Rob,

As someone who has come to the world of anime - and this group - fairly recently
and by way of Cartoon Network (mostly), I am grateful that you've provided a
rather comprehensive list of what's out there, thank you. It has served to fill
me in on several shows which I didn't quite "get" (esp. "FLCL" and "Trigun") but
now I do.

Incredible story, well-produced and voiced and quite compelling.>

One omission that I noticed (unless I completely glossed over it) was
"Gatchaman", a.k.a., "Battle of the Planets", "G Force" (yuk), a fave of mine
from my mid-teen years. The opening credits music grabbed my attention as a
(former) trumpet player, along with that /voiceover/..."Dedicated, inseparable,
in-VINC-ible!" (I always thought "Voltron" was a rip-off; similar characters,
a villain from whom they had to defend their planet and who sent mecha to fight
them....etc.) Was it on your list or is there yet another name under which it
could have been found?

Another question which may seem fairly obvious but for which I've never seen a
definitive answer: what is the seeming preoccupation with robots in certain
segments of the anime genre (going all the way back to the days of "Gigantor")?