Yesterday morning (ironically the one morning I forgot to check the CRTC website), it was confirmed that the CRTC has approved licenses for both French and English versions of the digital station, Teletoon Retro. The fact that they only renewed Retro and not the other four that they obtained licenses for back in 2000, along with the fact that the Retro block on Teletoon has been done away with makes it pretty clear that they may have plans to actually launch this service soon.

Although Nelvana backstock is inevitable, I seriously hope we'€™ll also be treated to some classic HB cartoons that have never seen national broadcast in Canada. Or maybe even Rock and Rule?

Also approved, licenses for Girls TV and ZTV, two new youth and young adult services from Showcase. Could there be potential for anime in either of these stations? There'€™s a good chance that both of them won't even get off the ground to begin with, but here'€™s hoping!

And be sure to keep an eye out for The Cricket Channel.

Quite likely due to reader feedback, the Edmonton Journal released this statement a few days ago pointing out the error in the first article released. While it can'€™t currently be accessed through the website, a second version of the article was published clarifying that anime wasn't pornography, and this was apparently the only version actually printed in the Edmonton Journal paper. (The first article was only seen in the Edmonton Sun section of Canada.com.) However, it still isn’t as appropriate as a similar article released by the Edmonton Sun which saw no need to make any unnecessary or sensationalist use of the word "anime" at all.

I was very happy to see a response made to this controversy by ANN's own Christopher MacDonald, who puts it quite eloquently. This entire issue disgusts me on so many levels that I'€™m not even sure if I could articulate a proper response on this one glaring problem.

Many of you may remember the incident from earlier this year in which an Edmonton man was slapped with charges of importing child pornography. Well, it looks like there'€™s finally a verdict.

While I see no need to argue with the fact that this guy is a sick freak at what should be considered a subhuman level and shouldn'€™t really be defended for what he did, the fact that this is even being made into an issue doesn'€™t really reflect well on Canada'€™s innane censorship laws or tolerance of fictional material. Not to mention that this article inhibits precisely two seconds of research and reflects very grossly on anime fans.

If you do have a problem with that (which you all should), I recommend contacting the editor and setting them straight on their story. It’s kind of insulting as it is now.

Someone please remind me why we have to be associated with these people at all?
__________________________
Zannen, Canada webmaster.

Starting on October 21st (or 22nd, depending on how you look at it), Gundam SEED will be removed from its current 5am timeslot on Cartoon Network to make way for the remaining episodes of Yu Yu Hakusho, meaning that SEED will officially be dropped from CN'€™s schedule.

The fact that SEED is being removed while .hack//Legend of the Twilight Bracelet still remains on their schedule means that the chances of Destiny airing on the States seem to be pretty much zero now¦ hopefully YTV won'€™t let that dictate whether or not they get the show ASAP. (It would also be great if they got .hack//Legend of the Twilight Bracelet soon since, unless there'€™s some kind of change in November, SIGN will simply be going into reruns starting next Friday.)

Also, Neon Genesis Evangelion begins airing this Thursday night on Adult Swim. I guess it would be cool if YTV eventually picked that up for a midnight airing, but the fact that GitS isn'€™t immune to editing even at that timeslot makes me not so sure. Not to mention that they'd never play the movie.

Well, as those of you who don'€™t just turn the TV off after ReBoot know (and if you are, I suggest switching the channel to Teletoon to watch the AS comedies from 11pm-12am, and then e-mailing them to tell them how much you love them so that they actually bother to pick up Robot Chicken and more than twenty-six episodes of Aqua Teen Hunger Force) YTV has finally done the predictably unthinkable and made a visual edit to Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex. And on an otherwise delightful Thanksgiving long weekend, no less!

There was a brief scene midway into the episode in which we could see an obscured scene from a porn film reflecting into the yakuza'€™s glasses from his computer as he was being interrogated. What makes this cut truly outrageous was the fact that important dialogue was sacrificed in the process of making a show intended specifically for adults appropriate for children.

It really isn't much use ranting about this on the front page of my website, so I'™ll be blunt. Yes, they could (and probably will) do worse, but this move alone has made me lose faith in their ability to respectfully handle their properties. Meanwhile, Cartoon Network is actually trying to actively push the boundaries as much as possible by airing the TV-PG version of Naruto at 12pm, and the uncut version of Dragonball Z at 7:30pm on Saturdays. YTV needs to start taking notes.

Or better yet, maybe Corus should just find a way to force Teletoon to air the second season, or perhaps even the remainder of this season, rather than have YTV insult its audience by continuing to hack apart the show in favour of protecting little kids who likely wouldn'€™t even be interested in the show enough to get to the "œinappropriate"€ parts? That'€™s something I think most of us would appreciate. Seriously, what were they thinking when they licensed this show? What, I ask?

Also, just a reminder that YTV currently has both of the .hack//SIGN bonus episodes scheduled to air for the following two weeks, so you can all get your one last fix. And no, they don't explain the ending of the main series. You have to play the games.

Sorry.

According to Teletoon's November schedule, Clone High returns to television Fridays at 10:30pm starting November 4th. Still no sign of Robot Chicken, though.

Now if only we knew what will be running on YTV at the same time!

First, the results of our last poll!
Would you like to see classic Gundam shows (ie: the original series, Zeta Gundam) air on YTV?

Yes --> 84.5%
No --> 15.5%

Like I mentioned before, YTV doesn't seem to be getting a lot of email requests in for the classic Gundam shows, even though this would be the ideal time to be airing them with the popularity that the franchise has amassed thanks to SEED. So if you want to see the original shows, start sending those e-mails! (info@ytv.com)

Anyway, about Naruto. Despite some inevitable fan-bickering, the dub is of very good quality, and most of the things people were worried about are complete non-issues. Name attacks are translated adequately, original BGM is intact, and all of the character names are pronounced exactly as they're supposed to be. (Some people still insist that "€œNaruto"€ isn'€™t being pronounced right, but rest assured, it is. Even hardcore fans had several mispronunciations for it long before it was licensed, but the emphasis is on the first syllable. Don'€™t you forget it.) But there are some problems with the presentation that I think need to be assessed.

First and foremost, YTV only airs it one time a week. I realize that there'€™s probably some strange politics going on behind the scenes with the show, given the last minute delay for the Canadian premiere date, but this isn't right. Personally, it'™s going to be impossible for me to catch every episode at its current timeslot, and I’m sure that a lot of other fans would like just one more timeslot either later on Friday nights or on another night of the week so that the main timeslot doesn'€™t need to feel like a commitment. It seems pointless too, since Fridays at 1:30am are occupied by a repeat of a repeat of Gundam SEED, and Mondays at 11:35pm are occupied by Dragonball – both spots which seem far more viable for a Naruto encore. And we certainly shouldn'€™t be dodging the fact that Cartoon Network currently has around four airings of the same Naruto episode each week, the newest one being on Saturdays at noon.

Which brings me to the next point: despite many of the things which have been kept in despite the standards other Toonami shows have been held to in the past (recall that Miriallia had her knife digitally removed in SEED), Naruto is still quite heavily edited, with virtually anything Viz has premission to edit being cut out to give you every incentive possible to buy the uncut DVD boxsets. It was even confirmed at some industry panels over the summer that some key points in certain upcoming battles are going to be altered to a considerable degree to coincide with Cartoon Network'€™s standards. Even though we still have some static blood and sharp objects flying freely, make no mistake that Naruto is a show that has been toned down considerably for a younger audience, and if Cartoon Network considers the show appropriate for early afternoon on Saturdays, I don'€™t think it'€™s appropriate at all that YTV has slapped it with a disclaimer citing scenes of violence. Doing that just cheapens the disclaimer itself, and doesn'™t set a very good precedent at all for the type of material it should be able to cover.

Despite maintaining many elements that keeps it in tune with the original to a degree, Naruto is still a localized show for kids through-and-through. You can'€™t claim that a tiger is a zebra just based off of the pattern of its stripes, and I would say that the replaced opening and ending credits are what drives home the fact that this isn't really a Bionix kind of show. Overall, I'€™m not really sure if Naruto is an appropriate show for the block. It'™s not a huge deal right now, since YTV isn'™t making many other shows available to them and airing the series on Bionix after Inuyasha is probably an adequate marketing gimmick (not as good a marketing gimmick as actually advertising the damn show would be, but we all know that'€™s crazy); but since it is essentially a localized kids show, I feel that it should be bumped down from the block at some point into the 8pm-9pm hour. I mean, Naruto is going to be around for 3-4 years: that'™s valuable space it'™s taking up!

Which brings me to the topic of my latest poll: Should Naruto leave Bionix at some point? Consider what I'™ve mentioned above: personally, I think it should. I mean, it'€™s great that we’re getting the show so fast, but it really would make a better Dragonball replacement.

Oh, and you probably noticed the technical error on Friday's airing of Ghost in the Shell. Thankfully nothing important was lost, but it'€™s still a bit disappointing that this kind of thing is still happening frequently. Be sure to catch the Thursday airing, which should be free of glitches.

Original date: September 16, 2005

Just in case you had forgotten, since YTV doesn'€™t seem to want to bother advertising one of their biggest acquisitions ever, Naruto debuts tonight at 9:30pm. Catch it, because there won’t be any encores at all.

Also, it seems that I was mistaken last week about the new episodes of ATHF and Brak, since Teletoon deemed it necessary to run through all of Star Wars: Clone Wars and Ryan for the second week in a row. They should be debuting tonight, but with Teletoon you just never know.

I don'€™t think there'€™s much that needs to be said about YTV'€™s new look. It's just plain awesome. For the first time in years and years, YTV is cool. Now let'€™s hope it stays this way!

One minor little niggle would have to be the inconsistent disclaimers. There clearly was a disclaimer made specifically for Ghost in the Shell, citing violence, coarse language, and the fact that the show was for an older teen audience, that aired on the show'€™s future timeslot on Thursday night. However, when GitS actually aired on Friday night, it didn'€™t use that disclaimer. Since there was no footage cut from the first episode (and let'€™s hope it stays that way!), I'™m pretty sure that this was a mistake on the part of the programming department. There was also a new disclaimer introduced for SEED which stated that it contained scenes of violence and was intended for an older youth audience. Let'€™s hope that things are straightened out this week and that both SEED and GitS run with the correct disclaimers this time around!

Also, Naruto debuted this weekend on Cartoon Network. I don'€™t think there'™s anything left to be said, really. I'm happy with how well Viz handled the content for Toonami and kept the BGM untouched, but I am immensely disappointed with their decision to replace the opening and ending themes. I have to say that because of that, I'm not quite as enthusiastic about it airing on Bionix.