Toonami Absolution

Our new anime is YuYu Hakusho! Based on the classic manga by Yoshihiro Togashi, this series was a big hit on Adult Swim in the early 2000s. This week we tackle, "Surprised to be Dead" and "Koenma Appears".

These episodes are interesting as while they have all the shonen silliness you would expect, they do treat their subject matter with a surprising amount of gravitas, with Yusuke Urameshi’s car accident being handled seriously and respectfully, something none of us saw coming.

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Toonami Absolution is a weekly podcast where Alyx, Jon, and Sam revisit the Toonami and Adult Swim shows that made them, and you, you.

From the block's early days with shows like Space Ghost: Coast to Coast and Transformers: Beast Wars to the imported anime that made Toonami and Adult Swim appointment television for a generation of kids, such as Cowboy Bebop, Sailor Moon, and Dragon Ball.

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See more Toonami Absolution stuff (including the video version of the podcast) by checking out our Linktree!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We round off our coverage of Cowboy Bebop with 2001’s Cowboy Bebop: The Movie, also known as Cowboy Bebop: The Movie - Knockin' on Heaven's Door. Releasing after the anime wrapped up, this movie sees Spike, Faye, Jet and Edward embark on a new adventure when their trip to Mars leads to them accidentally getting entangled in an evil plot masterminded by the evil Vincent Volaju.

Naturally, this leads to all of the stylish high-octane Cowboy Bebeop action you would expect! So join Alyx, Jon, and Sam as they dig into the Bebop’s final adventure!

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Toonami Absolution is a weekly podcast where Alyx, Jon, and Sam revisit the Toonami and Adult Swim shows that made them, and you, you.

From the block's early days with shows like Space Ghost: Coast to Coast and Transformers: Beast Wars to the imported anime that made Toonami and Adult Swim appointment television for a generation of kids, such as Cowboy Bebop, Sailor Moon, and Dragon Ball.

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See more Toonami Absolution stuff (including the video version of the podcast) by checking out our Linktree!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The time has come for Other Voices, Part1 and Other Voices, Part 2, the final episodes of Transformers Beast Wars’ first season. The aliens that built the mysterious planet and seeded it with Energon are back, and they’re keen to get rid of both the Maximals and the Predacons.

Can Optimus Primal and the other Maximals find a way to stop it, or will they be undermined by the Predacons, some of whom have their own plans to exploit this quickly changing scenario.

Will this Beast Wars finale live up to the hype, or will we be craving some Other Voices ourselves? Find out in this weeks episode.

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Toonami Absolution is a weekly podcast where Alyx, Jon, and Sam revisit the Toonami and Adult Swim shows that made them, and you, you.

From the block's early days with shows like Space Ghost: Coast to Coast and Transformers: Beast Wars to the imported anime that made Toonami and Adult Swim appointment television for a generation of kids, such as Cowboy Bebop, Sailor Moon, and Dragon Ball.

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See more Toonami Absolution stuff (including the video version of the podcast) by checking out our Linktree!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

There is a Cowboy Bebop episode you’ve never seen.

When Cowboy Bebop first aired on TV Toyko, the network opted to only show 12 random episodes. The week after “Speak Like A Child” aired, TV Toyko broadcast Cowboy Bebop’s 13th (and at the time final) episode, Session XX: Mish-Mash Blues.

This episode sees Spike, Jet, Faye, and Edward present short monologues about the show’s characters, themes, and motifs over clips from the previously broadcast episodes. Alas this episode was never put on home media, meaning it quickly became an obscure bit of lost media.

However, Jon spent over a decade tracking down a copy. So this week we dive into the history of Cowboy Bebop’s lost episode, Mish Mash Blues

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Toonami Absolution is a weekly podcast where Alyx, Jon, and Sam revisit the Toonami and Adult Swim shows that made them, and you, you.

From the block's early days with shows like Space Ghost: Coast to Coast and Transformers: Beast Wars to the imported anime that made Toonami and Adult Swim appointment television for a generation of kids, such as Cowboy Bebop, Sailor Moon, and Dragon Ball.

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See more Toonami Absolution stuff (including the video version of the podcast) by checking out our Linktree!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Stan Lee is a comics legend. However, in the early-2000s he was producing some very weird things. The Condor or El Condor, or Stan Lee Presents The Condor is a great example of this. This direct-to-DVD movie tries to capture the magic that made Spider-Man and Iron Man household names, but fails in every way imaginable.

This might be one of the worst films we’ve watched on Toonami Absolution, as it features iffy animation, bad voice acting, and a plot that has no idea what it wants to be. However, there is some light, as we get a chance to talk about Stan Lee’s attempt to make a Ringo Starr animated movie.

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Toonami Absolution is a weekly podcast where Alyx, Jon, and Sam revisit the Toonami and Adult Swim shows that made them, and you, you.

From the block's early days with shows like Space Ghost: Coast to Coast and Transformers: Beast Wars to the imported anime that made Toonami and Adult Swim appointment television for a generation of kids, such as Cowboy Bebop, Sailor Moon, and Dragon Ball.

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See more Toonami Absolution stuff (including the video version of the podcast) by checking out our Linktree!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week on Beast Wars we tackle “Law of the Jungle” and “Before the Storm”.

Law of the Jungle is a fascinating episode as it sees Tigatron leave the team after his girlfriend is crushed, causing a rift in the Maximals, one that leads to them debating the nature of conflict. It also gives Dinobot a chance to go full Shakespeare on us.

Before the Storm sees Beast Wars’ plot finally return as Megatron puts his ultimate plan into action as we finally learn why this planet is full of Energon and models of Stonehenge. However, this episode also features a lot of weird humour mixed in with the revelations about aliens. If you’ve ever wanted to see Megatron in the bath, this is the episode for you.

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Toonami Absolution is a weekly podcast where Alyx, Jon, and Sam revisit the Toonami and Adult Swim shows that made them, and you, you.

From the block's early days with shows like Space Ghost: Coast to Coast and Transformers: Beast Wars to the imported anime that made Toonami and Adult Swim appointment television for a generation of kids, such as Cowboy Bebop, Sailor Moon, and Dragon Ball.

****

See more Toonami Absolution stuff (including the video version of the podcast) by checking out our Linktree!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

All good things must end. Real Folk Blues (Part 1) and Real Folk Blues (Part 2) represent the end of Cowboy Bebop, and to quote Sam “it never gets any easier”. Spike finally reunites with Julia, however this moment is bittersweet, as it puts Spike on a collision course with Viscous, one where only one man will escape with his life.

This all leads to one of the most famous endings in anime history, one that still sparks debate to this very day.

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Toonami Absolution is a weekly podcast where Alyx, Jon, and Sam revisit the Toonami and Adult Swim shows that made them, and you, you.

From the block's early days with shows like Space Ghost: Coast to Coast and Transformers: Beast Wars to the imported anime that made Toonami and Adult Swim appointment television for a generation of kids, such as Cowboy Bebop, Sailor Moon, and Dragon Ball.

****

See more Toonami Absolution stuff (including the video version of the podcast) by checking out our Linktree!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We continue our romp through the early Dragon Ball Z movies with Dragon Ball Z: The Tree of Might. Not only does this film give us our first “evil Goku” (in the form of Turles) but it is also one of the most dubbed Dragon Ball movies of all time, with about five different versions being made since the film’s original release.

So, not only is the film one of the best Dragon Ball movies ever, it is also a goldmine of early-anime production histories!

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Toonami Absolution is a weekly podcast where Alyx, Jon, and Sam revisit the Toonami and Adult Swim shows that made them, and you, you.

From the block's early days with shows like Space Ghost: Coast to Coast and Transformers: Beast Wars to the imported anime that made Toonami and Adult Swim appointment television for a generation of kids, such as Cowboy Bebop, Sailor Moon, and Dragon Ball.

****

See more Toonami Absolution stuff (including the video version of the podcast) by checking out our Linktree!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This weeks double-dose of Beast Wars is quite possibly the dictionary definition of “tonal dissonance”. We start with “Possession” a really creative that sees Starscream make a grand return, confirming that Beast Wars is in-continuity with the Transformers G1 continuity, totally inverting Beast Wars status quo.

We then have The Low Road an episode full of fart jokes and an intro that dredges up uncomfortable memories of the film Alien. An episode so bad even the writers admit it is far from their best work (which only serves to make the episode sort of charming, in an oddly meta way).

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Toonami Absolution is a weekly podcast where Alyx, Jon, and Sam revisit the Toonami and Adult Swim shows that made them, and you, you.

From the block's early days with shows like Space Ghost: Coast to Coast and Transformers: Beast Wars to the imported anime that made Toonami and Adult Swim appointment television for a generation of kids, such as Cowboy Bebop, Sailor Moon, and Dragon Ball.

****

See more Toonami Absolution stuff (including the video version of the podcast) by checking out our Linktree!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Cowboy Bebop is quickly reaching the end, but we’ve got to through Brain Scratch and Hard Luck Woman to get there. Brain Scratch sees Spike go head-to-head against a Heaven’s Gate-esq cult that has somehow seduced Faye into joining. But he quickly learns that this techno-cult may not be all that they seem.

After that, Hard Luck Woman sees Faye recall more of her past, leading to one of Cowboy Bebop’s most emotional moments as Ed and Faye leave the Bebop, seemingly forever (though for one of them that forever won’t last long)

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Toonami Absolution is a weekly podcast where Alyx, Jon, and Sam revisit the Toonami and Adult Swim shows that made them, and you, you.

From the block's early days with shows like Space Ghost: Coast to Coast and Transformers: Beast Wars to the imported anime that made Toonami and Adult Swim appointment television for a generation of kids, such as Cowboy Bebop, Sailor Moon, and Dragon Ball.

****

See more Toonami Absolution stuff (including the video version of the podcast) by checking out our Linktree!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.