Well, I grew up on Toonami as a kid and I just read this online and felt like it needed to be shared.

Ladies and gentlemen, I’d like to take a moment to share with you something special.

Tonight at 9 PM Eastern Standard Time, Cartoon Network will be airing their last Toonami block. Now, I fully admit that I haven’t been watching Toonami as of late, and there are various reasons for that. However, I have some very fond memories relating to it. One day way back when I watched Moltar launch a cute little probe towards Earth; the probe decided to stay and subsequently started a lavish life at a coastal resort somewhere. At the time I was an impressionable pre-teen, glued to the TV screen, and didn’t quite know just what it meant; just that there would be some new cartoons on weekdays after school instead of just on Saturday morning. Once I started to watch those toons, however, I realized that stuff was happening. Big stuff. The SDF-1 got transported all the way out to the edge of the Solar System. Voltron was resurrected. This cute blond girl from the moon and her friends spent a lot of time in short skirts. The Maximals and Predacons were stranded in the past. They even blew up planet Thundara; you maniacs!

These were big series with big stories to be told. Stories with huge machines, brave people, persistent enemies, and blossoming love, and even at times sudden tragic death. It was above and beyond what I was accustomed to, and I ate it up. I was also rapt with anticipation as the voice of Optimus Prime started to promo new shows they would be airing. After watching five guys transform into color-coordinated samurai armor, I not only learned what a samurai was, but also that a lot of the new shows came from Japan. As it turns out, the next item out of the Orient that aired at the turn of the millennium, Gundam Wing, gave me another something new. There was intrigue to the story and maneuvering in powers that be that turned the Gundam pilots from powerful voices for freedom into unwanted instigators. The technology that could allow them to win cold also make them go a bit crazy. And most importantly, this time, the good guys and bad guys weren’t just defined by what insignia they wore. “Come get me, you monsteeeeeers!” Next year they had another Gundam show, The 08th MS Team, which was for whatever reason a lot shorter than Wing and part of a larger timeline, but man was it good. Shiro downright fell in love with Aina, even though they were on opposite sides of the war, and the Gundams weren’t quite as invincible as they were in Wing. The first time I saw and heard a Zaku’s monoeye turn on.

There was also Outlaw Star on, which had an underlying story of love to it like 08th Team, but a very different setting. I thought I was just getting the hang of this whole mecha thing with the two Gundam shows, but then Toonami decided to challenge my perceptions with not only spaceships with arms, but huge, lumbering giants that didn’t need guns to get their point across. The Big O was definitely a departure from the fast paced and large-scale warfare in the Gundam series, but its charm and style were infectious. Batman had memories, but he didn’t have a robot that popped up through city streets. Much later, it would be those who had aired the show here in America who would provide the impetus for giving the anime its second season. Even Gundam itself was apparently changing with the kung-fu action and fervent yelling of G Gundam. On the side there was also this very lucky guy named Tenchi who I envied.

At about this time I was getting close to graduating from high school and my time was often taken up by other matters; I couldn’t watch Toonami’s shows consistently any more. I came back a few times and watched a bit of some strange-looking androids with matching outfits, not to mention a certain team of young superheroes. From then on, my interests shifted a bit, and I forgot about Toonami for a while. However, if you’re like me, I urge you to not forget. I’m not sure just how they did it, but the series that Cartoon Network aired on Toonami appeared at just the right time to teach me, and I’m sure others, some new lessons about life. How to hold the people and things dear to you close and protect them. How to not give up your ideals. How to question and fight against the system, even if all you have left is a broken-down machine with no proper weapons left. How to be a gentleman. How to always look at the newest thing with fresh eyes. How to love someone else by making the effort to truly understand them.

Ladies and gentlemen, I grew up with Toonami. Tonight we lay it to rest.

God bless you, sir. And may you rest in peace, Toonami. You were a large chunk of my childhood and I’m not sure what I’d have watched without you.