Goodbye Toonami, 1997-2008

Good riddance to bad rubbish. For every show worth watching (Thundercats, Voltron, Astroboy Big-O), Toonami featured two that were garbage. All the segment ever truly did was foster a seething plague of otaku behaviors and corrupt all that was excellent about Western animation. Before Toonami, anime was something you had to order through a catalog and watch in private, like porn.

Now, thanks to Toonami's demon influence upon impressionable children, we're beset by a generation of dipshits who think Yu-Gi-Oh and Ben 10 are what passes for quality cartoons. They wear their asinine Naruto headbands as the rest of us would wear a Mets cap, traipsing around like some kind of emo samurai. And the networks have no choice now but to pander to this idiot demographic. Gone are the days of awesome shows like Animaniacs, Alvin & the Chipmunks, Rocko's Modern Life, The Tick and Thundercats. No, thanks to the anime explosion Toonami helped create, kids today are handed shitfests like Chop Socky Chooks and Robot Boy. Future generations will fondly reminisce about Cardcaptors and Jackie Chan Adventures, and this greatly saddens me.

So thanks a lump, Cartoon Network. You've destroyed the landscape of the foundation upon which you were built. This news is ten years too late. Maybe we can finally move beyond this Japan fad and get back to producing shows that aren't about teenage ninjas who collect cards to save alternate dimensions from giant mechabots.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Haha, the irony there isn't lost on me, Blah. I'm well aware that many series I hold fondly close to heart were, in fact, produced in Japan. But nevertheless, there's been a significant drop in quality since the days of TMNT, G.I.Joe and Silverhawks. I'm not calling all animes crap - there are some that even I like - I just blame CN for homogenizing animation styles to the point where...well, where we are now. Stuff like Naruto and Ben 10 doesn't really stand up to the material we had even only a decade ago.

I love cartoons. I'm a walking encyclopedia (Dubble and I could write a book). There ARE good ones being made but they're becoming rarities amidst a sea of junk trying to pass itself off with a pseudo-anime appearance. This genuinely bothers me. I'm happy to see Toonami end because it means that perhaps the industry will soon attempt to try something different finally.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

My opinion of Reboot is already known. I personally hated it. But this was for a completely different set of reasons than those for which I disliked the faux-anime shows. Reboot just wasn't funny.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Originally Posted by Bigblah

I probably shouldn't have lumped it together with Speed Racer, but I was pointing out that even though it's American by origin, it contained ninjas, nunchucks, karate senseis, samurais and robots.

Oh, I know. That fact didn't escape me as I made my first post. However, when you look at the cartoons which aired parallel to TMNT, you'll note that Turtles was pretty distinctive for its time. Other shows featured robots, or ninja action, or teenagers being moody idiots, but not all at once. Nowadays, that's the standard formula.

I do think it's fair to say that different generations can be marked by specific cartoon trends, however.

• The 60s: The "stable" era. Studios produced umpteen six-minute shorts using a rotating cast of characters such as Yogi Bear, Bugs Bunny, Tom & Jerry, etc. Phil Silvers' legacy is further bastardized to pieces as he cries into a penniless grave.
• The 70s: Ragtag cliques of meddlesome teenagers and their danger prone animal mascots travel around unsupervised while solving spooky mysteries, and sometimes sing about it.
• The 80s: Shameless marketing executives use two recurring themes to sell toys:
  • "Plucky band of black-ops specialists/extraterrestrials/cutesy animal heroes use high-tech weaponry/super powers/good moral fiber to defeat poorly gimmicked villains with lousy aim/drug addictions."
  • "Princess Cuddlepants McRainbowshine in the Kingdom of Lotsa-Love protects her bumbling-but-well-meaning friends from the cranky warlock in yonder dark castle through the liberal use of sparkles."
• The 90s: The children of the 60s grow up and make cartoons that are just as much for themselves as they are the current crop of youngsters. Poignant sociopolitic commentary becomes the norm, and it's not delivered by Bugs Bunny for a change. Also, motherfucking dinosaurs.
• The 00s: Teenage ninjas collect cards to save alternate dimensions from giant mechabots.

Every decade's crop of cartoons has had its flaws. Not even the 90s are exempt, despite the overal quality of the era. I simply feel as though this last decade has been particularly lacking.

Brady's right, I'm no longer a kid and maybe I've actually matured to the point where I don't find the current material very entertaining. I'm wearing rose-colored glasses, yeah. I'm not even trashing anime, really. I know there are some really awesome series out there despite my lack of interest in the genre. I'm just seeing the influence it's had on American-produced cartoons and I find it upsetting. I must be getting old. Perhaps kids today can see the fundamental differences between Kim Possible, Code Lyoko, Xioalin Showdown and Danny Phantom. I sure don't.

One way or another, this generation took an obsessive liking to Japanese culture to the point where they began acting like retards about it. Toonami wasn't single-handedly responsible but I'm pretty sure it was a major player. That's the biggest reason I'm happy to see it go, even if a dying trend is just another case of history repeating itself.

For the record, while Toonami pushed the Japan obsession, I cannot fault the animation itself. The blame for the past eight year's trend of craptacular artwork and animation techniques lays in the hands of a different culprit:

Spoiler:

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Chronologically, Dexter did come before Cow & Chicken. Were it reversed, I would've gladly chosen the latter as an example. They were all part of the "What A Cartoon!" graduating class, though (along with Johnny Bravo and Powerpuff Girls.) But all of those animators knew each other during the W.A.C. project's infancy, so it's fair to say they influenced each other equally. Genndy Tartakovsky managed to make it to the stage first, and with great success, however, and it wasn't long before other studios were mimicking his basic style. That's why Dexter gets the lion's share of the blame.

Rugrats, though somewhat ugly to behold, is at least unique in and unto itself; there aren't any instances of other studios trying to emulate the Klasky/Csupo style. They have the dignity to fail in their own right, not because they ripped someone else's style off.

Spongebob is actually pretty well done, all things considered. It owes an enormous debt of gratitude to Ren & Stimpy, however. Chowder is done by the same team and is a pretty solid offering.


Brady: Your Youtube links aren't working. Perhaps those particular ones don't allow outside linking. Either way, yeah, those old Sesame Street shorts were absolutely fucking bizarre.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Squirrel Boy wasn't the worst thing ever but it was definitely no Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends, or Kids Next Door.

I could watch KND forever if but for the wonderfully unique art style.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?