I have a feeling a number of readers of this blog from North America will recall the years of yore when the anime invasion hit our shores. Those were the days when Cartoon Network began broadcasting its Toonami block on weekday afternoons, hosted by Moltar of Space Ghost fame, consisting of, among other classic shows, Thundercats, Voltron, and The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest. Over the next three years young American minds got their first taste of anime, and boy did we eat it up. Though some of it never really struck my fancy (Ronin Warriors? Seriously?) I ate up the early mecha anime on Toonami. Perhaps the biggest impression was made by Gundam Wing. And recently, as I go back through (rather extensive) list of anime that one internet hivemind deemed worth watching, Gundam Wing’s name came up in my hard drive. It was time for a walk down memory lane, to see how those heroes, villains, and giant robots stood up to the test of time and nostalgia.

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