TVSquad

I watch a lot of cartoons. I don't however, watch much anime at all. Sure, there are movies and TV shows I've seen and enjoyed (Akira, Ghost in the Shell, FLCL), but that's a mere drop in the vast anime ocean, hardly enough to call myself a fan.

So, my lack of true anime insight and the fact I was nowhere new the New York ComicCon this year are my two main excuses for not getting this news to you sooner, but winners of the first American Anime Awards --which honors anime series released in the U.S. and redubbing provided by English-speaking voice actors-- were announced, and they are:

Last year Adult Swim and Burger King teamed up for a "Have It Your Way" sweepstakes in which the winner got to decide the Adult Swim lineup for one whole evening. Last year the winner included lots of Aqua Teen and Venture Bros., and this year the winner must like themselves a lot of anime, because that's all they've chosen. I don't watch much anime, but I do love FLCL, so it's nice to see the late night/early morning marathon will kick off with a mini-marathon of every FLCL episode. The viewer-chosen episodes will start the evening of August 5, so if you enjoy shows like Paranoia Agent, Trigun, and Cowboy Bebop, start popping those caffeine pills now. You could also just record the episodes, but that's not very manly.

I watch pretty everything these days via Tivo, which is nice, although sometimes when I'm skipping over the "bumps" that make up the time between shows on Adult Swim I often miss important messages about the network and upcoming shows. This morning while zapping through those bumps, I caught one that said FLCL would be returning to the lineup on August 5. Of course, FLCL has been in and out of the lineup for  a long time, so this isn't  a huge surprise, but I thought fans would be interested. All six episodes will be shown, so set your DVRs. Oh yeah, and to my fellow Tivo users, the show is listed in the guide as "Fooly Cooly." It took me forever to figure that one out. While I don't think I watch enough anime to really consider myself a fan, I loved FLCL. I think their may be a deeper meaning to the show, but I just dig the great music and all the weird things that explode from Naota's head.

Looks like January 2nd's Adult Swim schedule blends a little of the new with a little of the old - and throws in some of the incredibly old for good measure. the 11pm to midnight block is your predictable helping of Family Guy and Futurama, though they've gone ahead and flipped the two shows again. (Why do they keep mucking with this? Do the shows get muscle cramps if they aren't allowed to move around every few months?) 12am, however, sees Home Movies enter the rotation. 12:30am gives us a dose of FLCL, a.k.a. "Fooly Cooly" ("furi kuri", for those looking for a more phonetic rendition). If you haven't seen FLCL before in its previous short-lived, 1:30am reincarnations on [as], this is the time to behold...um...well, it's fairly indescribable. Let's just say that if you thought Aqua Teen Hunger Force was whacked out, you ain't seen nothing yet. Wrapping up the schedule are s-CRY-ed, a good show that I can't get into no matter how hard I try, and Lupin the 3rd, a.k.a. Lupin Sansei, Hayao Miyazaki's adaptation of the story of a goofball thief who gets by as much on luck as he does on skill.

Thanks, [as]. This nearly makes up for the 12 oz. Mouse Marathon on New Year's Eve that sent my wife and I running to watch the Law and Order: Criminal Intent marathon on USA.