The passing of Akira Toriyama drew reactions from around the world, and even mega stars like Michael B. Jordan paid tribute. It's certainly expected, considering the Dragon Ball creator's impact on anime and pop culture at large, and while the fan in me certainly appreciated seeing so many tributes, none of them hit me on the level of what I felt watching Toonami finally paying its respects, which left the inner child in me smiling from ear to ear.
I was disappointed by Cartoon Network's original tribute to Toriyama, but the station's anime block Toonami more than made up for it with its gesture on Saturday night. Check out the clip of TOM and SARA speaking about the manga creator's impact(via Swimpedia):
A four-hour block of Dragon Ball Z Kai is quite an honor, as well as the cool kind of gesture that keeps me championing Cartoon Network, even though I don't watch it quite as much these days. This is the proper tribute I was hoping for with respect to the company's original X post.
As TOM said, Dragon Ball Z put Toonami on the map back in the late '90s, exposing countless millennial children around the United States to the anime genre. Akira Toriyama's show Dragon Ball Z and its prequel Dragon Ball were the headliners and led to many playground arguments about who the coolest Z fighters were. What I'm saying to those outside of the demographic is that Toonami was the gateway to the anime genre for any and all kinds of viewers, and Akira Toriyama is largely responsible for its success.
At the time, Dragon Ball Z was geared for '90s kids looking for more anime action than Pokémon, and like the latter, the franchise continues serving up new offerings today. A new series, Dragon Ball Daima, is expected to hit the 2024 TV schedule this fall, and the trailer for it looks glorious. The only downside is that Toonami no longer boasts its weekday block on Cartoon Network, so today's kids won't get to experience Akira Toriyama's last contribution to the anime genre in the same way, unless they set their DVRs for late Saturday nights.
The upside to the limited Toonami slot is that anime on th ewhole is so much more accessible to audiences than it was in the 1990s and 2000s. There's no shortage of great anime to check out on Crunchyroll and other streaming services, and more and more anime-inspired shows are being created and adapted in the United States. Anyone with a Netflix subscription can watch live-action versions of One Piece and Avatar: The Last Airbender, which is something I'd never have imagined as a kid.
Is any of that possible in a world where Akira Toriyama's Dragon Ball Z hadn't exploded in popularity through Toonami? It's impossible to say, but when a top A-Lister like Michael B. Jordan is making public comments about a Japanese manga creator's death, you'd have to think he was pretty damn influential. Rest in peace, Toriyama-san, and may the Dragon Ball franchise live on and continue to inspire future generations.
Stream Dragon Ball Z on Crunchyroll, and if you're looking to check out Toonami in 2024, catch it on Cartoon Network beginning at 12:00 a.m. ET on Sunday mornings. Thankfully, I have a DVR I can set to record those shows because I'm not able to stay up like I used to in my youth, when we had to watch Toonami after trekking 15 miles barefoot through the snow...
