Ever heard of a video recorder?

gee i wonder where this info really come from.

Update on the launch of the new channel from Anime UK news:

• The official daily TV schedule for Anime Central is as follows: 21.00 - Vision of Escaflowne , 21.30 - Bleach, 22.00 - Fullmetal Alchemist, 22.30 - Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, 23.00 - Planetes, 23.30 - Transformers Headmasters. This block repeats every night until 6AM.
• Tentative reports suggest that the launch date is September 13th and that the Sky Digital channel number will be 199, placing Anime Central within the entertainment section of Sky's EPG.

To see the test runs do the following on your SKY digibox (again thanks to Anime News UK):

Press SERVICES > SYSTEM SETUP > ADD CHANNEL
Enter:
11642 (or 11643 if it doesn't work)
V
Find Channels
Select channel "52360"
Press yellow to store then "Select" to complete the process
Then got to OTHER CHANNELS and select 52360

The shows are shown in 3 hour blocks thus:

Transformers Headmasters
Bleach
Fullmetal Alchemist
Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
Planetes
Vision of Escaflowne


The shows are dubbed as normal. At the time of posting it is showing GITS: SAC 1st GIG with Planetes following at 23.00pm.


Enjoy!

Christ - the voices on the Bleach dub absolutely suck!! The ones on GITS: SAC aren't much better and neither is the dub for FMA!

I don't mind the dubs on most of the shows, Subs are preferable but not essential but I couldn't stand Transformers, it was awful, and the visuals really show their age too. Hope they drop it soon, atleast they had the sense to bump it to the last show of the blocks.

I watched Transformers and laughed so much, it was terrible and haven't even bothered recording it since.

Bleach seems OK, but the one I like the most is Ghost in the Shell.

I am starting to enjoy Bleach, I am giving Vision of Escaflowne a chance but not too keen on it at the moment.

I really do like Full Metal Alchemist, no only is the artwork very nice but it is quite an interesting story line and the dub voices are quite good.

Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex is still my favourite, yes it may be to do with the major, but I also like the Tachikoma which are very funny.

The only problem is that because they are on every night although I have tried to record and watch them all sometimes the recordings fail with something to do with the signal, so I am missing parts of the stories which are making them hard to follow.

I am thinking of putting some of them on my christmas list.

I know Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex is available on DVD in series box sets, but what about Full Metal Alchemist or Bleach?

Is it me or has Anime Central's schedule gone a bit skewiff?

Last night I was flicking through the channels and Bleach was supposed to be at 9:30 but instead it was Planetes. And later at 10:30 when it should have been GITS:SAC it was Vision of Escaflowne!

All the programs are messed up again tonight. I guess I am going to have to record all the shows to make sure I get the ones I want to watch.

It's not all bad as most seem to be starting over again so they are just repeating ones I have seen and it a chance to catch the early episodes I missed.

I think they are showing the second series of Bleach as the voice in between the shows is saying they are repeating series 1 before starting series 2.

As for GITS:SAC 1st Gig, it seems that because of the schedule changes I have missed the second to last episode! argh! I have asked for this box set for christmas plus 2nd Gig. 2nd Gig shows on amazon for sale, but looks like they are not stocking 1st Gig anymore.....

Looks like they have now sorted the programs on the Anime Channel with them showing the correct order now which is

Ghost in the Shell: SAC
Planetes
Full Metal Alchemist
Vision of Escaflowne
Bleach
Transformers Headmasters

and all but FMA have started again on the 7th Oct from the beginnning so people can catch up

Some news I read on Anime Central (and Anime Network) that came from the thing at Docklands this weekend.

new series starting in November (or starting next week for Bleach), in addition to Transformers and Fullmetal Alchemist which are still ongoing, the channel will air:
> Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex - 2nd Gig
> Wolf's Rain
> .hack//SIGN
> Bleach (episode 21 onwards)
once the current reruns finish.
# They also confirmed, that with the three new series above, they will be starting a 3am-6am Sub Block, where they repeat the episodes of the day, but subtitled with Japanese audio.
# The ratings for both Anime Central and Anime Network have been much better than expected, leading to Anime Network being extended.
# Virgin Media does know about the existance of both Anime Central, and The Anime Network, and the panel believes it is now only a matter of time before they appear on Cable.
# The issue of Sign-Subs was raised. Hugh David mentioned that the UK Anime Network uses the tapes from the US Anime Network, which doesn't use Sign-Subs. Had he had the time and money to go back and make their own TV tapes for TAN-UK, he would have chosen sign-subs. Anime Central didn't comment.

To be honest I haven't watched it for a while but that doesn't surprise me. The channel needs revenue to stay on the air and pay for the shows, which it where advertising comes into it. The fact that they have sponsors now suggests that they have either been doing good numbers or they really need the money.

The channel works fine for me, I wonder why you are having problems? Maybe your sky dish has been moved a little bit?

So a Christmas Marathon, what does this mean? will it be all the episodes from the start again? As Bleach they only recently started over again. Does this mean it will only be those series on at those times and nothing else?

I need to catch the first few FMA and then I will have seen them all so that will be nice.

Dunno, As I sad before, 98% of my other channels are fine. I guess it must be the transponder they are broadcasting from is weaker than the others.

According to the EPG, the whole night of 21/12/07 is dedicated to Cowboy BeBop with the first 9 episodes airing from 9.00pm - 1.30am then repeated until 6.00am. I assume then the next 9 air on the 22/12 and the final 7 on 23/12.

Then FMA airs over 5 days and then it's Bleach's turn.

Anime Central has a new line up starting tomorrow night featuring three new shows:


s-CRY-ed
Mobile Suit Gundam SEED
Witch Hunter Robin

as well as Planetes and Fullmetal Alchemist

After 10 months it would appear that Anime Central is to go the same way as Anime Network:

The UK's first and only dedicated anime TV channel, Anime Central, appears to be on the verge of closing down. Having aired nothing but Cowboy Bebop and Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex for months on end, fans recently noted that it's ofcom UK TV license wasn't renewed by owners Chart Show TV, instead replaced by another "Cartoon" based channel called "True Entertainment" (also owned by Chart Show TV), perhaps revealing their intent to move away from being dedicated to soley anime-related programming.

Shame but they seemed to be on a bit of a loser by showing titles most UK Anime fans had seen (aside from BLEACH at that time) and of course it had zero publicity outside of the Anime community which is a huge handicap when trying to raise the profile of Anime to the mainstream audiences.

Yes it is a niche market but it is a growing market, thanks in part to the popularity of Naruto on Jetix ironically enough.

Advertising on the likes of the channels you mentioned is not wise as the shows that aired on Anime Central were too adult for the younger viewers that watch those channels. You can't have kids who watch Pokemon or Dinosaur King watching a show like Bleach, Ghost In The Shell, Fullmetal Alchemist or Elfen Lied because of their content; and if they did watch them they wouldn't understand them.

The other problem is that a large percentage of the kids who watch Naruto on Jetix probably aren't even aware it is Anime - rather just know it as "a cartoon from Japan with English voices". You could possibly win over the older and more clued up Jetix viewers but if they expect something akin to Naruto they will be in for a big shock.

Unfortunately Anime - much like most "niche" products - requires a little education as much as it does exposure which, while ultimately is very rewarding, is part of its continuing existence in the shadows.

One can only hope however, that the likes of the Miyazaki/Studio Ghibli films on Ch 4/Film 4 can help breakdown existing barriers and create a path into mainstream interest.

That is annoying as I have been waiting for them to show more of Bleach as they have left me hanging with the Soul Society story! I guess I'll have to wait for the DVD release of series 2.

But I haven't watched the channel for ages as it was just repeating GITS which I now have on DVD and Cowboy Bebop which I saw most of the first time around.

As people have said it is much of a niche market and can't get many viewers. Is channel 4 showing some anime then? I think rather than a dedicated channel, regular anime slots on major channels is a better idea and will get anime better exposure in the long run.

That sucks :(