Ask John: How is Anime Broadcast on Japanese TV?

Question:
How is anime shown on Japanese television? At what times and what sort of frequency (daily? weekly?) is anime shown, and what sort of networks show it?

Answer:
While there are always exceptions, television anime is generally treated no different than any other television programming in Japan, not little different than programs like The Simpsons are here in America. Virtually all television series are aired in Japan weekly, most often in the evenings. According to the current issue of Newtype magazine, children’s/family shows including Mooto! Oja Majo Doremi, Super Gals! Kotobuki Ran, Digimon Tamers, and Comet-san are broadcast between 8 and 10 in the morning every Sunday. Most popular shows, though, including Pokemon, One Piece, Shaman King, Inu Yasha, and Magical Nyan Nyan Taruto are broadcast between 6 and 8 PM while some programs including Offside and Sekai no Monsho 2 may air as late as 10 or 11 PM. The “late night” shows, programs with either a limited viewing audience or more mature themes, are broadcast after midnight once a week. Noir airs at 1:15 AM every Thursday; Hajime no Ippo airs at 12:50 AM every Tuesday; Sister Princess airs at 12:45 AM each Wednesday; Zone of the Enders airs at 2:30 in the morning every Friday; and Cosmo Warrior Zero airs at 3:10 in the morning every Friday! As I said, though, there are some exceptions that have begun popping up lately. The recent Figure 17: Tsubasa & Hikaru TV series broadcasts only one 50 minute (60 minutes with commercial breaks) episode each month, and the Alien 9 “OAV” series is being premiered on satellite TV network Skyperfect TV roughly bi-monthly as each of the four episodes is completed, just before they’re released for sale on home video as normal OAVs. Japan also has a lot of different television networks partially because many of them have only a very small broadcasting area, so an anime program aired in one part of Japan may not be available on television at all in a different part of Japan. Partially due to this seemingly strange arrangement, unlike American television, where new programs are exclusive to a single network, certain Japanese shows may be broadcast by only one, or by as many as 20 or even 30 different networks across Japan, as is the case with series including Detective Conan and Shin Megami Tensei: Devchil. Major Japanese television networks generally don’t syndicate or run repeats of anime TV series or episodes, but cable and satellite channels, such as the Animax network, do broadcast extensive older anime programming such as repeat broadcasts of series including Sailormoon, Dragonball Z, Aura Battler Dunbine, Burn Up X, City Hunter, Dirty Pair, Escaflowne, SPT Layzner and Cyber Formula.