G4 continues to show big anime support

When I first heard about the TV network G4, I was quite excited. It was going to be a channel that was dedicated to entertaining gamers. That meant we were going to get all sorts of video game-related shows, and that's indeed how the network started out. The majority of their programming was focused on video games, some good and some bad. Unfortunately, G4 slowly decided to move away from that concept.

Now G4 has morphed into a channel that has very few game-related shows, and not much in the way of original programming. It seems like the network does nothing but show Cheaters all the time, and then throw Attack of the Show/Web Soup/X-Play in there every so often. The channel went from an interesting experiment to a very disappointing venture. I thought all hope was lost, but now G4 may be wising up.

The network has been throwing a lot of support towards anime lately. It may not be video game related, but there's no doubt that there's going to be a bit of crossover between the two audiences. The network currently airs the Iron Man and Wolverine animes, and I guess the results have been positive thus far. Now the network is going to add two more anime features to their lineup this year.

Both the Marvel anime adaptations of X-Men and Blade are on the way, with X-Men airing on Oct. 21st and Blade set for debut sometime this Winter. As you can see, G4's focus on anime is squarely on the Marvel side of things. I guess the safest bet when airing anime on primetime TV is to go with content that people are familiar with. Marvel's staple of characters is obviously very well known, which means more people should be willing to check out these anime adaptations.

I know I've been supporting G4's anime appreciation lately. I went from really liking the network to stepping away from it completely, but now they're drawing me back in. I still think the majority of the network features content not for me, but I can appreciate that the execs are at least trying some interesting stuff now.