It was another busy weekend for the UK anime industry as AmeCon went down with a number of exciting new announcements, much of which involve anime finally making progress on UK TV.

UK anime TV news

• No doubt, the biggest announcement at the convention was the official confirmation of Anime Central, the UK's first ever dedicated anime TV channel. As stated in the previous news post, the channel will begin airing .hack //SIGN, Cowboy Bebop, Fullmetal Alchemist, Gundam Seed, Planetes, Wolf's Rain and Transformers (series details unknown). In additional to all this, it has also been revealed that they will be broadcasting Bleach, Escaflowne, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex (1ST and 2ND GIG), S-CRY-ED and Witch Hunter Robin. The channel will be officially opening on Sky Ditigal on September 10th, 9pm to 6am, everyday from then on. Be sure to bookmark their official website (animecentral.com), which will no doubt be launching soon.


• From September 8th, ADV's "Anime Network" (Sky Digital TV channel 195) will be expanding to 7 days (8PM until 10PM), with new episode premieres screening on Saturday and Sunday evenings. The Saturday line-up will be Azumanga Daioh, Kurau: Phantom Memory, Pani Poni Dash and This Ugly Yet Beautiful World, while Sunday includes Guyver (2006), Innocent Venus, Jinki: Extend and Neon Genesis Evangelion.

New UK anime DVD licenses and release information

In terms of new UK DVD licenses, there were no massive surprises.

• ADV will be releasing GAINAX's latest classic "Gurren-Lagann" and Makoto (Voices of a Distant Star, Places Promised...) Shinkai's newest theatrical movie "5cm per second" as well as Ah! My Goddess TV season 2, Moonlight Mile, Project Blue Earth, Pumpkin Scissors, Project Blue Earth, Tokyo Majin and Welcome to the N.H.K..


• Beez are considering releasing the hip-hop-influenced action series Tokyo Tribe 2, though this depends on its relative success in France first.

Thanks to both our forum user hopeful_monster and Anime On DVD's Danj for providing us with this information.