running on either Kids WB, other Cartoon Network time slots, or Netflix. Rurouni Kenshin is a classic that's unfortunately been tainted by the criminal actions of creator Nobuhiro Watsuki. It also didn't air in its entirety on Toonami -- the more violent Kyoto arc was moved to a late-night Saturday time slot and the third season never aired on Cartoon Network at all.
Lastly, we must acknowledge that two heavily censored episodes of Neon Genesis Evangelion aired as part of Toonami's Giant Robot Week; we don't know what they were thinking, but it's an amusing footnote in Evangelion's storied history.
7. One Piece
If we were talking about the most iconic anime in general, One Piece should rank higher on this list. It's celebrated as one of Shonen Jump's "Big Three" in American fandom, and it's the best-selling manga and one of the most popular anime ever in Japan. But this is a Toonami list, and while Toonami's run of One Piece was more substantial than the runners-up, it was still beset with problems.
The majority of One Piece's classic Toonami run consisted of repeats of 4Kids' heavily censored dub, which is "iconic" in its own right but not in a way people like to remember. When 4Kids lost the rights to One Piece, Toonami aired Funimation's more faithful dub of the Jaya arc and part of the Sky Island arc before Cartoon Network canceled the series. One Piece would return to the Adult Swim Toonami block from 2013-2017.
6. Tenchi Muyo
Tenchi Muyo!'s run on Toonami in 2000 marked the point at which Toonami had truly ceased operating like a standard kids' block and was embracing an older otaku audience. Gundam Wing, for all its mature content, was at least selling action figures to kids. What were kids expected to get out of a harem sex comedy (even one with TV-Y7 "digital bikini" censorship)?
Despite -- or perhaps due to -- defying the expectations for daytime Cartoon Network programming, Tenchi Muyo! was a hit. Classic Toonami went on to air additional Tenchi spin-offs as well as more adult-skewing sci-fi series like Outlaw Star and The Big O. By 2001, Toonami was getting away with so much that Sean Akins and Jason Demarco seriously thought they could get away with airing Cowboy Bebop on the block -- when they couldn't, Adult Swim's anime block was born.
5. Yu Yu Hakusho
Yu Yu Hakusho was one of the first anime on Adult Swim in 2002, but it was moved to daytime Toonami within a year when it became too popular with kids. And what kid wouldn't love the adventures of Yusuke Urameshi, a punk with a heart of gold who solves mysteries and gets into fights in the spirit world?
Despite reports of solid ratings for most of its run, Yu Yu Hakusho was dropped from the block in 2005 and aired its last season in the 5:30 AM death slot. History has been kind to its legacy. When so many other shonen series putter out or get bogged down in filler, Yu Yu Hakusho's high standard of quality for 112 episodes stands out. Oscar-winning director Chloe Zhao is a fan of the anime, and Netflix is developing a live-action version.
4. Gundam Wing
If we were going by general influence, the original Mobile Suit Gundam anime would place over Wing. MSG changed the mecha genre forever, and its iconography is probably the most recognizable. However, the original did poorly on Toonami due to a combination of post-9/11 sensitivities and dated '70s animation. Gundam Wing, in contrast, was the hit that brought the Gundam franchise to the United States.
Gundam Wing was the first anime to make its US television premiere on Toonami rather than be picked up from syndication, and its uncut repeats on The Midnight Run paved the way for Adult Swim. Though its action appealed to kids, this was a darker, more complex war story that offered a taste of anime's potential for mature storytelling. It also can't be overstated just how much of American yaoi shipping culture has its roots in the Gundam Wing fandom.
3. Naruto
Let's state it again for any older millennials who need to hear it: Naruto did not kill Toonami. Some have made Naruto a scapegoat because it was one of the block's last shows airing when Toonami canceled in 2008. If anything, Naruto was such a hit that it kept Toonami going for years longer than it would have otherwise. The fact that Shippuden is still running on the Adult Swim block is more than enough proof that Naruto had staying power.
Younger millennials need no such reminder of what an immense cultural impact Naruto made when it premiered on Toonami. Everyone in middle school between 2005-2008 knew at least one kid who always wore a hidden leaf headband and ran with their arms behind their back. Zoomers too young to even remember classic Toonami still love Naruto and its sequel series Boruto.
2. Sailor Moon
Sailor Moon was the series that transformed Toonami from a retro nostalgia block into one of the biggest mainstream gateways into anime fandom. The franchise already had some American fans from its syndication run, but when Toonami gave the magical girl series proper promotion and a stable time slot, its popularity increased enormously and benefited the anime industry as a whole.
One could definitely make the argument Toonami didn't do enough to follow up on Sailor Moon's success, as the block aired hardly any shojo or magical girl series afterward. Even just this small taste of girl power on Toonami, however, proved massively influential on a generation of artists who'd go on to chart new courses for Western animation with series like Steven Universe and She-Ra and the Princesses of Power.
1. Dragon Ball Z
There couldn't be any other number one on this list, could there? Saving Sailor Moon from syndication put Toonami on the map, but saving Dragon Ball Z from syndication pushed the block's success into the stratosphere faster than you can say "Kamehameha." Aside from Pokemon, Dragon Ball Z was the most successful anime in America, and whereas the former has somewhat faded in popularity, Dragon Ball Z is still what most Americans think of first when you say the word "anime."
Without Dragon Ball Z succeeding on Toonami, it seems unlikely that Shonen Jump comes to America, and you could say goodbye to One Piece, Naruto, Yu Yu Hakusho, My Hero Academia and Demon Slayer having even a quarter of the impact they do today. Toonami has aired every piece of Dragon Ball media it could get its hands on, and even today, reruns of Dragon Ball Super headline the Adult Swim Toonami block. The franchise is absolutely here to stay, and Toonami had a lot to do with that in the west.
