Random Toonami Shows You Totally Forgot About (21 items)

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  (#1) Zoids: Chaotic Century

  • Carol Anne-Day, Matthew Erickson, C. Adam Leigh

  While young people piloting animalistic robots isn't the most original premise, Zoids still provided great robo-animal action and drama. Viewers still tuned in to see Van Flyheight merge with his Zoid in the hopes of preventing a major war.

  Oh, and to see robot lions fight robot dinosaurs, because that's objectively awesome.  
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  (#2) Outlaw Star

  • Ayako Kawasumi, Sherry Lynn, Mary Elizabeth McGlynn, Tomoko Kawakami, Lenore Zann, Wendee Lee, Rebecca Forstadt, Rica Matsumoto, Richard Cansino, Bill Timoney, Sayuri, Shigeru Shibuya

  What do you get when you put together a team of space treasure hunters, a cat girl, a samurai woman, and a grappling spaceship? You get an awesomely fun action anime that Toonami viewers enjoyed in 2001.

  This fine space western anime is a forgotten favorite to many.
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  (#3) Ronin Warriors (US)

  • Michael Donovan, Jason Gray-Stanford, Richard Newman, Matt Hill, Paul Dobson, Lalainia Lindbjerg

  This forgotten Toonami classic featured great action among modern-day samurai bestowed with mystical armor. While the show hit Japanese airwaves in the 1980s, Ronin Warriors is best known in the United States for its Toonami run in 1999.  
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  (#4) ThunderCats

  • Emmanuelle Chriqui, Clancy Brown, Michael McKean, Kevin Michael Richardson, Pamela Adlon, Dee Bradley Baker, Will Friedle, Robin Atkin Downes, Corey Burton, Satomi Kōrogi, Matthew Mercer, Eamon Pirruccello, Madeleine Hall

  This 2011 reboot of the 1980s classic didn't last as long as it should have. Despite having a more engaging story, better animation, and better action than the original, Thundercats didn't get more than one season.

  Low ratings, a high production budget, and constantly changing the time slot from Toonami to Adult Swim put this kitty to sleep early.
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  (#5) The Big O

  • Mitsuru Miyamoto, Steve Blum, Akiko Yajima

  Imagine if Bruce Wayne piloted a giant robot. That's essentially the selling point of The Big-O. Roger Smith works as a negotiator in a city that has no memory of its past, with no one remembering anything past 40 years ago.

  This mystery along with massive robot fights make this series a mix of Batman: The Animated Series and Gigantor, but only lasted two seasons that were several years apart.
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  (#6) Mobile Suit Gundam: The 08th MS Team

  An often-overlooked Gundam series in the United States, Mobile Suit Gundam: The 08th MS Team provided intense robot fighting action, political intrigue, and a love story all rolled into one. This series followed the main Gundam continuity, following the struggles of the One Year War between the Federation and Zeong forces.

  Despite being in canon, fans can watch the series without it being mired in continuity.
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  (#7) Zatch Bell!

  • Debi Derryberry, Wally Wingert, Konami Yoshida, Saffron Henderson, Tomoko Akiya, Jason Spisak, 高山久子, Satomi Koorogi, Houko Kuwashima, Takahiro Sakurai, Ai Maeda, Rie Kugimiya

  Zatch Bell was a unique battle anime that starred a kind of magical war puppet in a dress. One hundred Mamodo (small, powerful beings) are sent to Earth to battle every 1,000 years to determine who is the king of the Mamodo world. Each Mamodo has to find a human partner to cast spells from the Mamado's spell book.

  This series is an old school Toonami treasure, even if it wasn't particularly memorable.
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  (#8) ReBoot

  • Michael Donovan, Kathleen Barr, Garry Chalk

  A product of Canada, ReBoot was a CGI-animated adventure which followed characters that lived within a computer mainframe to fight off viruses and other foes. While the look of the show seems primitive today, it was one of the first mass-produced computer-animated shows on television.

  At the time, it was a very impressive animated feat. 
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  (#9) He-Man and the Masters of the Universe

  • Christopher Judge, Cam Clarke, Kathleen Barr, Garry Chalk, Scott McNeil, Michael Donovan, Brian Drummond, Nicole Oliver, Colin Murdock, Mark Acheson, Paul Dobson, Brian Dobson, Lisa Ann Beley, Don Brown, John Payne, Gabe Khouth, Mark Gibbon, Richard Newman

  This reboot of the 1980s classic had loads of great action and way more compelling stories than the original. However, it only lasted two seasons due to the high production costs and low ratings, despite its critical acclaim.
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  (#10) Transformers: Armada

  • Michael Dobson, Terry Klassen, Ward Perry

  This 2002 Transformers series featured new battles in the never-ending war between the Autobots and the Decepticons. The schtick here was the introduction of the Mini-Cons, small robots that could provide new skills and power to larger Transformers.

  It was a reasonably entertaining cartoon continuation of the classic 1980s animated series, and it certainly helped sell a lot of toys.
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  (#11) Megas XLR

  • Clancy Brown, Kevin Michael Richardson, Steven Blum, David DeLuise, Wendee Lee

  A giant battle robot that's based off hot rods? SOLD! Megas XLR featured an awesome adventure as heroes Coop, Kiva, and Jamie defended Earth against the alien Glorft menace. It was truly a passionate American homage to classic Japanese mecha anime.
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  (#12) Cyborg 009

  • Joshua Seth, Katsuji Mori, Fuyumi Shiraishi, Jouji Yanami, Steve Kramer, Keiichi Noda, Machiko Soga, Hiroshi Masuoka, Michael Sorich, Ichirō Nagai, Hiroshi Ohtake, Beau Billingslea, R. Martin Klein, Ryō Ishihara, Richard Epcar, Kirk Thornton, Hiroko Suzuki

  In Cyborg 009, nine regular humans are kidnapped and experimented on, resulting in their transformation into powerful cyborgs. They band together to fight against the organization that kidnapped them in the hopes to prevent a massive world war.

  Despite the cutesy character models, Cyborg 009 had some serious dark and bleak moments.  
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  (#13) Hamtaro

  • Jillian Michaels, Tabitha St. Germain, Terry Klassen, Samuel Vincent, Kelly Sheridan, Trevor Devall, Paul Dobson, Brad Swaile, Brittney Wilson, Moneca Stori, Jocelyne Loewen, Daniella Evangelista, Jillian Michaels

  This show is unique in the sense that it is... well, cuter than most Toonami fare. Hamtaro follows the title character in a series of hamster-based adventures (which has got to be one of the most adorable phrases in the English language). It was a fun show that provided a much-needed respite between other, more action-based programs.

  Sometimes you just need a break from all the swords and guns and lasers. 
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  (#14) The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest

  • Frank Welker, Quinton Flynn, J.D. Roth

  This continuation of the 1960s cartoon featured a teenage Jonny and Hadji teaming with up with Race Bannon's daughter, Jessie, to go on more archeological adventures and mysteries.

  On top of that, the show also took on cyberspace by having adventures in the cybernetic "Quest World." It was a new (at the time) spin on an old classic.
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  (#15) Sym-Bionic Titan

  • Tara Strong, Kevin Thoms, Brian Posehn

  This forgotten classic came from the creator of hit Cartoon Network shows Samurai Jack and Dexter's Laboratory. Sym-Bionic Titan merged together the drama and awkwardness of high school with insane mecha combat.

  How can you not love battles between two space-faring races taking place in an Illinois suburb? 
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  (#16) Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo

  This series was a crazy, nonsensical anime featuring Bobobo, a tough muscleman that can kick baddies into dust with his powerful nose hair. While some of the jokes may have been lost in translation (it's a pretty sophisticate Japanese satire of the genre), kids still enjoyed the bizarre visuals.

  College kids, however, probably enjoyed the show more after partaking in certain substances.
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  (#17) Tenchi Universe

  • Takeshi Aono, Petrea Burchard, Debi Derryberry

  Tenchi Universe is most people's first harem anime. Loosely based on the Tenchi Muyo! OVAs, Tenchi Universe follows the space explorations of Tenchi and his alien friends. While its plot and characters are absolutely ridiculous (e.g. a bunny that turns into a spaceship), this was a fun and light-hearted series that appealed to most sci-fi fans. 
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  (#18) Immortal Grand Prix

  • Steve Kramer, Lex Lang, Kirk Thornton, Wendee Lee, Joshua Seth, Sandy Fox, Julie Maddalena, Jamieson Price

  IGPX: Immortal Grand Prix was a series that flopped despite all the money that was poured into making it. It was a co-production between Cartoon Network and Production I.G. It even had high production value and a famous voice cast (e.g. Mark Hamill, Haley Joel Osment). If anything, it's worth watching this mecha racing series for its amazing animation and interesting premise.
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  (#19) Storm Hawks

  • Chiara Zanni, Sam Vincent, Colin Murdock

  Laser swords, motorcycles that turn into jet planes, aliens, air battles, Storm Hawks had everything! Seeing the ragtag group of Storm Hawks battle Master Cyclonis to unite the kingdoms of Atmos was visually exciting and fun.

  Sadly, the show was pulled in for a landing after only two seasons.
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  (#20) Duel Masters

  • Norio Wakamoto, Hiroyuki Yoshino, Satsuki Yukino, Katsuyuki Konishi, Kenji Hamada, Hiroki Yasumoto, Junko Minagawa, Daisuke Kishio, Saeko Chiba, Yumiko Kobayashi, Kōichi Sakaguchi, Yuka Imai, Kan Tanaka, Mayumi Yamaguchi, Chiyako Shibahara, Saki Nakajima

  While some found Duel Masters to be a rip-off of Yu-Gi-Oh!, others found it to be a comical parody of the card game genre. And although the actual card games were quite fun, it couldn't live up to the hype of Yu-Gi-Oh! and Pokémon. The series follows a boy named Shobu Kirifuda who seeks to become the best duelist in the world like his father. In their universe of five civilizations, duelists can make fantasy into a reality through card games.
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  (#21) Gigantor

  • Ray Owens, Billie Lou Watt, Peter Fernandez

  This Americanize anime of Tetsujin 28-go was one of the oldest shows ever re-air on Toonami, originally premiering in 1963! This classic anime is one of the first ones ever to reach American soil and was one of the pioneers for the giant robo genre for cartoons and anime alike.

  Gigantor was a nice nostalgic treat for viewers during Toonami's Giant Robot Week in 2003,

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