Toonami Absolution

One episode is about Gohan befriending a dinosaur in the wilderness and then watching it get eaten. The other is about Vegeta and Nappa wiping out a planet of bug people just because they can. DBZ filler contains multitudes.

This week on Toonami Absolution, Alyx, Jon, and Sam cover Ocean Dub Episodes 6 and 7: "Gohan Makes a Friend" and "Trouble on Arlia."

"Gohan Makes a Friend" continues the ongoing survival arc as Piccolo watches from a distance while Gohan makes a new friend who quickly meets a terrible fate (as is the norm for all Dragon Ball Z filler characters) Meanwhile, we learn that Yamcha has become a baseball player, as Krillin goes to recruit him for the battle against the Saiyans.

Then "Trouble on Arlia" has Vegeta and Nappa stop off on Planet Arlia and fight everyone they come across, just because they think it would be fun. Once they’ve done this, Vegeta destroys the planet from orbit, just to make sure nobody gets the wrong idea about what this trip was.

We discuss if Dragon Ball Z’s early filler was a good idea, question how Trouble on Arlia made it past Saban’s censors and discuss if the Ocean dub is the best way to experience Dragon Ball Z.

🔔 Subscribe for our ongoing watch-through of Dragon Ball Z from the very beginning!

📌 Topics covered:

– DBZ Ocean Dub Episode 6 "Gohan Makes a Friend" recap & review

– DBZ Ocean Dub Episode 7 "Trouble on Arlia" recap & review

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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 Season 2 finale of Beast Wars does something no children's animated series had any business doing in 1998: the heroes lose via time paradox.

This week on Toonami Absolution, Alyx, Jon, and Sam cover "The Agenda (Part 3)" the conclusion of the Beast Wars Season 2 finale and one of the weirdest endings in the franchise's history.

With Megatron captured and aboard Ravage's transwarp cruiser, the situation looks like it's finally wrapping up, until Megatron reveals that this plan was just a front for this other, even more evil plan.At the same time Blackarachnia and Silverbolt uncover the Ark, the crashed Autobot ship that contains every dormant G1 hero and villain who will go on to fight in the original Transformers series. Naturally, Megatron gets in and fires a full-powered blast directly into the face of the sleeping original Optimus Prime, causing a time paradox that seems to wipe out everyone and render the storyline null and void.

Naturally, Alyx (being a massive Transformers fan) has to break this down to Jon and Sam, who are very confused about this whole thing. We talk about what this episode does well, what it lacks and guess what this cliffhanger means going into Season 3, and ponder if anyone can replace Dinobot.

🔔 Subscribe for our ongoing coverage of Beast Wars from the very beginning!

📌 Topics covered this episode:

– Beast Wars Season 2 Episode 13 "The Agenda (Part 3)" recap & review

– Beast Wars Season 2 retrospective

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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.

Chris Redfield gets his team killed (yet again). Leon S. Kennedy can’t get his vacation. Rebecca Chambers has been missing from the franchise for fifteen years, but now she’s back (just to big kidnapped). A mysterious man releases a virus on New York City. Basically, business as usual in the Resident Evil universe.

This week on Toonami Absolution, Alyx, Jon, and Sam cover Resident Evil: Vendetta (2017), the third Capcom CGI film and the one that finally brings Chris, Leon, and Rebecca into the same story.

Set between Resident Evil 6 and Resident Evil 7 starts with Chris Redfield trying to hunt down Glenn Arias, a black market weapons dealer with a new virus and a very personal revenge plan.

Alas, Arias escapes forcing Chris to team up with Leon S. Kennedy and Rebecca Chambers, to bring him down. Alas, Arias becomes fixated on Rebecca Chambers due to her resemblance to his dead wife. Thus, Leon grabs a motorcycle and joins Chris on a race through New York to save Rebecca and stop Arias before he can turn everyone into zombies.

We discuss how Vendetta compares to Degeneration and Damnation, what we think about Rebecca's return to the franchise after fifteen years absence, and if Capcom actually understands what Resident Evil fans actually want from a movie version.

🔔 Subscribe for our ongoing watch-through of Toonami and Adult Swim's most iconic films and franchise deep cuts!

****

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.

Gohan is alone in the wilderness, Krillin tries to work out how to break the news to Chi-Chi and Dragon Ball Z invents the filler episode.

This week on Toonami Absolution, Alyx, Jon, and Sam cover Dragon Ball Z in two different dubs: Ocean Dub Episode 5, "Gohan's Metamorphosis," and then the franchise's very first filler episode: Episode 9 in the original dub, "The Strangest Robot."

"No Time Like the Present" wraps up the immediate aftermath of Raditz's death and sets the one-year clock ticking. Piccolo hauls Gohan out into the wilderness for training, something that leads to him destroying the Moon when he learns the true secret of the Saiyans. At the same time, Goku begins his journey down Snake Way.

Then Episode 9, "The Strangest Robot," takes a sharp left turn into pure filler: Gohan falls into an underground ruin and discovers a probe robot that has been buried there for eighty years. The robot is grumpy. Gohan is crying and refuses to leave it alone, but despite this, they become unlikely companions.

It is the first time in Dragon Ball Z's history that an episode departs entirely from the manga, and it is a gentle, melancholy little thing about a boy learning that people who look after you don't always get to stay. But is it worth watching?

We compare how the two dubs handle the transition between these early episodes, what "The Strangest Robot" tells us about the anime industry and if Dragon Ball Z’s filler is worth watching.

🔔 Subscribe for our ongoing week-by-week watch-through of Dragon Ball Z!

📌 Topics covered this episode:

– DBZ [Ocean Dub] Episode 5 "No Time Like the Present" recap & review

– DBZ [Funimation Dub] Episode 9 "The Strangest Robot" recap & review

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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.

The Tripredacus Council has had enough. They've been watching Megatron rewrite history from the shadows and they want him to stop doing that. Thus, they send a classic Transformers character in to deal with the problem (how can this plan go wrong?)

This week on Toonami Absolution, Alyx, Jon, and Sam cover "The Agenda (Part 1)" and "The Agenda (Part 2)" the first two thirds of the Season 2 finale.

"The Agenda (Part 1)" opens with the transwarp wave from the Planet Buster's destruction reaching Cybertronian space which the Maximals take as their rescue signal, until the Tripredacus Council quietly intercepts and suppresses it. They don't want Cybertron finding out what's been happening in the Beast Wars. They don't want Megatron brought back publicly. So, they send Covert Agent Ravage to Earth to bring Megatron.

Then "The Agenda (Part 2)" shows why this is a terrible idea, as after Megatron reveals the ultimate power of the Golden Disc, Ravage switches sides immediately. Thus, the Maximals are now once again on the back foot, having to put down Megatron’s latest plan before he can do something horrible.

We discuss what the Ravage reveal means for the show's relationship with G1, and debate if season 2’s ending will be better than season 1’s infamous cliffhanger.

🔔 Subscribe for our ongoing coverage of Beast Wars from the very beginning!

📌 Topics covered this episode:

– Beast Wars Season 2 Episode 11 "The Agenda (Part 1)" recap & review

– Beast Wars Season 2 Episode 12 "The Agenda (Part 2)" recap & review

****

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.

Leon S. Kennedy has been ordered to leave the Eastern Slav Republic immediately. Alas, he’s kinda busy dealing with yet another zombie outbreak.

This week on Toonami Absolution, Alyx, Jon, and Sam continue our Resident Evil movie retrospective with Resident Evil: Damnation (2012), the second Capcom CGI film and the direct follow-up to Degeneration.

Set roughly six years after the fall of Raccoon City and one year after Resident Evil 4, the film drops Leon into a civil war in the Eastern Slav Republic, a country where rebel insurgents are using Las Plagas parasites as weapons, with predictably catastrophic results.

However, when Leon meets a rebel leader named Buddy and a fighter named JD, he quickly learns that there may be more to this war than meets the eye, forcing Leon to dive head-first into the conspiracy. Plus, Ada Wong is here, doing Ada Wong things, like tricking the government of the Eastern Slav Republic, flirting with Leon, and enraging in fights that are 90% bullet time and 5% random pro-wrestling moves.

We talk about how Damnation compares to Degeneration, and how this film suggests Capcom were surprised by the former film’s success.

🔔 Subscribe for our ongoing watch-through of Toonami and Adult Swim's most iconic films and franchise deep cuts!

****

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.

Raditz is still standing. Piccolo has a plan. And Gohan is about to show that, under the tears, he has a Saiyan heart.

This week on Toonami Absolution, Alyx, Jon, and Sam cover Dragon Ball Z Ocean Dub Episodes 3 and 4: "Gohan's Hidden Powers" and "Goku's Unusual Journey."

Episode 3 escalates the Raditz fight in the worst way, as Raditz seems completely untouchable. That is until Gohan deploys Dragon Ball Z’s funniest named attack “Leave My Daddy Alone!” stunning Raditz for just long enough for Goku to get into the fight. However, Goku still has to make the ultimate sacrifice to put his brother down for good.

Episode 4 turns the victory into a defeat though, as Raditz's dying taunt that two far more powerful Saiyans are already on their way makes Piccolo takes Gohan for special training, realizing that when Vegeta and Nappa arrive, he’ll need all the help he can get. At the same time, Goku startss his long trek up Snake Way to meet King Kai.

We dig into what makes this opening arc so effective as a tonal reset from Dragon Ball, what the Ocean voice cast brings to these early episodes, and how Saban’s edits change Dragon Ball Z’s feel.

🔔 Subscribe for our ongoing watch-through of Dragon Ball Z from the very beginning!

📌 Topics covered this episode:

– DBZ Ocean Dub Episode 3 "Gohan's Hidden Powers" recap & review

– DBZ Ocean Dub Episode 4 "Goku's Unusual Journey" recap & review

****

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.

Beast Wars breaks your heart two episodes in a row. "Code of Hero" and "Transmutate" arrive back to back, and together they represent Beast Wars at its absolute best.

This week on Toonami Absolution, Alyx, Jon, and Sam cover the two most emotionally devastating episodes of Season 2.

"Code of Hero" opens with Dinobot alone in his quarters, quietly contemplating whether to end it all. But as the existential crisis that's been building all season reaches its peak, Dinobot questions if a deed done that can't be undone, and whether his fate was ever truly his own. But when Megatron locates a valley of early proto-humans and attempts to rewrite history, Dinobot heads out alone to find the answer.

What follows is one of the most acclaimed episodes in the entire Transformers franchise: a dying warrior giving it his all against impossible odds to prove that, when push came to shove, they were more good than they believed.

Then "Transmutate" takes it up a notch. A badly damaged stasis pod produces something that can't transform, barely communicates, and has the mind of a child, a being both sides immediately want to dispose of. However, Rampage and Silverbolt don’t see a freak, but a kindred spirit and both start arguing about what to do with it.

However, this episode is also infamous due to a fake script leak that suggested this episode would feature a very unexpected scene….

We talk about why these two episodes hit so hard, what "Code of Hero" means for the rest of the season, and whether Beast Wars has any right to be this good.

🔔 Subscribe for our ongoing coverage of Beast Wars from the very beginning!

📌 Topics covered this episode:

– Beast Wars Season 2 Episode 9 "Code of Hero" recap & review

– Beast Wars Season 2 Episode 10 "Transmutate" recap & review

****

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.

One is a 20-minute theme park ride attraction from 2000 that was only ever shown in Japan, somehow directed by the man behind Genocyber. The other is the first full-length CGI Resident Evil film made to actually sit within the game continuity, one that reunites Leon S. Kennedy and Claire Redfield for the first time since Raccoon City blew up.

Together, they represent the two milestones for Resident Evil animation: the first CG Resident Evil movie and the first feature-length CG Resident Evil movie.

This week on Toonami Absolution, Alyx, Jon, and Sam cover both back to back.

Biohazard 4D-Executer (2000) is set concurrently with Resident Evil 2 and 3 and follows a five-person UBCS squad sent into Raccoon City to locate a missing Umbrella scientist named Dr. Cameron and retrieve her research. The Cameron Virus she was developing turns out to function like The Thing: it infects any living creature, jumps between hosts, and produces increasingly nightmarish hybrid forms. But, as it was designed as a 3D motion-seat attraction for Japanese theme parks, everything zombie decides to jump at the camera, rather than the characters. It also features a first-person POV sequence from inside a zombified cockroach, which might be a new sentence.

Resident Evil: Degeneration (2008) is a different animal entirely. Set one year after Resident Evil 4, the film opens with Claire Redfield caught in a T-virus outbreak at Harvardville Airport when a crashed plane releases infected passengers into a crowded terminal. Thankfully, the most American man ever made, Leon S. Kennedy is dispatched to handle it.

The pair reunite in almost exactly the same way they met in RE2. But, this isn’t any regular zombie outbreak, as Leon and Claire quickly find themselves entangled in a conspiracy that features the shadowy WilPharma Corporation, the G-virus, a man named Curtis Miller who is the most Capcom-looking man ever created.

We dig into the history of Resident Evil on film, talk about what Executer says about where the franchise was at the turn of the millennium, and question how Degeneration holds up as the first serious attempt at a game-canon RE film.

🔔 Subscribe for our ongoing watch-through of Toonami and Adult Swim's most iconic anime, films, and deep-cut franchise lore!

****

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 week, we're going back to the very beginning. The place where it all began (for American fans anyway) Dragon Ball Z: The Ocean Dub!

This week on Toonami Absolution, Alyx, Jon, and Sam cover Dragon Ball Z Episodes 1 and 2 as they aired in the original 1996 Ocean/Saban dub: "The Arrival of Raditz" and "The World's Strongest Team."

Episode 1 opens five years after the end of Dragon Ball. There's a farmer with a shotgun, alas his lovely rural day is ruined when a space pod crashes and a long-haired alien steps out claiming to be Goku's brother. Even worse he’s angry that Goku has failed to wipe out all life on Earth.

When Raditz finds Goku, he turns Dragon Ball’s lore on its head, instantly drawing a hard line between Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z. Episode 2 escalates immediately: the only way to beat Raditz is if Goku and Piccolo fight together, and that means the series' hero and its former final villain have to put their old rivalry aside and become brothers-in-arms.

Ian Corlett's Goku, Brian Drummond's Vegeta-era voice work, the Rock the Dragon theme, Shuki Levy's score, this is the version of DBZ that a lot of North American audiences met first, and there's something genuinely time-capsule-worthy about revisiting it from the start.

We get into how the Ocean Dub was made, how it holds up and makes these two episodes such an effective opening for a series that was about to completely redefine what Western audiences expected from anime, and what it meant to encounter DBZ for the first time on a Saturday morning in 1996.

🔔 Subscribe for our ongoing watch-through of Toonami and Adult Swim's greatest shows, films, and the dubbing choices that shaped a generation!

📌 Topics covered this episode:

– DBZ Ocean Dub Episode 1 "The Arrival of Raditz" recap & review

– DBZ Ocean Dub Episode 2 "The World's Strongest Team" recap & review

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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.