Stay Gold

Edit: [URL="http://xx-jinx-xx.deviantart.com/art/Thanks-Toonami-98634795"]Thanks Toonami...[/URL]

Browsing the Anime/Manga forums on Menewsha, I saw one thread in particular that caught my eye.

[I]'Farewell, Toonami...'[/I] My eyes widened. [I]Sweet sacred spring of Stranglethorn, this can't be good.[/I]

My cursor moves over the link, checking the date - 09-21-2008 - and I click it, nearly dreading what might lay beyond. The first post was by Digital Kakashi. [I]Never heard of him before...[/I] I stopped, actually reading the post.

[I]Last night was the end of Toonami. Many anime fans were introduced to anime because of it and after 11 years it's gone for good. ;_; Adult Swim seems to be heading in the same direction unfortunately...[/I]

The whole world stood still around me. Either that or I had frozen in time, and the rest of the world was moving on with out me. I repeat that sentence in my mind, not quite able to believe it.

[I]Many anime fans were introduced to anime because of it and after 11 years it's gone for good...[/I]

Images flash before my eyes. A few clips from Dragonball Z I had thought I had forgotten; sitting on a couch next to my cousin when I was three, watching Bob fight Megabyte for the upteenth time in Reboot; some vague memory from the Justice League; the end of a Sailor Moon episode...

I had watched those shows sitting next to my cousin or from my parents knee. Those shows had become a part of my childhood... a part of who I had become. I had watched the recorded tapes of Reboot until they wore out and my dad forbad me from watching them again, least they completely give out, but by that time I had already memorized each and every character by heart. And while I had nevered watched the other three as much, they still had helped shape who I became.

Toonami? [I]Gone?[/I]

Eleven years... Eleven freaking years. I just can't believe it.

The first post has a link to a "Old, Old" Toonami promo video. I click on it, opening the YouTube video in another tab. It has some really nice music, and clips from a few different shows they aired. One thing in particular that is said catches my attention.

"No one is gonna give you a map. You've gotta walk your own path."

I sigh. Yeah, we may have to walk our own paths, but what about the PAST of those paths, the things we saw and heard that made us choose the paths we take? What if a large part of who we are just... disappears after inspiring so many of us? Then what? Do we still walk that path, or what?

I replay the video then scroll down, reading other peoples comments.

[I]one of the last messages tom ever gave us...

You Will Be Missed....R.I.P Toonami....Stay Gold [/I]


[I]Toonami made me who I was today. I'll never get the old old toonami. Before it just went down the crapper...I love you Toonami[/I]


[I]after i watched toonami for the first time i thought "wow, this kicks the crap out of saturday morning cartoons!" [/I]


[I]thanks toonami.
youll memory will live on....
toonami fans(including me) will miss you.
to us.youll always be gold.-bang. [/I]


[I]God, nostalgia just smacked me in the face
i remember this from when they first showed it
R.I.P. GOOD TOONAMI R.I.P.
i remember when it wasn't about kid-friendliness but about awesome shows and good inspiration and lessons [/I]


They were all along similar lines, everyone got hit with a bit happiness of watching a video aired on such a familiar station, but that feeling was nearly wiped away from nostalgia, sorrow, and thanks. It seemed that everyone wanted to say their bit about Toonami before we all felt that we would have to let go of it forever.

"Don't fear failure."

I hadn't heard that line the first time around. It was odd. All of us, gathering at this video, saying our final farewells. Each standing on the seperate paths we took, but all of us lead here from the same source that made us who we are. And here we stood, being told not to fear failure and to walk our owns paths by a video of a thing that we all loved and knew.

I can feel the tears behind my eyes, but I don't let them fall- something I've gotten really good at over the past few weeks. I wonder what life will be like, knowing in the back of my mind that someday in the future I wouldn't be able to just go and track down Toonami, and go all nostalgic of the old days. Sure, I can find the recorded episodes online, but that just isn't the same.

So I guess we'll just have to keep on moving with life, putting on the happy face even if we aren't. A part of our childhoods is gone, but not forgotten. And it will live on in the hearts of each person it inspired as we grow and reminisce.

So like they say, we have to keep walking our paths and keep asking questions so we can be the best we can be.



R.I.P Toonami
1997 - 2008
Stay Gold


(Copasted from my deviantART submission, [URL="http://lathrine.deviantart.com/art/R-I-P-Stay-Gold-98902356"]"R.I.P - Stay Gold"[/URL] YES, I go all nostalgic 'n' crap when something like this happens. :< )