Toonami Absolution

The Joker, the Penguin, the Riddler, and Catwoman have joined forces, formed an alliance called the United Underworld, acquired a device that can reduce human beings to dust and are planning to use it on the United Nations Security Council. Batman has a spray can that repels sharks. This is 90 minutes of pure joy. This week on Toonami Absolution, Alyx, Jon, and Sam cover Batman: The Movie (1966),...

A waitress spills tea on the wrong customer. A vagabond and a ronin both anger the same magistrate and are sentenced to death. The waitress rescues them. But she isn’t doing this out of the goodness of her heart, she has a condition: she needs their help to find the samurai who smells like sunflowers. This week on Toonami Absolution, Alyx, Jon, and Sam start a brand new series: Samurai Champloo. t...

Matt Hagen finally has his revenge. A mild-mannered accountant from Ohio becomes the most dangerous man in Gotham for five minutes. And a background character who will eventually become one of the most famous characters in DC Comics makes her debut. This week on Toonami Absolution, Alyx, Jon, and Sam cover Episodes 21 and 22: "Feat of Clay, Part 2" and "Joker's Favor." "Feat of Clay, Part 2" opens...

A new figure in a Batsuit has been operating in Gotham without Bruce Wayne's knowledge or permission. Gotham's criminal infrastructure is being systematically dismantled. Batman has three suspects and no idea which one is responsible. The film is not as interested in the answer as you might expect. This week on Toonami Absolution, Alyx, Jon, and Sam cover Batman: Mystery of the Batwoman (2003), th...

The Spirit Bomb landed. The Great Ape is gone. Vegeta is on his knees and Krillin is holding a sword. One word from Goku is going to define the entire rest of Dragon Ball Z. This week on Toonami Absolution, Alyx, Jon, and Sam cover Ocean Dub Episode 26: "The Battle Ends,” the conclusion of the Saiyan Saga, and one of the single most consequential moments in the franchise. Gohan's Great Ape transfo...

One episode is about a fake psychic running a financial cult on Gotham's wealthy elite. The other episode is about an actor who becomes a living pile of clay and cannot stop changing shape, and it is devastating. This week on Toonami Absolution, Alyx, Jon, and Sam cover Episodes 19 and 20: "Prophecy of Doom" and "Feat of Clay, Part 1." "Prophecy of Doom" introduces Nostromos, a self-styled seer wh...

The TV series gave us a cheerful girl with fortune-telling cards and a slow-burn romance on a world of flying castles. The movie opens with Van covered in blood and Hitomi writing a suicide note. This week on Toonami Absolution, Alyx, Jon, and Sam cover Escaflowne: The Movie (2000), the theatrical reimagining of The Vision of Escaflowne, which takes the same characters, setting, and mecha and tell...

The Kaio-ken can't hold him. The Kamehameha can't stop him. The Spirit Bomb hits him and he survives. Vegeta has taken everything and the situation is very bad. This week on Toonami Absolution, Alyx, Jon, and Sam cover Ocean Dub Episodes 24 and 25: "Vegeta... Saiyan Style!" and "Stop Vegeta Now!" "Vegeta... Saiyan Style!" opens with Goku already at the limit of what his body can handle and Vegeta...

One episode features Batman catching an invisible man who is creepier than he should be. The other features Adam West and is genuinely one of the best episodes in the series. This week on Toonami Absolution, Alyx, Jon, and Sam cover Episodes 17 and 18: "See No Evil" and "Beware the Gray Ghost." "See No Evil" opens with a string of gem thefts committed by a man no one can see. The thief turns out t...

In 2007, Hideaki Anno released the first of four films re-examining Neon Genesis Evangelion from the beginning. The first question everyone asked was: is it actually different? The answer, for this one, is: sort of. This week on Toonami Absolution, Alyx, Jon, and Sam cover Evangelion: 1.0 You Are (Not) Alone. the first entry in the Rebuild of Evangelion tetralogy, and the beginning of an ambitious...

Nappa has been functionally unstoppable for four episodes. Then Goku arrives. Then Nappa has approximately ninety seconds of screen time remaining. This week on Toonami Absolution, Alyx, Jon, and Sam cover Ocean Dub Episodes 22 and 23: "Goku Strikes Back" and "Goku vs. Vegeta... A Saiyan Duel!" "Goku Strikes Back" gives Nappa precisely as much of a fight as he deserves: Goku dodges his every attac...

Batman meets his match. Bruce Wayne meets the woman he can't stop thinking about. They are the same person and he has no idea. This week on Toonami Absolution, Alyx, Jon, and Sam cover Episodes 15 and 16: "The Cat and the Claw, Part 1" and "The Cat and the Claw, Part 2,” the two-part premiere episode that introduced Catwoman to Batman: The Animated Series, and which aired first despite being produ...

The Joker has been dead for years. The new Batman is a teenager from the future. And Warner Bros were keen to cut it to ribbons, this Bonk gets hit with Joker gas, a satellite laser chase has seatbelts added, and a Bugs Bunny cartoon is muted because a character says "I wish I were dead." This week on Toonami Absolution, Alyx, Jon, and Sam cover Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker (2000), and we ar...

The three-hour wait is over. Goku still isn't there. So, Piccolo makes the most important decision of the Saiyan Saga. This week on Toonami Absolution, Alyx, Jon, and Sam cover Ocean Dub Episodes 20 and 21: "Time's Up!" and "The Return of Goku." "Time's Up!" closes the three-hour window and opens on Nappa, refreshed, resuming his methodical destruction of what remains of Earth's defenders. Gohan a...

I've Got Batman in My Basement is widely considered one of the weakest in the entire series. Heart of Ice won an Emmy and redefined a villain for every medium that followed. These two episodes air back to back. This week on Toonami Absolution, Alyx, Jon, and Sam cover Episodes 13 and 14: "I've Got Batman in My Basement" and "Heart of Ice." "I've Got Batman in My Basement" introduces the Penguin, h...

A boy wakes up as a Squirtle, and before he can asks questions he is immediately conscripted into a Pokémon rescue team. Just a normal day in the Pokémon world! This week on Toonami Absolution, Alyx, Jon, and Sam cover Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Team Go-Getters Out of the Gate!, the 2006 Cartoon Network special that served to promote the then-new Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Red Rescue Team and Blue Res...

Chiaotzu self-destructs. Tien fires a Tri-Beam until he can’t go on any more. Alas, Nappa walks away from both without a scratch. Also, nobody in this dub is dying. They are being sent to the Other Dimension. We need you to know how many times they say this. This week on Toonami Absolution, Alyx, Jon, and Sam cover Ocean Dub Episodes 18 and 19: "Nappa... The Invincible?" and "Tien Goes All Out!!,”...

Harvey Dent is gone. Two-Face is here. He has a plan, a coin, and a vendetta. And somehow, this week, Batman's biggest challenge isn't stopping a supervillain, it's convincing a mob boss to talk to a Catholic Priest. This week on Toonami Absolution, Alyx, Jon, and Sam cover Episodes 11 and 12: "Two-Face, Part 2" and "It's Never Too Late." "Two-Face, Part 2" opens with Gotham's criminal underworld...

We have now heard what may be the worst English dub ever made. Even worse, its put on top of a series we genuinely love. It's Kuwahara now. His name is Kuwahara. That's what they did. This week on Toonami Absolution, Alyx, Jon, and Sam cover Yu Yu Hakusho: The Movie – Poltergeist Report (1994), the second and final full-length Yu Yu Hakusho theatrical film, and the only piece of Yu Yu Hakusho medi...

Nappa plants six Saibamen in the ground. Tien dominates his immediately. Yamcha decides he wants a go and prepares to fight. This is a mistake. This week on Toonami Absolution, Alyx, Jon, and Sam cover Ocean Dub Episodes 16 and 17: "The Battle Begins... Goku Where Are You?" and "The Saibamen Strike,” the moment the Saiyan Saga decides that we need less characters. In "The Battle Begins" Piccolo, G...

Mayor Hill publicly compares Batman to the Joker. The Joker takes this personally and infiltrates his son's birthday party in response, which is a proportionate and measured reaction. Then, Harvey Dent becomes Two-Face in one of Batman: TAS’ most famous episodes. This week on Toonami Absolution, Alyx, Jon, and Sam cover "Be a Clown" and "Two-Face, Part 1," and this pairing is doing a lot of heavy...

Paragus lands on Earth and invites Vegeta to rule New Planet Vegeta. Vegeta, like an idiot doesn’t question this and immediately agrees. Turns out Paragus son, Broly, is the legendary Super Saiyan and wants to crush Goku because they were in adjoining cribs as newborns and Goku cried too damn much. Way to keep a grudge. This week on Toonami Absolution, Alyx, Jon, and Sam cover Dragon Ball Z: Broly...

King Kai just neglected to calculate the return trip. Goku has two days to get back. Nappa just destroyed East City. But according to Ocean, everything is fine because that half of city was abandoned. This week on Toonami Absolution, Alyx, Jon, and Sam cover Ocean Dub Episodes 14 and 15: "The Legend of the Saiyans" and "A Black Day for Planet Earth,” the end of Goku's training and the moment the S...

A Rashomon homage about three cops with wildly different accounts of the same evening. A story that asks what is Bruce Wayne without his memory, his gadgets, his costume, or his memories? This week on Toonami Absolution, Alyx, Jon, and Sam cover "P.O.V." and "The Forgotten." "P.O.V." opens in the aftermath of a blown sting operation. Lieutenant Hackle from Internal Affairs has Bullock, Officer Mon...

We have a confession to make. We watched this movie. We found it very boring. So we spend 30 minutes trying to talk about literally anything else, some of which is He-Man related. This week on Toonami Absolution, Alyx, Jon, and Sam cover He-Man and the Masters of the Universe: The Beginning (2002): the 90-minute pilot movie that launched the 2002 He-Man reboot series. But in the spirit of full tra...