OK, for those who don't know what I'm talking about, Animax is a 24 hour animation channel dedicated to anime.
Before all this, In Latin America, the channel was originally known as Locomotion from 1996-2005, which had more variety in terms of animation with American cartoons for Teens and adults, foreign short films,experimental animation,Stop motion, 80s cartoons(like He-Man, G.I. JOE and G-Force), even introducing South Park to the Spanish speaking viewers. It was a great channel full of so much nostalgia.
Then around 2000-2001, the channel started showing more Teen and Adult anime series and films like Robotech, Cowboy bebop, Evangelion, Saber Marionette J and many others, including OVAs. The channel was my main source of anime back then. By the time the channel grew, it became more anime oriented and it was around 2005 that Sony bought the channel and re-branded it as Animax. Now, the channel in it's early years introduced me to other anime shows like Shin-Chan, Full Metal Alchemist, Get Backers ,Samurai X and DeathNote to name a few and I'd tune in frequently to check out the new stuff.
However, in late 2008, the channel started changing it's lineup by adding more American Programming instead, like Melrose Place and Beverly Hills 90210 and other shows from the 90s onwards....What the fuck were they thinking!? This is Animax! The channel was practically built for Anime! Where's the anime? Well sadly, the anime programming was now reduced to a late night Time slot from 1AM-6AM. A load of bullshit.
Seriously, what's the point of calling this channel Animax now when the channel hardly shows any animation? That's like saying that MTV is focusing less on Music Videos and more on Reality shows(oh wait...) or Cartoon Network showing more live action Programming (OK, another bad example...).
Well the channel clearly went downhill over the years, with viewers going as far as calling it "Gringomax" because of it's American programming and now today the channel is shutting down because of this fuck up and is being re-branded over here as another generic American channel full of old sitcoms that nobody watches.
This saddens me that a channel with so much potential was reduced to a pile of shit. Now I have no choice but to search for this stuff online until a spiritual successor of this channel decides to appear in Latin America.
RIP Animax.
twinsnake6
eh i stopped watching anime years ago