FUNimation Channel Watchers Get Back-To-School Presents
And what presents they are: starting September 1st, FUNimation will add Mushi-Shi, School Rumble, Tsubasa, Beck: Mongolian Chop Squad and Basilisk to the FUNimation channel. Most of the shows premiere early-ish in the morning (Beck at 12:30am, for example) but no worries– they’ll all repeat multiple times. Hit the jump for the full press release, which includes all the airtimes (in EST).
FUNimation Channel Adds New Shows to Programming Slate
Fall Schedule Features U.S. Television Premieres of Anime SeriesFLOWER MOUND, TX, August 18, 2008 – The FUNimation® Channel, the premiere 24/7 digital anime network from FUNimation Entertainment & OlympuSAT, will be premiering five new animated series. The debuting titles include Mushi-Shi, School Rumble, Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicles, Beck: Mongolian Chop Squad, and Basilisk, all begin airing September 1.
DEBUTING SERIES:
(All times are Eastern)Mushi-Shi (TV-14) — The FUNimation Channel has picked up 26 episodes of this supernatural series. Mushi are neither plants nor animals, instead they resemble the primeval substances of life. Few humans are aware of their existence, among them in Ginko, a ‘mushi-shi’ who studies them and investigates strange occurrences that are related to their appearances. Slated to premiere Monday, September 1 at 8:00 a.m. Eastern (30 minutes. Airs M-F at 8:00 a.m. and again at 12:30 p.m., 7:00 p.m. and 10:00 pm)
School Rumble (TV-PG) – This comedic drama is about the tangled love triangles of teens. Premiering Monday, September 1 at 10:00 am (30 minutes. Airs M-F at 10:00 a.m. and again at 4:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m.)
Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle (TV-PG) — This dramatic action-adventure about four travelers on an epic journey. Their goals are different, their destiny the same. Premiering Monday, September 1 at 10:30 a.m. (30 minutes. Airs M-F at 10:30 a.m. and again at 5:00 p.m. and 8:30 p.m.)
BECK: Mongolian Chop Squad (TV-MA) — In this comedy about a garage band trying to make it there is one thing to remember: music can change your life, sometimes against your will! Premiering Monday, September 1 at 12:30 a.m. (30 minutes. Airs M-F at 12:30 a.m. and airs again at 4:00 a.m.)
Basilisk (TV-MA) – This 24 episode drama is set in feudal Japan as the young leaders of warring ninja clans fall in love. Their love is ill-timed. A forbidden love amidst a battle for blood. Who will be left standing? Premiering Monday, September 1 at 1:00 a.m. (30 minutes. Airs M-F at 1:00 a.m. and again at 4:30 a.m.)
For those anime fans who miss the episodes during the week, they can catch all of the episodes back-to-back in our weekend “rewind” on Saturdays and Sundays.
Fans should also check their local listings as other schedule changes will take effect on September 1.
Tags: airtimes, basilisk, beck, FUNimation, funimation channel, mushishi, school rumble, tsubasa
August 18th, 2008 at 8:55 am
Boo! Just when I bought the Beck box set! (T_T)
Oh well, at least I’ll get to check out Mushi-Shi and Tsubasa now.
August 18th, 2008 at 9:00 am
@Scott: OHSHI! You accidentally actually gave money to those pesky anime companies. What a bother. ;)
Mushishi is epic win.
August 18th, 2008 at 9:04 am
The first 8 episodes of Mushishi is on the Youtube FUNimation channel.
August 18th, 2008 at 10:06 am
@gia
And the money I pay for Fios TV means nothing? I’ll gladly endure fast forwarding through health insurance ads every 8 minutes to save a buck or two.
I may be legit, but I’m still a cheap ass bastard. ;-)
August 18th, 2008 at 10:10 am
@Scott: Funny how counter-productive that is. ;)
August 18th, 2008 at 10:47 am
How is that counter-productive? The FUNimation channel is supported by advertisements, and trust me, they have _many_ advertisements in it. It breaks every 8 minutes or so, more so than most major networks. And even though I fast forward through them, the fact that I remember most of them are for the one health insurance company is a sign that it does get through to the viewer even in the days of Tivo.
You need to be more open to alternative legal methods of anime consumption and consider that royalties and ad venues actually do count for something. If FUNimation wasn’t successfully profiting off of it, then they would be sending C&D letters to Fios and Netflix instead of sending them to you-know-who.
August 18th, 2008 at 11:06 am
I was merely suggesting that lambasting others for not supporting the industry and then pridefully talking about how you minimize that support– i.e. the money you spend –seems counter-productive to your message, at least to me.
I am very open to alternative legal methods of anime consumption, and I don’t deny that FUNimation makes infinitely more money off of ads and royalties than off fansubs– but that doesn’t mean I can’t be realistic about the fact that renting or watching on TV still sends less money to the creators than buying.
As for whether FUNi would send C&Ds to FiOS and/or Netflix– of course they wouldn’t do that; there’s nothing illegal going on there (and in the case of the FUNi channel, they actually seek out those deals). That doesn’t mean FUNimation probably wouldn’t rather have you buy the stuff than only watch it on their channel or only rent it.
There is no shortcut: if you want to support the industry, you have to spend money on it, no ifs ands or buts. Is only renting or only watching on TV better than only downloading fansubs? Absolutely.
But buying is still better than any of those options.
August 19th, 2008 at 8:10 am
Gia,
I agree that buying is better then being a legal leech, which is only marginally better than being an illegal one. Really though, the situation is complex and most people don’t fit just one category. Some people use illegal methods and still buy. Many others don’t. The same holds true for legal methods.
Still, some people will never pay for anything so you might as well make something off of them, I guess, even if pennies. Obviously, if everyone netflixed and borrowed everything and/or only bought used DVDs, we wouldn’t have an industry because someone has to pay the cost. But as long as only some people use the legal methods to leech–and those people are those that wouldn’t buy DVDs anyway–it’s a good thing, I think.
Personally, I use illegal methods as well as buying R2 and R1 DVDs. I rarely use legal methods because, if there is a show I want to watch and it’s already on DVD, I’d rather just buy the DVD than rent it (R1 DVDs, to me, seem kind of cheap, given I buy R2s). I actually don’t quite understand why people like to rent, but I suppose others don’t understand why some of us like to collect DVDs.
As for the FUNimation channel, I don’t get it, but I assume it’s dubbed only?