Gephyrophillia | Watch This Space #121

Originally Posted on 09/25/2004 by Jeff Harris

For many, many years at TXB, I have witnessed and covered the evolution of Sony's Animax channel, from its creation as a 90% anime network in Japan, the first outlet in Japan to have nearly all-anime on its airwaves, to its co-sponsorship of anime related events at Metreon, to its recent explosion throughout Asia from India to China, to its current co-productions, including the recent Astro Boy series. Now, after gaining a significant cable partner in Comcast (owners of G4techTV, E!, and other cable networks), Sony may be seriously considering bringing the almost-all anime network stateside sometime in the near future.

But is America ready for Animax?

In the last half decade, anime has made a lot of in-roads in creating a place in American society. Aided by the success of Cartoon Network's anime-heavy blocks, Kids' WB, and a fresh batch of anime titles that has revolutionized the animation medium, the way people perceive anime in the mainstream has somewhat been a little more positive than in decades past. Anime is not seen as just "animated porn and violence all the time." In fact, anime is seen in some circles as just "children's entertainment." Of course, executives that feel this way are either jobless or on the cusp of power in narrowminded organizations, but I digress. Hearst was the first company to actually see the potential of anime in North America when they launched Locomotion, a Spanish-language mature animation network based in Florida seen throughout Mexico and Latin America. Years later, ADV Films upped the ante when they launched The Anime Network, the first all-anime network in North America. Studios like FUNimation and Viz are even flirting with launching their own anime channels in the near future. Cartoon Network, which actually launched an action channel in the UK now named after the Toonami block, continues to believe that there's no market for creating an action network, let alone an anime network. Sony, on the other hand, decided to up their anime "street cred" by launching Animax, an anime network, along with continuing to co-producing anime titles in Japan, and distributing anime films and shows in North America, including Tokyo Godfathers, Memories, Steamboy, Cowboy Bebop: The Movie, Cyborg 009, and Astro Boy.

And now, with the help of Comcast, they're seriously considering an American version of Animax as one of their new trio of channels through a new deal spurred on by Sony's recent purchase of MGM. But is America ready for Animax?

Depends. Who's going to say that the American version of Animax is going to be all-anime? It's possible that they have acquired a large number of personal titles as well as the shows that Animax produced. However, I wouldn't be surprised if shows like Men in Black, The Real Ghostbusters, The Critic, Roughnecks, Dilbert, Big Guy and Rusty, Pink Panther, Max Steel, or Mr. Magoo would appear on Animax along with titles nobody had ever heard of and some you have. The thing some folks believed when the echoes of an official announcement were leaked was that Animax USA will be a direct port of the Asian versions of Animax. Hate to burst the bubble, but a lot of the titles seen on Animax are tied up with a lot of different individual companies. Sure, these companies would be more than happy to bring their series to Animax, but it'll come at a price.

Animax USA will become a success (Comcast and Sony would make sure of that), and it'll be the first major anime-heavy channel by a mainstream entertainment company (no knock against ADV Films, but chances are more folks have heard of a Walkman or a PlayStation than Evangelion and Excel Saga). If they decide to launch the network stateside, and all signs are good that Sony and Comcast will. Will America be ready for it? I certainly hope so.

*end transmission*

Jeff Harris,
The X Bridge Webmaster/EiC/Lead Writer
September 25, 2004