Class of 2004
First Toonami-Exclusive Series To Keep Its Original Opening Theme Since September 1997

First Toonami Show To Have A 180 Degree Fan Reaction Between Episode One and Two

First Toonami Show To Air "Officially" On Saturday Nights in Prime Time Since Summer 1998*

Current Keystone Series Of The New Toonami

Who's the kid with the spikey hair, and how did he become a fan favorite on Toonami?

When DuelMasters was announced back in the fall of 2003 as a Toonami-bound series, fans immediately started throwing bricks at Cartoon Network and Nelvana, who was supposed to be distributing the series. The fans felt that a series based on a faddish game not unlike Yu-Gi-Oh and Beyblade had no place on Toonami. That, and they have never heard of the series. The otaku who are usually up on the latest shows didn't even know the franchise, which was co-developed by Wizards of the Coast, was even animated, so until the first promos premiered, many viewers felt that it was going to be another psuedoanime from America based on the Dreamwave comics.

Oh, how wrong they were.

The series, distributed by Plastic Cow (who also animated the beastly duel monster sequences), was indeed anime. And for the first half hour of its movie premiere, the series was written off as a failure, a miserable, ugly, horrible, boring failure.

Then the second part of the premiere aired. Obviously, something changed for the better. Instead of being another uberserious card battle series, DuelMasters turned into a self-parodying anime series. There was something extremely deviant about seeing characters like Shobu and his friends ponder why the music suddenly changed without explanation or opponents wonder about missing their hair stylist appointments. DuelMasters wasn't going to be the average anime series, and from that moment on, fans became hooked.

Some of the jokes will definitely go over a kid's head and aimed towards an older set, which surprised a lot of viewers. When the series became the keystone of the new Toonami Saturday night lineup, many were shocked and surprised. What seems like a kid-friendly game fad franchise has become the closest thing to a comedic anime series on American television, a definite break from the gloom and doom and overseriousness of many of today's anime series. And that's a break we all could use.

Go on to the next show.