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On March 1, 2024, the legendary creator of "Dragon Ball," Akira Toriyama, passed away at the age of 68. It is legitimately impossible to encapsulate how influential and beloved Toriyama's work has become, but his epic tale of an aspiring martial artist named Goku who discovers magical wish-granting Dragon Balls became the definitive shōnen battle manga. Its follow-up series "Dragon Ball Z" would become an international sensation and served as one of the gateways to Japanese animation for audiences in the West.

I can only speak from my own experience, but "Sailor Moon," "Gundam Wing," and "Dragon Ball Z" were the holy trinity of animation for me as a kid, and I know I'm not alone. I was fortunate enough to catch random episodes of "Sailor Moon" on the USA Network, but everything changed when it was added to the Toonami programming block on Cartoon Network (later Adult Swim) that would completely change my life.

Created by Sean Akins and Jason DeMarco, Toonami is a late-night programming block that helped introduce Japanese animated series to audiences in the West. First launched in 1997 on Cartoon Network, the block continues to this day on Adult Swim and is responsible for expanding the animated palate of multiple generations, myself included. Originally, Toonami was hosted by Moltar, a former supervillain from the 1966 animated series "Space Ghost" (not to be confused with "Space Ghost Coast to Coast"), but was replaced three years later by Tom (short for Toonami Operations Module). Tom wasn't just a host; he also came with his own lore and storyline from episode to episode, similar to the way the robots on "Mystery Science Theater 3000" also have backstories and character arcs.

Tom was a way to usher in a new era of Toonami, kicking off his transmission with an episode of "Sailor Moon R." Fans loved Tom,...

In the late 1990s, Bandai Entertainment and the Japanese animation studio Sunrise approached young director Shinichirō Watanabe to make a sci-fi action show (mostly so they could sell spaceship toys). Watanabe took that directive and led the creation of "Cowboy Bebop."

This 26-episode show followed down-on-their-luck bounty hunters in the year 2071, when mankind has colonized the solar system and left behind a ruined Earth. It brought Western and noir storytelling together into its sci-fi setting, fused with an existential mood and jazzy music composed by Yoko Kanno.

"Cowboy Bebop" first aired in Japan 25 years ago, from 1998 to 1999, and Bandai Entertainment soon imported it stateside, where it debuted on Cartoon Network block Adult Swim in 2001. If anything, it's become an even bigger (and more enduring) hit in the U.S. than in its homeland. A big reason for this popularity was because the English dub was excellent: The characters speaking the...