Fourteen years ago, "Symbionic Titan" first aired on Cartoon Network today!
I don't see many people talking about this when it first aired. It was the perfect combination of high school drama, anime robots and kaiju monsters. Genndy Tartakovsky was inspired to make this show about his experience moving from the former Soviet Union (Russia) into America as a teen.
The show follows the lives of Lance (voiced by Kevin Thoms), Ilana (voiced by Tara Strong), and Octus (voiced by Brian Posehn), two alien teenagers and a robot respectively in the form of humanoids living on Earth, "identical" planet to Galaluna, while fleeing an evil general who has taken over their home planet with the help of monstrous creatures called Mutraddi.
Now, they must learn to blend into their new home as they deal with new enemies, friends, and teen troubles. This was right up my alley especially when I was about in high school when I watched it. It was mature but not too edgy. There was even the notorious episode where the redhead girl Kimmy started twerking in front of Octus so she can get him to do her homework. Of course, being a robot, he was confused and immediately turned her down.
To my surprise, this supposed mean girl started to warm up to Octus and act really nice as the series went on. There are some cliches though but is done uniquely. Instead of pairing up Lance and Ilana together, they are treated more as siblings. It is a shame the show was canned a year later due to a lack of toy sales.
If you ask me, you don't need toys to sell a good show. Anime didn't need to sell mascot plushies to kids to get popular but the appeal of characters among fans.