S3E3: Ah, Toonami. The after-school programming block that shaped a generation and had no business being that cool. American millennials especially love to wax nostalgic about Toonami; If you've ever found yourself outside that conversation for whatever reason (too young or old, not from the US, weren't interested at the time, didn't have that channel, etc.) and wanted a quick guide for understanding the millennial Toonami experience, Rae & Josué have you covered in this episode of Otaku Ryoho!

Josué and Rae dive a little deeper in their respective anime origin stories, shaped by the iconic Saturday-morning cartoon blocks that first brought anime to the west (salute the real ones- WB Kids and Fox Box) and later Toonami. They cover a brief history of Toonami and reflect on the shows that shaped us, year by year.

Also we have a(n unofficial) slogan now! Otaku Ryoho: Everything's Better With A Mech!

Themes/Topics Discussed:

• Change
• Cultural representation
• Finding Oneself/Identity Development
• Resilience
• Discovery of new cultures and mediums
• Nostalgia

Relatable Experiences:

• Clarity/Understanding
• Coming of age/Getting older
• Loss (other than death)
• Transitions and change
• Shared cultural experiences
• Fallible human memory 
• Formative media

Anime/Characters Mentioned: 

• Pokemon
• Ranma 1/2
• Digimon
• Cardcaptor Sakura
• Escaflowne
• Fighting Foodons 
• Ultimate Muscle (Kini Kuman)
• Dragon Ball/Dragon Ball Z
• Sailor Moon
• Macross/Robotech
• Ronin Warriors
• Tenchi Muyo/Tenchi Universe/Tenchi in Tokyo
• Blue Submarine Number 6
• G-Force: Guardians of Space
• Mobile Suit Gundam Wing
• Zoids: Chaotic Century
• Mobile Suit Gundam
• Mobile Suit Gundam: the 8th MS Team
• Mobile Suit Gundam: 0080 War in the Pocket
• Outlaw Star
• Cardcaptors 
• Hamtaro
• Mobile Fighter G Gundam
• Cyborg 009
• Astro Boy
• .hack//Sign
• SD Gundam Force
• Dragon Ball GT
• Yu Yu Hakusho
• Ruroni Kenshin 
• Astro Boy (2004)
• Gundam Seed
• Zatch Bell
• Yu-Gi-Oh! 
• Naruto
• One Piece
• Cowboy Bebop
• Inuyasha
• Samurai Champloo
• Trigun
• Rent-A-Girlfriend
• Slayers
• Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood
• Zoro and Sanji (One Piece)
• Gundam Age 
• Mobile Suit Gundam: GQuuuuuux

Non-Anime Media Mentioned: 

• WB Kids Saturday morning cartoons programming block
• Fox Kids/Fox Box programming block
• Toonami cartoon programming block
• Thundercats
• Voltron
• Johnny Quest
• Cartoon Roulette [Space Ghost, Birdman, Galaxy Trio, the Herculoids, Superman (1940's)]
• Super Friends
• Beast Wars Transformers
• Reboot
• The Powerpuff Girls
• Superman: The Animated Series
• Batman: The Animated Series
• Batman Beyond
• She-Ra
• Star Wars

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• Join the discussion on the GT Forum at https://forum.geektherapy.org/ and connect with the Geek Therapy Network through the links at https://geektherapy.org/.
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Conversation Starters: 

Which Toonami-era shows were formative for you? How do they still influence you to this day?