Toonami

Toonami ( too-NAH-mee) is an American late-night television programming block that broadcasts Japanese anime and American action animation. It was created by Sean Akins and Jason DeMarco and produced by Williams Street, a division of Warner Bros. Television Studios, and owned by The Cartoon Network, Inc. subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. The name is a portmanteau of the words "cartoon" and "tsunami". It currently broadcasts every Saturday night from 12 a.m. to 3:30 a.m. ET/PT. Toonami initially ran as a weekday afternoon block on Cartoon Network from 1997 until 2004, when it transitioned into a Saturday evening format until its final airing four years later. Cartoon Network's block was primarily aimed at older children and adolescents aged 7–18. In its original run from 1997 to 2008, the block was known for showcasing action-oriented animation, with heavy focus on Japanese animation, which became widely popular with American audiences. Toonami is recognized for its distinctive space-themed backdrop, anime music videos, drum and bass-flavored soundtrack, and its robot host named T.O.M. (short for Toonami Operations Module). On May 26, 2012, Toonami was relaunched as a late night block on Adult Swim. The current incarnation is a rebrand of Adult Swim's Saturday night action block (itself inherited from Toonami's Midnight Run block), which primarily aired anime that were deemed too mature for the daytime hours. A Friday afternoon block consisting of classic anime, Toonami Rewind, launched on May 31, 2024; it airs from 5 to 7 p.m. ET/PT and complements the now-Monday-through-Thursday Checkered Past block of older Cartoon Network series.