Doraemon Stays on GMA

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.

No Talk Show Rivalry for GMA, Again

‘Yan ang Morning’ will not go up against ‘Magandang Buhay’ after all.

GMA made that clear when it announced its new morning lineup last Monday. And with the premiere of ‘Yan ang Morning’ this Monday, this is how their current lineup looks like:

• 7:30 a.m. – Astig Authority block
  • ‘Shaman King’
  • ‘Yo-Kai Watch’
  • ‘Bleach’
  • ‘Dragon Ball Z’
  • ‘Knock Out’
• 10:00 a.m. – ‘Mako Mermaids’
• 10:45 a.m. – ‘Yan ang Morning’

That’s right, 10:45 a.m. For some reason, GMA decided not to have ‘Yan ang Morning’ face ‘Magandang Buhay’ head-to-head (the latter currently airs at 7:30 a.m.), and instead air the former in a timeslot that was traditionally occupied by previous long-running talk shows (e.g. ‘Today with Kris Aquino’, ‘SIS’).

There are some good and bad news on this decision. The good news is that despite some good reviews and strong showing in social media, ‘Magandang Buhay’ has not been able to make an impact in the ratings (much like ‘Kris TV’ before it), losing to the entire Astig Authority block by a wide margin.

As far as GMA is concerned, their anime block is doing just fine, even if they continue to air reruns of several beloved animes. For them, there is no point in sacrificing Astig Authority’s timeslot in favor of another program since the block continues to have a strong following.

The bad news? After Astig Authority, ratings for GMA in the morning slip predictably, as ‘Kapamilya Blockbusters’ kickstart a momentum swing for ABS-CBN that would continue for the rest of the day.

That said, GMA’s ratings woes after Astig Authority will put significant pressure on ‘Yan ang Morning’. Considering that their previous talk show ‘Basta Every Day Happy’ did not fare well, ‘Yan ang Morning’ could have a hard time making an impact in its current timeslot.

Would GMA be better off if ‘Yan ang Morning’ go one-on-one with ‘Magandang Buhay’? We’ll never know, but then again, anything can happen, and if ‘Yan ang Morning’ is able to thrive in its current timeslot, that could help GMA’s morale.

Hopefully they win, otherwise another failure of a talk show is in the offing.

Hosted by Marian Rivera, with Boobay as her sidekick, ‘Yan ang Morning’ airs weekdays starting May 2 at 10:45 a.m. on GMA.

GMA Has Virtually Every Dragon Ball Movie Except One; Race for DB Super is On

The ‘Dragon Ball’ franchise has long been associated with GMA since the mid-1990s.

From the first ‘Dragon Ball’ anime to ‘Dragon Ball Z’ and then ‘Dragon Ball GT’, GMA has aired them all. Even the remastered version of ‘Z’ called ‘Dragon Ball Z Kai’ has also been aired on the Kapuso network.

Just recently, movies of the ‘Dragon Ball’ franchise were being aired on GMA every weekend mornings. Titled ‘Dragon Ball Fight Presents’, it features a 45-minute DB film that is aired in two parts (23 minutes each), with the exception of the 70-minute ‘Broly: The Legendary Super Saiyan’ (aka ‘The Burning Battle’ in the teasers) which aired for four parts.

While GMA has the rights to most of the older DB movies, it was ABS-CBN who ended up with the most recent one (not including ‘Resurrection: F’, which is yet to be released). Earlier this year, ABS-CBN managed to acquire the rights to the ‘Battle of Gods’ film, and aired it on Channel 2 and Hero during the month of January.

Yesterday morning, ABS-CBN re-aired ‘Battle of Gods’ (teaser video above), hours after GMA aired the second part of ‘Bio-Broly’ (known as ‘Attack the Super Warrior’ in the teasers). Talk about doing a favor.

By all means necessary, the rights to ‘Dragon Ball’ are now being disputed by the two network giants. And as the franchise entered its third decade, a new series in on the horizon.

Starting July 5 in Japan, a new ‘Dragon Ball’ anime will be released, entitled ‘Dragon Ball Super’. The new anime is expected to arrive soon in the Philippines, but it remains uncertain as to who will air the new series.

Of course, it will go down to the two heated rivals in the television industry. GMA may have long been associated with the DB franchise, but ABS-CBN is also looking to give a new spin to the popular anime series.

That said, the fans of Goku and the gang will have to wait. This is definitely an exciting time for the Filipino anime community, as one of the most iconic animes in the world will have a new adaptation coming soon.