Presentation PA #54

The Satellite TV anime and new challenge?! We have surely seen lots of changes in Japanimation in recent months! In Japan, 1998 was called the first year of the satellite-TV anime! Some readers might already be aware of the big changes because of satellite channel WOWOW's programs such as Brain Powered, Gandara and Anime Complex, which are totally different compared to previous anime TV-programs. Until recently, Japanese satellite TV was showing mainly foreign movies (from Hollywood, of course) sports, music programs, etc., but with the great popularity of anime like Mononoke Princess and Evangelion, the satellite TV station decided to offer their own original anime to viewers!

The big difference between the satellite TV and network TV anime programs is that traditional network stations, like TV-Tokyo, Fuji-TV, TBS etc. are supported by sponsors (toy, candy or food companies, etc.) who want to sell their products like hit video games or toys (like, say, Gundam model kits or Pocket Monsters) and creator's artistic liberty is normally ignored. For satellite TV viewers are the ones who pay! And the sponsors, if any, are much more understanding. Because of this, the creators can try more experimental materials! It's a very good trend for anime fans, I feel! More and more original anime aimed at an adult audience are made to be shown after midnight! For example, DT-Eightron is shown at 2:45 AM, Trigun was shown at 1:15 AM, (Vampire Princess Miyu was shown at 1:15 AM too), etc. We can definitely tell that anime culture is changing Japanese youths' lifestyle and, today, thanks to satellite TV, we can enjoy more new anime which have very high quality and originality!

Before 1998, artistic originality and obscure materials could only be found in OVAs, but the appearance of satellite TV anime works is changing this trend rapidly! Previously, TV anime was also mostly synonymous of children's shows, so we can surely expect more "original" anime programs on TV from now on! I also feel that it's more challenging for satellite TV, because when viewers are the ones who pay, they can complain even MORE! So, it will be very interesting for us to follow upcoming programs. Satellite should bring a better quality and a greater variety of anime show. However, satellite TV has one big disadvantage: viewers need to install "BS Antenna" to watch all those shows! The required equipment and the subscription make it costly. Some children were disappointed when they found out they couldn't watch Card Captor Sakura (NHK-Satellite #2). Rapid change means surely a lot of adjustments!

Miyako Matsuda

In the same way that Cable TV previously replaced Hertzian TV in many homes, the new technologies of Broadcast TV will slowly replace Cable TV. It really offers more choice and flexibility. For the last five years, I was quite dissatisfied with our Cable company service (Videotron: www.videotron.com). The quality of picture was often snowy, other parts of town had a dozen more channels than us and the customer service was rather bad (not only there were frequent interruptions of service, but since they had the monopoly of cable service in town they were responding to complains with arrogance and contempt). Despite their promises to provide better service and numeric TV before the end of '99, internal sources said it won't happen before 2001. Fortunately, their monopoly ended this January with the creation of a new company (Look: www.look.ca) offering numeric television through a technology similar to the one used for cellular phone. It goes without saying that I switched service as soon as I heard about it. Now, I have crystal clear numeric picture and much more channels for about the same price than cable. It works exactly like satellite TV (the only difference: the signal, instead of being beamed from space, is broadcast through micro-wave antennae scattered around town), but the cost is much more reasonable (you can rent the equipment and the installation fee is smaller). Of course, if you have several TV sets in your house, you need to rent extra digital receivers. I don't know how widespread this new technology is in North America, but I think this is the future of TV. I am quite satisfied and now I can get channels like Space (the Canadian equivalent of Sci-Fi Channel) and the English Teletoon, two channels which are showing anime once in a while. Unfortunately, I will probably never get the Sci-Fi channel itself or Cartoon Network, American channels who are "forbidden" by the CRTC (Canadian Radio-Television and telecommunications Commission, a.k.a. the "Canadian Communication Gestapo": www.crtc.gc.ca). But that's another story.

This issue offers you a 22-page spotlight on the works of the greatest mangaka after Osamu Tezuka: Go Nagai. It includes a biography & filmography of Nagai-sensei (3 pages) and features on his main works: Devilman (3 pgs), Devilman Lady (2 pgs), Getter Robo & Shin Getter Robo (2 pgs), UFO Robot Grendizer (a.k.a. Goldorak, 5 pgs including a mini color poster), Mazinger Z & Great Mazinger (4 pgs), Violence Jack (1 pg) and few others (2 pages about Cutey Honey, Dororon Enma-kun, Harenchi Gakuen and Kekko Kamen). Our main reference for this spotlight was the Go Nagai Special of the French magazine Animeland (Hors-Serie #1). It was very useful to us and (if you can read French) I strongly recommend this 100-page Special Issue if you want to learn more about Go Nagai. [You can order it from our catalog]

This issue also features "Anime World" articles (Tezuka Culture Awards, Anime Under Fire Part 11), four "Anime Stories" (Anime Complex, Anne Of Green Gables, Bubblegum Crisis: Tokyo 2040 and Shin Vampire Princess Miyu), several reviews (the Japanese movies at the Montreal World Film Festival, Gilles Poitras' Anime Companion, manga, models kits, anime videos) and the latest news. Enjoy!

Claude J. Pelletier