Anime Shows Every American Fan Grew Up Watching

What cartoons did you watch growing up? Were they primarily homegrown affairs? Or did you get into some anime shows Americans love? Because in our increasingly global world, you may not even realize the Kids’ WB or Toonami shows you were into were actually anime classic.

And in fact your childhood pop-culture nostalgia likely draws a lot from Japanese pop culture. So here are several anime shows Americans love. See you, Space Cowboy.

Astro Boy

Set in the future, the year 2000, Astro Boy is an allegorical meditation on grief, life after death, and the atrocities committed to the Japanese during World War II. It’s also wildly stylized, bursting at the seams with imaginatory imagery, and served as many Americans’ introduction to anime.

Speed Racer

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Like the Mach 5, Speed Racer moves fast! It’s a racing melodrama about our plucky titular hero, his loving family, the mysterious Racer X, and yes, a pet chimpanzee. Hugely influential, it inspired a polarizing Wachowski Siblings adaptation. Sorry for getting the theme song stuck in your head.

Lupin The Third

Forever immortalized by Lupe Fiasco, Lupin The Third is like if James Bond had a few too many martinis and still tried to stumble his way through missions. It’s snarky and silly, yet still effortlessly cool. If you don’t have the theme song stuck in your head, rectify immediately.

Dragon Ball Z

For many, the pinnacle of the American perception of anime, forever embedded into our cultural consciousness like so many senzu beans. If you ever want to hear an impassioned, semi-coherent theory about why Vegeta is a better protagonist than Goku, buy me, like, three hard ciders.