Want Anime Network on Your Cable System?

ccnull writes "The Anime Network has launched a "tell your cable company to carry this station!" campaign on its web site. Just enter your ZIP code at the top of the site's home page (it looks like a banner ad) and you'll be that much closer to Samurai X 24/7. In case you hadn't heard, the network launched in late 2002." No support via DirecTV. I filled out the form already- I crave this channel.

Comments

actually...

[joe_bruin]

i don't want the anime network.
that pansy-ass crap that passes for anime nowadays pretty much makes me happy that the old animes of my youth are long forgotten. i'd rather not see their corpses reanimated (it's a pun, c'mon, it's funny) with bad english dubbing and their characters on tshirts for all the pimply faced 15 year olds to wear.

i am at stage 5 on the fandom cycle (reproduced in reply for your pleasure) and would rather everyone just go away.

project a-ko, this one's for you!

Re:actually...

[joe_bruin]

copied from http://gamesandpolitics.tripod.com/animfan.html

Fandom: The Barbarians at the Gate
or
Yes, I still like Ranma 1/2

"People who play tennis are just fine and dandy... and people who watch animation are no good? Why?"--- an otaku's lament, Otaku No Video

It is an unfortunate fact about fandom, whether it be gaming fandom, anime fandom, or Linux fandom that it goes through stages:

1. Stage One: A small group of people discover something that they like and think is fun and interesting. They form clubs based on it, talk to each other about references from it and generally enjoy themselves. Often, they will be persecuted by people who don't get it, "You're into that?!? How can you be into that?!?!" they'll sneer as they pass you in the street, at school or at work. This is also the evangelism phase, you try to convince people to become involved in the thing you are into. "The more the merrier" is what you think at this stage. In some ways, this is the best stage of fandom. There is a lot you have to do by yourself and normally a dearth of commercial support, but it is exciting.

2. Stage Two: Some charismatic people become interested in what you like, unfortunately, leading the people who were sneering at you to think, "Oh! He's into that? Oh, maybe I misjudged it then..." (You'll see why this is unfortunate soon enough.) More support becomes available, so you don't have to do everything yourself. Instead of third generation fan-subs, for instance, commercial tapes become available. Maybe not the ones you want, but still, maybe good in their own way.

3. Stage Three: This is the transitional phase, your hobby becomes well known enough that the mainstream media picks up on it, usually portraying it as a weird and evil sub-culture. Of course, this causes it to appeal to bored mainstreamers who want to appear cool by taking on the establishment (until they grow up to become corporate lawyers and/or investment bankers, natch.) These are the people who start showing up at your AD&D club meetings and when you suggest a game of Call of Cthuhlu for a change, mock you. They don't mock you because they know anything about CoC , but because "the name sounds goofy, man." You start feeling resentful as they try feeding your sixth level magic user to a gelatinous cube, and in my case you stop attending group meetings.

4. Stage Four: Congressmen start talking about the evils of the whatever-it-is that you like, of course making it more cool among mainstreamers . Although the thing you like is more readily available now from a variety of commercial sources, it has been rendered palatable for the mainstreamers . All the rough edges are sanded off, and you get accosted by people who don't know that you used to be really into the thing who try to tell you how cool their bland, pallid version of the thing you used to love is. The barbarians are at the gate! People are overunning your hobby with the same predjudices they had back when it wasn't cool. They accost you at conventions and say, "You are into that!?! How could you be into that?!? This new is so much cooler than that. I wouldn't be caught dead being into that." Note: As always, you are not trying to force your tastes on anyone. In fact, because the quality of people you are meeting has declined so much, you try to identify the bad ones and just "smile and nod" as they pass you by. You are just trying to "live and let live," but the mainstreamers only want to appear rebellious, even though by their very nature they are conformists. Because of this, they will seek you out and try to force conformity on you, basically forcing you to hide your interests within a hobby from them the same way you used to hide your interest in the hobby from them.

5. Stage Five: Everyone is into your hobby now... but it's become so palatable and mainstream that it isn't recognizable as the thing you used to love. You've since moved on to

Re:its prolly all dubbed anyway

[Bonker]

Makes me wish I had mod points.

Dubbing does so much to suck the life and soul out of good writing. The fact that an entire network is dubbed by the same two dozen or so Canadian voice actors is just painful.

Re:Anime vs Sports

[ip_vjl]

I'm not going to argue that anime doesn't have a geek fanbase, but your reasoning is logically flawed.

what you are saying is:
Anime fanbase is largely geek
Therefore, most geeks like anime.

That's not necessarily true.
See this example.

The people who work at my desk are largely geeks.
Therefore, most geeks work at my desk.

See the flaw.

Re:its prolly all dubbed anyway

[petsounds]

From the Anime Network's FAQ:

10. Will programs on The Anime Network be subtitled or dubbed or both?

At this time, with our initial launch in Philadelphia, we are only showing dubbed versions of the shows. This reflects limited bandwidth and a restricted number of hours available to us per month. We are well aware of strong interest in subtitled anime, and are exploring ways to bring subtitled programming to The Anime Network. Stay tuned!

Re:Good idea, poor execution.

[1WingedAngel]

I think its more a question of: If they have the rights they can show it on this giant leap of faith of a channel and if it's successful, then they will show other things.

Re:Yes to this = No to lots of other things

[Anonymous Coward]

If you answer "Yes" to this, you also answer "No" to ever having sex with a real girl the rest of your life.

Unless you're smart and resourceful like me, who knows plenty of cute asian girls that dig anime...

sorry loser.. better luck next life...

ARRRRGH! Can't enter Canadian postal code!

[mike449]

The input box is limited to 5 symbols.

Theme Movie Channels don't seem to work

[sielwolf]

I have several theme movie channels (Westerns, Mystery, Love Stories, Action, True Stories) and they are generally not as good as expected. Why? Because they can't get the rights to all "good" movies (since they are in high demand and thus expensive). Mystery shows The Avengers on weekdays but other than that is about two Columbo movies away from being Lifetime. I saw Predator on Action... quickly followed by The Fast and the Furious.

Everyone seems to think "Yeah a channel that was purely __________ would rock! I'd so watch it all the time!" Sorry but it wouldn't be Akira followed by Princess Mononoke. More likely "What the hell is this?" then "God... this really sucks." Unless someone feels like throwing millions of dollars into a moneypit, I fear this will disappoint.

The only pure channel I could see enjoying would be a kung-fu movie channel. Why? Because the unintentional comedy runs high in those films. The cheaper/worse the movie usually the more people like it. Of course there is a fine artistry to The Five Deadly Venoms and Shaolin Master Killer but anybody can enjoy the endless kick-to-the-genitals jokes and bad dubbing.

Nobody's forcing you to watch it

[SuperBanana]

I have no interest of having this on my cable system.

I have no interest in watching a fat, stupid, Marilyn-wannabe parade around whining, wasting away her dead sugardaddy's money...but you don't see me bitchin' about getting E!, now do you? I hate rap/hip-hop/most of the crap on MTV. The Home Channel bores me to death. Travel channel- eh. The ABC/Disney "family" channels make me want to puke within 5 seconds of accidentally switching to them. Don't get me started about the tractor pulls and Shooter's World on OLN.

That's why smart people invented a feature that lets you delete/add channels from your TV's set of channels it scans through when you hit up/down.

That's also why you pay specificially for some channels(gasp! What a concept!) If you don't want the Anime channel, then don't bubmit your zip code, don't effin' buy it...and if it comes with the standard package(highly unlikely), deprogram it from your TV...kay?

Why the hell can't they do hybrid dub/subtitle?

[Gldm]

Seriously. TV has these two interesting features, CLOSED CAPTIONS and SECONDARY AUDIO PROGRAMMING.

Why the hell can't they show anime with the original japanese soundtrack on the SAP channel? Then I could just set my TV to SAP and turn on the english closed caption channel. Instant subtitles for anyone who can't stand the horrible dubbing.

If people would wake up and realize most anime fans hate dubs maybe I'd consider getting this channel or watching the crap that's on now.

Re:How to request NOT to carry the channel?

[EvilFrog]

You see the difference is that in Japan anime and manga are popular almost universally. In Japan it is a (very) frequent and acceptable occurrence for middle-aged businessmen to be reading manga on the train to work. Those guys actually make up over half of the manga sales in the country.

Some have speculated that their popularity comes from the fact that the harsh Japanese education system completely ruins books as a source of entertainment, so other forms have taken their place.

There is a difference in culture, and just because in the US all of the animation is garbage (as opposed to Japan where only most of it is) doesn't mean that other culture is wrong.

Re:Yes to this = No to lots of other things

[azhrarn33]

Speaking as a happily married man (2 years now) this is flamebait if I ever heard it. Guys- if some dark corner of your mind tells you you need to change your hobbies to meet women because gaming, computers, reading, or anime (or other similar pursuits) are too "dorky"... kick its ass back to the Gap from whence it came. Here at IU, the anime clubs are all about 75% women to 25% men. Elsewhere there are numerous gaggles of gamer girlz. One LARP I'm in is about 65% female to 35% male. So don't worry. There's nothing wrong with you, or your hobbies. Just keep looking. Oh, and while you're at it, can you burn me some VCDs? I still can't find the rest of GITS SAC. ^_-

Re:To all the naysayers.

[Telecommando]

There's this wonderful invention called the remote control. And if your TV is advanced enough, you can program the channels out. Wow, what a concept.

Spoken like someone who doesn't pay his own bills and as a result, doesn't care what it costs.

Every time MY cable system adds another channel the rates go up. I'm already paying for too many channels that I'll never, EVER watch, why would I want to pay for another? And don't even get me started on the satellite providers. Every one of them arrange their packages so I have to buy 2 or 3 to get the same channels I watch on basic cable, usually more than doubling the cost. Another channel? No way. I'd rather get rid of the ones I don't watch so I wouldn't have to pay for them anymore and my rates would go down.

Re:How to request NOT to carry the channel?

[Xerithane]

Typical slashdot. Just make up some facts to support your case. I read that 0.01% of manga sales are to people over the age of 17.

You have a point about Slashdot, but you are wrong. An essay on manga, that states "One Manga magazine typically sells 5 million to 6 million copies every week." There are also over 200 popular manga issues. Don't believe me? Go to a Seven Eleven or Circle K in Japan. All under the magazine rack is just stacks of manga. "How can the Japanese achieve such high sales, because the young to the middle-aged, male and female often purchase Manga magazines."

It's actually well known for people to read manga, and you will see it a lot. 0.01% of one manga sales may be to people over the age of 17. Just like I don't think any people without children watch An Pan Man.

The typical manga issue is about $4 in Japan (I think about 500 yen) and is freaking thick. It's usually rough art, with little detail just to tell the story.

I know too much about manga.. and I don't even read it. Although I did get a porn magazine for a friend that had an utterly bizarre mini-manga story in it... one that I really wish I never had read...

Um... a question...

[Anonymous Coward]

I have a serious question - and I'm not trying to flamebait here, I just honestly don't "get" anime. I mean, do you have to get hooked on anime when you're young or something? Maybe I was watching shitty anime... it just really struck me as... well... stupid (apologies to fans - i'm not raggin' on your tastes - i'm just being honest about how i see it - specifically I've sampled a couple anime movies that we're supposed to be really good: akira and princess mononoke). Do you have to approach it differently than other movies/shows to appreciate it? If so, how? If on drugs, which ones? :-P

Re:How to request NOT to carry the channel?

[Xerithane]

Go to one in america, the magazine rack will be all stacked with "Teen Beat" or "WWE Magazine" or "Heavy Metal Weekly" and other adolescent drivel. Your point from some essay written by some anime fan means nothing.

The original guy was saying that manga sales are common amongst adults. In Japan. He was right. You've obviously never been on a commuter train at 5 o'clock leaving Tokyo.

A full grown Japanese man may be reading manga on the subway. He gets the same reaction as a businessman reading a "Spiderman" comic, Japanese society is just more polite when it comes to pointing and laughing.

Uh, no. You're just being a retard.

Don't kid yourself. Japanese cartoons are still cartoons in every sense.

Just like Heavy Metal isn't a kids cartoon, Japanese cartoons are sometimes made for adults.

The shows that air here seem adult. But they are written for children. We have a different definition of adult, we consider Cowboy Bebop adult because they're shooting guns and killing people. That's acceptible for a childrens show in Japan.

The ages are about the same. Did you forget GI Joe? Little kids watch drivel like An Pan Man. Pre-teen watch the romantic shows, or Kenshin style shows. The teenagers watch the equivalents to South Park, Beavis and Butthead and stuff like that. Then there are adult stories, which are plenty acceptable to watch and read, because almost everybody in Japan does it.

It's like reading a freaking book, not Spider-Man.

A crap anime channel?

[Phalse Impressions]

I have noticed that many people are complaining that since all the good anime will cost too much and thus most of the anime will suck.

Well I would be happy with that? Why? Most of us who have collections of Anime I'm sure already have the "good anime" on DVD. This leaves all the "crap" that we haven't seen or heard about. I would take my chances with seeing a rare anime that I never would have seen normally because of it's obsecure nature.

But I'm sure for most people out there they will still have an occasional good piece of anime.

I'll be happy to expand my horizons with both a bunch of crap and some good stuff which I have never seen.

Reasons I won't watch it.

[Maul]

Once again, I need to throw in that I find english dubs to be horrible. All of them. Don't even try to tell me, "Well Cowboy Bebop was a good dub." Because it wasn't.

And that is probably what will primarily be shown (I heard that they were considering subtitled stuff LATE AT NIGHT, which doesn't do me good since I'm asleep).

Second is the fact that they probably will mainly show things I've already seen. It might sound like arrogance, but I'm currently watching Wolf's Rain, Scrapped Princess, Last Exile, and DNAngel.
If this stuff even gets onto the Anime Network, it'll probably be there 2+ years from now. There is no incentive for me to watch shows I've already seen.

Samurai X
Ah yes, another reason. The stupid anime-is-cool trend. I've watched anime since the early 90s because I LIKE it, not because it is cool and trendy. This is a stupid ploy by companies like ADV (and others) to label anime as cool and the next wave of extreme animation, and crap like that, and retitle shows like RUROUNI KENSHIN with stupid names like Samurai X because it supposedly sounds cool.

Anime Network

[Mikeman]

What surprises me most is that I haven't seen any posts about the lineup. Just bitching about dubbing and ADV shows. While some of you may be upset that they're showing "A crappy dub of Kenshin that they're calling Samurai X" I say get over it. Yes, the dub sucks. What's important to me is paying a small increase on my cable bill rather than spending hundreds of dollars on DVDs just to watch a sub. Ok, the voice acting is sub par compared to the Japanese. I'll suffer through it, because the story is still there and Japanese story telling is still better than American story telling any day of the week.

Has anyone looked at the line up? Goldenboy is being shown. Goldenboy! Yeah, we've all seen it, but I've been watching the Simpsons for well over 10 years now, it's still funny, and I'll still watch it. Excell Saga? Yeah, it's popular, and yeah, it's way overdone, yeah, it still makes me laugh harder than any anime I've seen in a while. I'll watch it. Gunsmith Cats, EVA, Those Who Hunt Elves, Spriggan, Burn Up, that's some good stuff there. What's better is the fact that I don't really want to buy a lot of those series. EVA's good, and Burn Up is always good for fanservice and some laughs, but sometimes I wonder if they're worthy of watching and rewatching at the cost of $25 a DVD.

Anime's come a long way kids. Yeah, it's a trend, that blows. I miss the days of sitting around trading fansubs online at 2 AM. I guess this is where I say I'm into anime because it's different than American cartoons. Superior? In a lot of ways, yes. What's cool is it's a different cultural viewpoint. Cry all you want, I know so many of you are hardcore otaku. If that's the way it is, fine. $150 a box set is good for you, an extra couple of dollars chocked on to my cable bill every month, well, I like that more than the alternative.

This is when people start throwing money around. When people watch, more stuff will follow. It can only get better.

To summarise..

[mikecheng]

When geekdom becomes popular, true geeks move on.