Toonami

"Moltar"

Toonami is a late-night (formerly weekday-weekend afternoon) animated programming block on Adult Swim geared toward action-oriented programming, primarily consisting of American cartoons and Japanese anime. The name is a portmanteau of the words "cartoon" and "tsunami", suggesting a "tidal wave" of animated shows. Toonami first aired on Cartoon Network from March 17, 1997, to September 20, 2008.

On May 26, 2012, Adult Swim relaunched Toonami as an adult-oriented animated block, which continues as a Saturday night action block. During its original run, Toonami was famous for showcasing action anime that were popular with American audiences, such as Dragon Ball Z, Gundam Wing, Sailor Moon, Tenchi Muyo!, One Piece, Outlaw Star, and Naruto.

Promotion
April 1998, with support from sponsor General Mills and its subsidiary The Program Exchange, Cartoon Network gained syndication rights for Sailor Moon R. Sailor Moon debuted on Cartoon Network's Toonami June 1, 1998. The final seventeen episodes of Sailor Moon R premiered November 30, 1998 through December 22, 1998. The announcement of the last seventeen episodes was heavily promoted as "Sailor Moon: The Lost Episodes". The premiere itself, hosted by then-host Moltar, was called the "Lunar Eclipse".

Following its premiere on Toonami, Sailor Moon become the highest rated series on Toonami in August 1998, before it was overtaken by Dragonball Z in December of the same year. R was preceded by Sailor Moon and followed by Sailor Moon S.

The following season, Sailor Moon S premiered June 12, 2000. By then, DiC had lost the rights to Sailor Moon, which were now under the production of Cloverway Inc. During that time Sailor Moon was promoted on Toonami's The Rising Sun and Midnight Run alongside anime like Outlaw Star, Dragon Ball Z and Mobile Suit Gundam Wing. That same year, Sailor Moon Super S premiered September 26, 2000.

Both seasons were still fairly censored for sexual content, suggestive themes and violence. However, under Cartoon Network, the series was edited much in the same way Outlaw Star or The Big O were in order to maintain a cohesive storyline. The following year, November of 2001, Toonami's In-flight Movie aired the Sailor Moon movies, The Promise of the Rose (November 6, 2001), Hearts in Ice (November 9, 2001), and Black Dream Hole (November 16, 2001).

Sailor Moon remained syndicated on Toonami until July of 2002. In 2003 Cartoon Network lost all broadcast rights to Sailor Moon. In 2004, The Program Exchange withdrew from distributing Sailor Moon when its syndication rights expired.