Down Time

By: Matt Kamen
Date: Wednesday, August 09, 2006

It's been a quiet week here in the UK. Besides the brief yet welcome respite from the heatwave roasting the country, there's been little of note happening. The television schedules have mostly been overflowing with reality TV and other similar dreck, and potentially the biggest homegrown genre series this year, Robin Hood, doesn't arrive until the autumn. Well, third biggest, after Doctor Who and Torchwood, at any rate.

Ninja Nonsense

Jetix finally responded to what I can only presume to have been an influx of inquiries regarding the extra edits made to the UK airing of Naruto with a blanket email detailing their decision. Meeting OFCOM (OFfice of COMmunications; the regulatory board for TV and radio broadcasts) regulations is a valid reason for making the cuts and none of the edits so far negatively affect the flow of the story, though I imagine 'hardcore' anime fans won't be pleased with the outcome. Still, it's better to have some anime on TV than none at all and Naruto's long running arc-based nature should attract new fans to the medium.

Speaking of OFCOM...

The OFCOM website was updated on 4th August with an entry for Anime +, a channel listed under the animation category and registered to Sony Pictures Europe. The move to launch a devoted anime channel for the UK would be an bold one as the market is relatively small compared to the US or even other parts of Europe - so it should come as no surprise that it's not going to happen, at least not yet. However, digital channel Rapture has been showing a selection of non-kiddy anime for months now (notably Wolf's Rain, Mezzo DSA and Fullmetal Alchemist), so there is precedent for serious anime reaching UK airwaves.


Speaking of "serious anime"...

FilmFour, which is now free to air on digital TV, is showing a selection of Studio Ghibli films directed by Hayao Miyazaki over a two-week period, having started on the 4th August. The movies screened will be The Castle of Cagliostro, Princess Mononoke, Porco Rosso, Kiki's Delivery Service, My Neighbour Totoro, Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind and Laputa, Castle in the Sky. Each film will be shown twice during the festival, once dubbed into English and once in the original Japanese language with English subtitles, which is a most impressive decision on FilmFour's part. Check listings for exact times and catch as many as possible Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli rarely disappoint.

Finally, next week's column may be a little late as I'll be venturing into the wilds of Leicester to cover Amecon 2006, the UK's largest anime and manga festival, this coming weekend. Prepare for a barrage of photos, both amusing and disturbing after all, men should not cosplay Sailor Moon.

New DVD Picks for 07/08/06

Carnivale Season Two

The complete second and final season of this wonderfully creepy yet hard to categorise show that no one, sadly, watched. The very fact it was hard to define was it a horror show? A fantasy? American Gothic Mk II? arguably kept 'Joe Sixpack' viewers away out of confusion. Those looking for a touch more intelligence in their TV could do far worse than Carnivale though, and for once we have a boxed set that's cheaper than it's American counterpart.

Maddigan's Quest

This quirky New Zealand kid's drama is a lot more involving than you might imagine. I'm probably even doing it a disservice by labelling it as a kid's drama. Set in a post-apocalyptic world, Maddigan's Quest follows a circus troupe charged with finding a replacement power source for the last human city. With elements of sci-fi and dark fantasy, and judicious use of a TV budget with effects and prosthetics approaching Farscape quality at times, Maddigan's Quest deserves more people checking it out.

Hostel: Unseen Edition

A re-release of one of the most genuinely disturbing horror movies of recent years, the Unseen edition of Eli Roth's warning poster for backpackers features an impressive four audio commentaries, making of and an interactive game which might, if you're lucky, distract you enough to hold back any nightmares.

That's it for this week. Thoughts? Comments? Hatemail? Contact me at mattkamen@gmail.com