Local History

 It was probably around the late 70's to early 80's that anime started showing up on Philippine television. While there may have been other shows, my earliest experience was with the "giant robot" afternoon schedule of GMA 7. The schedule was something like this: (corrections/additions are most welcome)
 

Soon after, these were all taken off the air, partly because of its pretty violent scenes and the suspected theme of resistance and rebellion.

It was quite a while before anime returned; and return it did with a vengeance. Space Battleship Yamato (Star Blazers), Astroboy, Spaceketeers, Captain Harlock, and Voltron sparked renewed interest towards anime. None, though, has as much impact as Macross, which created an extremely loyal following. Other titles included Gaiking, Kimba the White Lion, Speed Racer, and Starvengers.

A series of early afternoon anime then started cropping up, but were geared towards a more historical and soap opera-like storylines. Memorable ones include Princess Sara, Dog of Flanders, Sound of Music, and Heidi of the Alps.

Those with cable TV had access to even more anime, but had to understand the language of our other Asian neighbors to make out what was going on. Shows like Kimagure Orange Road, Ranma 1/2, Saint Seiya, H2, Goldfish Alert!, Nintama Rantaro, Doraemon, and NHK's occasional week-long anime festivals added variety to our meager fare of shows. I even recall getting up early on weekdays just to catch Maison Ikkoku in Chinese.

Then things started to get interesting. Shows we never dreamed of watching suddenly started appearing on local TV. Nadia and the Secret of Blue Water, Yaiba, Metal Fighter Miku, Time Quest and Dragon Ball led the charge. Soon to follow were Sailor Moon, DragonQuest, Tonde Buurin (Super Boink), Zenki, Yuyu Hakusho (Ghost Fighters), Magic Knight Rayearth, The Slayers, Slam Dunk, and even Ranma 1/2. They were available in either English or Tagalog, or an annoying combination of both, and were censored in varying degrees. Recent titles include Bt'X and Saint Tail. The future looks bright, indeed.

The local stations have finally realized the popularity of anime. Among the latest shows are Saber Marionette J, Flame of Rekka, Wedding Angel Peach. We can expect to see Fushigi Yuugi and Vision of Escaflowne pretty soon.

Show List

Check out Dozer Design's TV/Cable Anime Programs for a complete and up-to-date show schedule on Philippine television.

Links
Look for anime in these local search engines:

• EDSA - Evoserve/WWW Directory with Search Access
• sentro.com - Linking Filipinos Together
• Yehey: The Philippines at your Fingertips