Toonami’s 35 Best Anime and Cartoons, Ranked

Say the word Toonami to anyone who grew up in the 90s or 2000s and watch their eyes light up.

Those Saturday nights in front of the TV, the drum-and-bass music, TOM’s calm robot voice, and a wall of action cartoons and anime you could not get anywhere else.

That block did not just fill an afternoon.

For a lot of us, it was where we fell in love with animation.

Number 35 is up first, and number one is waiting at the bottom.

Toonami’s 35 Greatest Broadcasts

Toonami, a mashup of the words cartoon and tsunami, was Cartoon Network’s action-animation block, created by Sean Akins and Jason DeMarco. It launched on March 17, 1997, ran until September 20, 2008, and came back on Adult Swim on May 26, 2012.

Here we go, from 35 up to number one.

Rave Master

I have a soft spot for Rave Master, mostly because it is such a clear first draft of a much bigger idea. It comes from Hiro Mashima, the same creator who would later strike gold with Fairy Tail, and you can feel him figuring out his style here. Haru Glory inherits the sacred Rave stones and sets off to stop the evil Demon Card, and while the show is fairly standard fantasy adventure, it is a fun watch.

Toonami gave it a home, and for Mashima fans it is a neat look at where he started.

Duel Masters

Duel Masters knew exactly what it was: a long commercial for a card game, and a pretty entertaining one.

It rode the same wave as Yu-Gi-Oh and Beyblade, where the whole point was to make you want to run out and build your own deck. What I always liked was how loose it played with its own rules, leaning into self-aware humor instead of pretending to be serious. It found a home on Toonami and did its job, which was selling a lot of cards.

Transformers: Armada

Transformers: Armada started life in Japan as Transformers: Micron Densetsu before Cartoon Network brought it over.

It leaned hard on the Mini-Cons, little Transformers that powered up the big ones, which was an obvious toy hook but a fun gimmick for a kid. Frankly the animation and pacing could be rough, but the nostalgic pull of Optimus and Megatron going at it again carried it. For franchise fans, it was comfort food.

Cyborg 009

Cyborg 009 is one of those shows that feels a little dated now but absolutely deserves respect. It is based on Shotaro Ishinomori’s classic manga, and it follows nine people rebuilt as cyborgs, each with a different ability, with Agent 009 able to move at incredible speed. The plots can feel simple by modern standards, but there is a real heart to this team of reluctant heroes.

If you like retro cyborg action, this one is a hidden gem worth digging up.

Jackie Chan Adventures

This one is a personal favorite, even if it is an American cartoon and not anime. It only made a couple of short runs on Toonami in 2004, but the mix of martial arts, magic talismans, and Uncle yelling “one more thing” was pure fun.

What sold it was Jackie Chan himself, who voiced a version of the intro and lent real martial-arts flavor to the fights. Jade was the secret weapon, though, the reckless niece who stole every scene she crashed into.

The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest

This modern reboot of the 1960s Hanna-Barbera classic was one of Toonami’s four launch shows on day one, back in March 1997. It updated the globe-trotting adventure formula with slicker digital painting and more serialized storytelling, and it drew mixed reactions for it.

I always appreciated that it gave Jonny a capable female counterpart in Jessie and treated Hadji as more than a sidekick. It was not perfect, but it fit Toonami’s whole vibe of respecting its audience.

ReBoot

ReBoot is a real piece of animation history, and not anime, but a Canadian series that was one of the first fully computer-animated shows ever made. It takes place inside a computer called Mainframe, where Guardian Bob defends the system from viruses like Megabyte and Hexadecimal.

The CGI looks charmingly primitive now, but the writing got surprisingly dark and ambitious. Toonami aired it starting in 1999, and its last couple of seasons were in fact exclusive to the block in the US, which makes it a real Toonami footnote.

Robotech

Robotech is a fascinating Frankenstein of a show. Released in 1985, it was famously stitched together from three completely separate Japanese anime, Super Dimension Fortress Macross, Southern Cross, and Genesis Climber MOSPEADA, and edited into one continuous story.

It was one of the shows Toonami leaned on in its early days, replacing Voltron in the 1998 lineup. For a lot of Western fans, this was their first taste of serious mecha and war-drama anime, and it opened doors.

.hack//Sign

.hack//Sign was ahead of its time, and I do not think it always gets enough credit. It was part of a huge multimedia project, launching alongside a PlayStation 2 game and another anime, all set inside a fictional MMORPG called The World.

Instead of nonstop action, it was slow, moody, and introspective, more interested in the psychology of being trapped in a game than in flashy fights. It was a bold thing to put on Toonami, and if you are in the right headspace, it is quietly brilliant.

Hikaru no Go

On paper, an anime about the board game Go sounds like it should be boring. In practice, Hikaru no Go is one of the most gripping shows on this list.

A young boy named Hikaru gets haunted by the spirit of an ancient Go master, and that ghost pushes him into the deep, competitive world of the game. What makes it work is that it treats Go with the same intensity most shows reserve for sword fights. It is proof that great storytelling can make anything thrilling.

The Prince of Tennis

The Prince of Tennis takes tennis about as seriously as Dragon Ball Z takes fistfights, and that is exactly why it rules. It follows tennis prodigy Ryoma as he joins the powerhouse Seigaku team, and the matches escalate into near-superhuman showdowns.

Basketball had Slam Dunk, but this show carved out its own space in the sports-anime world. Its legacy is huge, with stage musicals, live-action films, and a 2022 reboot, which tells you how much people still love it.

Hamtaro

Hamtaro is the odd one out on an action block, and frankly that is part of its charm. This gentle show about a hamster and his Ham-Ham friends had no business airing next to Gundam, and yet here we are.

That cheerful little hamster went on to have a wild second life, even becoming a protest symbol during Thailand’s 2020 student demonstrations, where crowds ran in circles like the Ham-Hams while chanting about where taxpayer money goes. Cute show, unexpectedly powerful legacy.

Astro Boy (2003)

The 2003 Astro Boy was a loving update of Osamu Tezuka’s foundational creation, the little robot boy who basically helped invent modern anime. This version kept the heart of the original while sharpening the animation for a new generation.

What always struck me is how thoughtful it is, wrestling with big questions about what makes someone human, how robots and people should treat each other, and plain old right and wrong. By airing it, Cartoon Network handed a new audience a piece of anime history, and it is easy to root for a hero this pure.

He-Man and the Masters of the Universe

The 2002 reboot of He-Man arrived on Cartoon Network with a real chip on its shoulder, and I mean that as a compliment.

It kept the 1980s spirit of Eternia but upgraded everything: sharper animation, better designs, and fight scenes with actual stakes. Skeletor was still a scheming ham, but the world-building around him felt truly rich this time. It never got the love it deserved, which makes it one of the more underrated action cartoons of its era.

Cardcaptors

Cardcaptors, known in Japan as Cardcaptor Sakura, is a magical-girl gem from the legendary creator group CLAMP. Sakura accidentally releases a deck of magical Clow Cards into the world and has to track them all down, each one a new challenge.

The Western dub was famously chopped up and reordered, so a lot of us did not get the full experience, but the charm still shone through. It only ran on the main Toonami block for a couple of weeks, but it left a mark on plenty of kids.

Voltron

Voltron holds a special place in Toonami history as the very first anime the block ever aired, back on launch day in 1997. The original 1980s series, itself heavily edited from a Japanese show, followed five pilots and their robot lions that combine into one giant defender to protect the planet Arus from King Zarkon and the witch Haggar.

It is simple, formula-driven fun, but that combining-robot climax never gets old. Without Voltron proving anime could work, the whole Toonami experiment might have looked very different.

Rurouni Kenshin

Rurouni Kenshin is one of the best samurai anime ever made, and it hit Toonami around 2003.

Kenshin is a former assassin trying to atone for a bloody past, so he wanders Meiji-era Japan carrying a reverse-blade sword that cannot kill. That single idea, a warrior sworn never to take another life, gives every fight real weight. Watching Kenshin walk the line between his violent history and his vow is what makes this show quietly devastating.

The Big O

The Big O is style dialed up to the maximum. Set in Paradigm City, a place where everyone lost their memories forty years ago, it follows negotiator Roger Smith and his towering mecha as he slowly digs into what really happened.

It looks like a noir detective story fused with a giant-robot show, all art deco shadows and jazz.

It was only a modest hit in Japan, but Toonami audiences in the West embraced it, and frankly it feels tailor-made for this block.

Tenchi Muyo

Tenchi Muyo landed on Toonami in 2000 and basically taught a generation what a harem anime was. An ordinary boy ends up surrounded by a cast of powerful women, including space pirates and alien princesses, with a dash of ancient Japanese magic thrown in.

It should have been a mess, but the blend of comedy, sci-fi, and mythology just clicked. Toonami toned down some of the fan service, of course, but even the edited version was a blast.

Outlaw Star

Outlaw Star blasted onto Toonami in 2001 and immediately became a favorite of mine.

Gene Starwind and his ragtag crew chase hidden treasure across the galaxy while a syndicate of space pirates hunts them down. It has everything: gunfights, grappler-ship battles, weird magic, and a truly fun cast.

It always lived in the shadow of its cousin Cowboy Bebop, but Outlaw Star is a rowdy space western in its own right, and it deserves more love.

ThunderCats

ThunderCats earns its spot on pure historical weight: it was the very first show Toonami ever aired, at 4:00 PM on March 17, 1997.

This 1980s classic follows a group of cat-like aliens who flee their dying planet and battle the mummified sorcerer Mumm-Ra on Third Earth.

Those enchanted swords and battle cries are burned into a whole generation’s memory, and it was a merchandising juggernaut. It is not anime, but it is Toonami DNA, and its success even led to a 2011 reboot that returned to the block.

My Hero Academia

My Hero Academia is the modern shonen that proved the genre still had plenty of gas in the tank. In a world where almost everyone has a superpower called a Quirk, Izuku Midoriya is born with nothing, and his journey from powerless kid to real hero is truly inspiring.

What sets it apart is the sheer creativity of its powers, since no two Quirks are the same.

It is one of the defining anime of the modern Toonami era, and it earned that status.

Pokemon: Master Quest

Pokemon is a global titan, though its time on Toonami was in fact pretty brief, with the Master Quest season airing on the block in 2006.

Still, it belongs here, because Toonami was part of the machine that made anime mainstream in the West, and Pokemon was the tip of that spear. Following Ash and Pikachu on their endless quest was a rite of passage for millions of kids.

It cemented Pokemon as one of the most beloved franchises on the planet, full stop.

YuYu Hakusho

YuYu Hakusho is a Toonami classic, and one of the smartest fighting anime ever made. It opens with delinquent teen Yusuke Urameshi dying, then coming back as a spirit detective who battles demons and ghosts.

From creator Yoshihiro Togashi, who later made Hunter x Hunter, it is packed with sharp characters, truly tense tournament fights, and humor that in fact lands.

Every time it aired on the block, I was glued to the screen, and it holds up beautifully today.

Samurai Jack

Samurai Jack is a Cartoon Network original, not anime, but it might be the most artistically stunning thing on this entire list.

A samurai is flung into a dark future ruled by the shape-shifting demon Aku, and he fights to find a way back to his own time. Creator Genndy Tartakovsky told huge stretches of story with almost no dialogue, letting the gorgeous visuals do the talking.

It holds a special honor too: a Samurai Jack rerun was the very last thing Toonami aired before it went dark in 2008, and its long-awaited fifth season finally landed on Adult Swim in 2017.

Attack on Titan

Attack on Titan is, for my money, one of the greatest anime ever made, and leaving it off a modern Toonami list would be absurd.

Humanity huddles behind giant walls to survive man-eating Titans, and the story spirals into one of the most shocking, ambitious narratives in the medium. It aired on the revived Toonami across multiple runs from 2014 into the 2020s.

Its sheer maturity makes for a wild contrast with the lighter cartoons Cartoon Network shows earlier in the day.

Yu-Gi-Oh!

Yu-Gi-Oh! turned a card game into a cultural phenomenon second only to Pokemon, and the Duel Monsters anime was the engine behind it. Spiky-haired Yugi Muto and his mysterious alter-ego Yami Yugi threw down in dramatic card duels while slowly unraveling an ancient Egyptian mystery.

Toonami never aired the entire series, but even a slice of it was enough to hook a legion of fans for life. I still cannot see a card game without hearing “it’s time to duel” in my head.

Gundam Wing

Gundam Wing did not just air on Toonami in 2000, it detonated. Its grittier, more political take on the Gundam saga, plus a small army of new mech designs, made it a massive hit with an older audience. Here is the part people get wrong, though: it did not create Adult Swim.

What it did do was fuel Toonami’s late-night Midnight Run, an uncut nightly block that showed the show unedited, blood, language, and all.

That was a real first for mainstream American TV, and it helped pave the way for the mature anime blocks that came later.

Bleach

Bleach is one of the legendary “Big Three” shonen, right alongside Naruto and One Piece.

Ichigo Kurosaki can see ghosts, and after inheriting the powers of a Soul Reaper named Rukia, he is pulled into a world of sword-swinging spirit warriors and escalating threats. It came to the block fairly late, joining the revived Adult Swim Toonami in 2012 and picking up partway through its long run.

Even arriving late, it brought its enormous fanbase along, and it quickly became one of Toonami’s most popular anime.

Dragon Ball

Before the world-shattering battles, there was just a kid with a tail and a flying cloud.

The original Dragon Ball, which found new life in Toonami’s early-2000s reruns, is a lighter, funnier, more adventurous story than its famous sequel. I love it precisely because it is smaller in scale, following young Goku on a quest for the Dragon Balls with plenty of martial arts and comedy.

It is the trailblazer that made everything after it possible, and it still holds up as pure fun.

Cowboy Bebop

Cowboy Bebop is, quite simply, one of the greatest anime ever made, and I will not hear otherwise. Directed by Shinichiro Watanabe, it follows a crew of bounty hunters aboard the ship Bebop, drifting through a lived-in future while their pasts slowly catch up with them.

The jazz soundtrack, the melancholy, the effortless cool, it all adds up to something timeless. Its relationship with Toonami is a bit tangled, since it was in fact the first anime Adult Swim ever aired before cycling through the lineup over the years, but it belongs in any conversation about this block.

One Piece

One Piece is the best-selling manga of all time and a “Big Three” pillar, but its early road on Toonami was rocky. Most of the first US broadcast used 4Kids’ infamously censored dub, which turned guns into water pistols and cut out entire characters.

Once 4Kids lost the rights, a more faithful Funimation dub aired, though the network canceled it partway through the Sky Island arc.

Thankfully it sailed back on the Adult Swim Toonami block from 2013 to 2017, and it remains a giant of the medium.

Sailor Moon

Sailor Moon might be the single most influential magical-girl anime ever, and its 1998 arrival on Toonami was a huge deal. Usagi Tsukino is a clumsy, panicky schoolgirl who transforms into Earth’s fiercest protector, blending classic magical-girl charm with the team dynamics of Super Sentai shows. It stayed a staple of the block for years across multiple dubbed seasons.

Notably, its fifth and final season, Sailor Stars, never got an English dub or a US airing at the time, which is a gap fans still talk about.

What Sailor Moon really did was expand who Toonami was for. It proved the block could deliver something beyond mechs and martial arts and still pull huge numbers, and it created lifelong anime fans in the process.

Naruto

Naruto premiered on Toonami in 2005 and became the defining anime for a whole generation of Western fans. A loud, lonely kid with a demon fox sealed inside him dreams of becoming his village’s leader, and that underdog story struck a nerve worldwide.

The magic is in the characters and the inventive ninja combat, plus that trademark mix of goofy humor and real emotional gut-punches. Its fanbase rivals Dragon Ball Z’s, and every Saturday night, fans lined up to return to the Hidden Leaf.

If Dragon Ball Z built the Toonami temple, Naruto kept it packed for the next era. It was the show that carried the block deep into the 2000s and proved anime fandom in the West was here to stay.

Dragon Ball Z

There was only ever going to be one show at the top, and it is Dragon Ball Z. This is the anime that made Toonami what it became.

When DBZ started pulling shocking ratings, Cartoon Network realized it had something special, and it went all in on anime because of it. Goku, Vegeta, and the Z Warriors leveling up to fight ever-bigger threats, from Raditz to Frieza to Majin Buu, delivered some of the most iconic moments in animation history.

More than that, DBZ was appointment television.

Waiting all week to see whether Goku would finally power up, then watching him charge an attack for three episodes straight, is a core memory for millions of us.

No show defined the block’s energy, its music, or its cultural footprint more. If Toonami had a heartbeat, this was it, and that is why it takes the number one spot.

The Block That Made Us Anime Fans

Ranking these is impossible to do perfectly, and I already know some of you will fight me on the order. That is half the fun.

What is not up for debate is what Toonami meant.

It was a gateway, the place countless people first discovered anime and action cartoons, delivered with a style and respect no other kids block ever matched.

So tell me: what is the one show you would move up the list, and which Toonami memory sticks with you the most?