Fuhen

When I was in America a few months back I was able to watch TV once or twice. It seems UK TV has taken a lot of inspiration from there. We get ad breaks scheduled every 10-15 minutes now, we have graphics pop-up moments after a show has begun telling us what's next, as well as before and after the ad break and then again when the credits roll. We also get the credits shifted to a small screen in the corner or cut to get more ads and spam for shows about to be broadcasted.

Basically it's a mass of things which just detract. I know what's coming next and if not I'll quickly bring up teletext. I also don't need an ad break every 10 minutes, especially if your show is being sponsored, surely that should mean you can ease up on the breaks.


There is one thing that I would like TV companies to take note of; the treatment of anime.

I'm sure there will be those who disagree and will say the US get a bum deal in regard to anime, however it is none existant on terrestrial TV aside from stuff like Pokemon and our choice on satellite/cable is not much better.

Once upon a time we had shows like Cowboy Bebop, Outlaw Star, Gundam Wing, Tenchi, Nadesico and Evangelion. Now we have Bedamon, Ultimate Muscle and some other random lame stuff.

The channel CNX was one of the best around, it introduced me to Cowboy Bebop (which was uncut/uncensored) and Outlaw Star as well as showing Asian cinema. Sci-Fi had Saiko Exciting, which was wacky and odd but ultimately cool as well as the late night showings of Nadesico and Eva. It showed a random old anime flick each week as well (which they increasingly relied upon).

Then the rot set in. CNX was slowly shunted by Toonami. With nothing new really being shown, Toonami slowly got more and more airtime to the point that the channel was relaunched as Toonami in the Kids section of the TV channel listings. Sci-Fi dropped their anime nights and moved good anime shows into stupid hours each day (5 or 6am).

I haven't seen any anime on the Sci-Fi listings for an age now and I've stopped checking. Toonami isn't any better, despite how it started, just happy to perpetuate the idea of anime being for kids.

If you look at the US and the equivalent, well it's quite shameful. The time slot reserved for Adult Swim shows Cowboy Bebop, Samurai Champloo and other good shows. Shows that would go a long way to catch new fans to the anime scene.

It is some consolation that Rapture is being relaunched in the coming months and they have anime on the schedule in amongst everything else. A channel that may be able the successor to CNX with more variety in shows to keep a constant audience so that it can grow and have a proper chance. Either way, I hope it goes a long way to represent the great anime that is being released and the fanbase as well as making other channels sit up and take note.