Ash Ketchum

Yesterday, I discovered that one of my local TV broadcast channels (Channel 11 in New York) was showing anime on Saturday mornings under the heading, "The Vortex on the CW." So I watched "Dragon Ball Z Kai" and then "Digimon Fusion."

This was my first exposure to "Dragon Ball Z Kai" and it looked awfully like an episode from "Dragon Ball Z: The Cell Saga" from 20 or so years ago, so why the new title? Well it turns out to be a remake of sorts, but looks just like the original Dragon Ball Z. What's the point of it? It was fine the first time.

To make matters worse, the program was shown in Standard Def, but a very poor copy, with a soft image, and it looked bad on both the Standard Def and High Def channels.

Standard Def:


High Def:


And it was broken up by multiple commercial breaks.

This was followed by "Digimon Fusion," which looked fine on the Standard Def channel and just great on the High Def channel.

Standard Def:


High Def:




Why the big difference between the two shows? The episodes shown from both series were both made in 2011. Why is Channel 11 tolerating such a poor copy of DBZ Kai?

What are your experiences with local channels' broadcast of anime?

chrisc31

I read the "The Vortex on the CW." block is going away September 27, 2014.

http://kidscreen.com/2014/06/04/cw-t...xx-kids-block/

PhantomStranger

The Vortex has been around a few years at the very least. I've heard cartoons don't get anywhere close to the same ratings they once did on Saturday mornings with the rise of 24-hour dedicated channels. I was disappointed when SyFy (called Sci-Fi at the time) dropped their occasional anime programming a few years back. I've always thought Cartoon Network's Toonami runs a real weird block of anime, it's hard figuring out their target audience. I know it's supposed to be college kids but they heavily favor shonen stuff.

It was a great loss when my cable provider dropped the Funimation channel, there were shows I caught on there I would have never tried.

fujishig

Kai basically cut out a ton of the filler that was not in the original manga. Just watching a random episode it probably doesn't make that much of a difference, but trust me, there was a ton of filler. It also made some other changes, including removing some blood, etc.

I've been taping that new digimon for my daughter, along with the new season of pokemon. However, I didn't even know about this Vortex block, but I think it airs on NickToons too.

Other stuff on cable (I know you asked about local stations, but...):
Cartoon Network still has a bunch of stuff, notably the co-funded Space Dandy (before the Japanese release), but also Black Exorcist, One Piece, Attack on Titan, etc. The ratings are obviously not close to the old Toonami block. And then various seasons of Pokemon including the latest, XY, as well as Dragonball and others.

But the real reason I clicked on this discussion... my tv is usually on one of the various kids channels, and I happened to turn it on last night and saw, of all things, Doraemon airing on Disney XD. That's awesome!

Diabolita23

I like watching anime on TV, but I hate the edits. I feel like this does a good job of making it seem like you're still watching anime on TV - but it's internet content so not subject to the same horrible edits. For some strange reason, I really like the concept of channels and shows, even if it is, ultimately, on demand internet content...PlutoTV Anime Channel Do you know of any other online anime channels that are decent?

Ash Ketchum

Oh, my God!!l! I had no idea! That's major news! I'm eager to see this and I get that channel! When's it on?

More importantly, how does one find out about these kinds of things? I'm an anime fan, yet I haven't seen anything about this anywhere. They do a really poor job of marketing to me.

P.S. I found this link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...ey_XD_Episodes
I've missed 18 episodes already.

I also found a press release from May on Anime News Network. I visit ANN all the time and never saw it.

I've only seen Doraemon movies--in Japanese with no subs. Well, at Japan Society I once saw a single episode with English subs.

They're obviously going to be editing this for U.S. audiences.

P.P.S.: According to this link: http://www.in.com/tv/shows/disney-ch...emon-5031.html
...they're running a bunch of episodes tomorrow during the morning. I'm taking tomorrow off anyway.

fujishig

Yeah, I had no idea either, and it was really just coincidence that it was on. I set a season pass for it so I should catch the morning marathon (will have to set the number of saved episodes).

Ash Ketchum

Re: Doraemon:

Disney XD ran one episode on Friday and two episodes yesterday and I managed to catch them all. It's quite an amusing show and maybe not always meant for children. I love the bit in "Vacuum Cleaner Super Car" where Doraemon "hypnotizes" the "super car" that Nobita's so jealous of into "thinking" it's a diaper truck and all the mothers with their soiled diapers start dumping them in the car. That's pretty damn funny and maybe a little more "vulgar" than Disney Channel standards. I could imagine some overzealous programmer at one of the networks veto'ing it for broadcast.

I've previously only seen some of the Doraemon movies, but only in Japanese with no translation, but I did enjoy them.

Considering that it's the longest running anime series...ever, it's a scandal that it's never run in the U.S. before. And from what I can tell the segments I've seen all date from the 2010s. I wonder if they're going to ever show the older ones, e.g. from the 1970s and '80s.

My Other Self

Ash Ketchum

Hey, for me, that's a lot. Usually I record everything and don't watch it for months or even years.
But it helps that I'm participating in the Animation Challenge this month.

fujishig

Whoosh...

PhantomStranger

There is no chance that DisneyXD would show older episodes with dated animation. Disney is pretty aggressive about removing older-looking animation from their channels.

fujishig

Is that a recent trend? Because I could've sworn they had the older Marvel shows on (like Spiderman and his Amazing Friends) just a couple of years ago.

But yeah, I don't think they'll go back too far, considering this incarnation of Doraemon has like 650+ episodes.