"Greetings Toonami faithful."

3/17/97-9/20/08: Goodnight, sweet prince.

For those unaware, outside of the U.S., or just ig-na-ent, Saturday was Toonami's, Cartoon Network's action cartoon/Anime block of programming, final broadcast. I was introduced to the programming amalgam of Eastern and Western animation in 2000, when my half of the town finally got an extended cable package that included Cartoon Network (while my friends in middle school got to brag about finally getting to see new episodes of Dragon Ball Z and learn about, get this, new non-DBZ anime like Gundam Wing, Tenchi Muyo! and the classic anime Ronin Warriors).
For the young to-be otaku of this generation, Toonami was the gateway to the wonderful, dorky world of Japanese animation as well as some truly epic original series like Samurai Jack and Megas XLR. The programming block, in its heyday, featured CG animated shorts starring Toonami host TOM in an ongoing storyline, making the block more than just JAPAN ANIMATION, ADS, ADS- it was a story run alongside other stories. The block also became the precursor to Cartoon Network's successful ADULT SWIM evening programming with the "Mightnight Run" block- more mature anime, such as Outlaw Star and Cowboy Bebop (both still some of my favorite series of all time), shown after midnight, as the program's title implied. Midnight Run also broke the regular anime schedule for movie nights, nights featuring animated music videos (both mix-ups of TOONAMI house-made techno and bands like Daft Punk and Gorillaz) and other fresh television viewing events.

The generation-defining's final program aired one last plotline for Toonami. Host TOM4, voiced by Steven Blum- voice actor of Cowboy Bebop protagonist Spike Spiegel, concluded the final block with his most memorable line to date, "Bang," appropriately ending the life-changing series, gateway and television block's run on Cartoon Network.

The end of the Toonami block can be viewed here. (caution: manly tears)
See you, Space Cowboy.