Japan’s most beloved robotic cat is back on GMA.
Starting tomorrow, the popular anime ‘Doraemon’ will be seen anew on the Kapuso network. But instead of the regular series, GMA will air ‘Doraemon’ theatrical movies every weekdays, each encompassing three to four 25-minute parts.
The first ‘Doraemon’ movie that will be aired on GMA is ‘Doraemon: Nobita and the Robot Kingdom’. Released in 2002, the movie tells the story of an empress of the Robot Kingdom, whose aim is to capture robots and strip them of their emotion.
While the return of ‘Doraemon’ should give nostalgic fans some excitement, it came at the expense of another popular anime. ‘Yo-Kai Watch’, the newest hit Japanese anime, had been on the air for only six weeks, and with ‘Doraemon’ taking over its timeslot, it seems like its run would be suddenly cut short.
As of today, GMA has yet to announce its updated schedule for its Astig Authority block. Whether or not ‘Yo-Kai Watch’ will remain or not is yet to be determined, so stay tuned for further updates.
Going back to ‘Doraemon’, it can be recalled that the most recent movie ‘Doraemon: Stand by Me’ was aired on rival ABS-CBN. When it was broadcast in late March, many thought the series will find a new home on Mother Ignacia.
But like ‘Dragon Ball Z’ (its recent full-length movies ‘Battle of Gods’ and ‘Resurrection F’ were aired on the ABS-CBN family of networks), GMA has no intention of giving up on ‘Doraemon’. And thus, Nobita and his trusted blue robotic cat remain Kapuso property, with the blessing of Fujiko Fujio of course.
For all its criticisms and poor ratings, GMA’s animes remain a strong point. That said, whether critics like it or not, GMA has no intention of relinquishing its rights to beloved anime franchises such as ‘Doraemon’, and as long as viewers continue to fall in love with it, they will keep it.
‘Doraemon’ theatrical movies air weekdays at 7:55 a.m. on GMA’s Astig Authority.
From the Tube 
Oh well. In order for us to watch Yo-Kai Watch, watch it on Cartoon Network or Toonami, but you need cable.
Animes will remain as GMA’s crown jewel at yan ang strong point ng GMA ngayon, especially on weekdays.
Some of their animes even rank in Kantar’s Top 20 national ratings every day. Kahit paulit-ulit they’re still a hit.
There’s not a lot of options. If TV5’s anime block would return in the morning block,or ABS would add more anime, it would make it more competitive but for now GMA would get the win in this battle.
@Jason: TV5 can but they have commitments with FIBA OQT this July and the latter cannot do that anymore because they have Yey! (an exclusive digital subchannel found on their TVPlus) and not to mention they are bracing for the NBA Finals next month.
With that said, anime fans sadly have three options 1) Watch GMA’s repeating anime 2)Hope TV5 reactivate their anime block or 3) Avail SkyCable(Hero) or ABS’s blackbox(Yey!).
Not to mention select anime on Toonami and Cartoon Network, plus Animax if you’re ready to pay for more.
But if TV5 were to answer your suggestion, it’s not going to be good. Looks like the fans’ pleas of an Animega comeback will not happen, because TV5 is too committed to Western cartoons (Disney, Boomerang, Marvel) that are not even popular to the masses these days.
At this point, the only choice is to depend on online streaming for more recent animes, or if you’re the more addicting type, endure hours of torrent downloads.
Yo-Kai’s Watch’s popularity is fading worldwide, of course.
How do you know? Don’t jump quickly into conclusions, if I were you.
Why does anime get a lot of unwanted cuts, even the OPs and EDs?
From what I know, it’s the network’s intention to cut them in order to compensate for the lack of allotted time. In GMA’s case, they only air for about 90 minutes every weekdays, and with four animes in the rotation, they need these cuts to make up for the short time. Same goes to ABS, they need such cuts just to make everything fit within the period.
If you want to watch animes in its full and unedited glory, just go online, or subscribe to Hero, Animax and Yey!.
What do you mean, there is a limit every day on airing anime on Free TV?
Yes there is. Remember, they are general entertainment networks, which means they have to fit all kinds of shows every day. And not all are anime fans, so they need to air other shows just for their satisfaction.