The Land of Obscusion: Home of the Obscure & Forgotten: An Overview the Early Years of the "Modern Day Late-Night Anime Infomercial": 1998

Back in January I gave a general overview of the origins of late-night anime, briefly covering the initial (more or less) isolated examples that happened between 1963 & 1995 before going over the early days of the "modern day late-night anime infomercial", from Those Who Hunt Elves in October 1996 to all of 1997, up through Fortune Quest L. While it initially started off as a simple experiment to see if otaku would be willing to watch TV anime at that late of a time slot, which in turn would essentially act as a giant advertisement for said otaku to buy stuff, it quickly started growing into something much more lucrative throughout 1997. However, while we went over 13 brand new late-night anime in that year-plus of time in the previous part of this general overview... it would literally more than double the following year. At first I had planned on covering 1998 & 1999 together for this next part, but 1998 alone had 26 brand new anime that debuted in late-night, one re-run that had originally debuted in 1997, & eight (mostly) short-form anime that ran as part of TBS' Wonderful program, the introduction of which was covered last time. 1999 had an additional 15, plus another 10 Wonderful titles, so I think it'll be better to just cover 1998 on its own here & we'll cover 1999 & 2000 (the latter of which is shockingly sparse) together next time.

So welcome to 1998, the year where late-night anime first truly exploded.

The year begins on "January 7 at 25:15" over at TV Tokyo with the show that replaced Next Senki Ehrgeiz, following a one-week break for New Year's Eve, El-Hazard: The Alternative World. On May 26, 1995 the first OVA episode of El-Hazard: The Magnificent World saw release in Japan, which was an isekai story, inspired by Edgar Rice Burroughs' novel A Princess of Mars, conceived of by director Hiroki Hayashi & writer Ryoe Tsukimura where a bunch of high school students find themselves teleported to the world of El-Hazard. Alongside Tenchi Muyo! & Battle Athletes, El-Hazard was part of Pioneer LDC & AIC's big push to make Laserdisc a big deal in the anime market during the 90s, & in turn El-Hazard would be a media mix project, as alongside the OVA was a three-volume manga adaptation & a 26-episode TV anime series (known abroad as El-Hazard: The Wanderers) from 1995 to 1996 in prime time (it aired between seasons of Slayers) that told its own alternate timeline story. Now, in 1998, there was a 13-episode TV anime that was a direct sequel to the two-part, 11-episode OVA that started it all, now with the characters finding themselves in yet another alternate world, the militant Creteria. While it sounds just a little bit confusing, the timing for The Alternative World actually made sense, since the final episode of The Magnificent World 2 came out in Japan the prior October, so fans of the original storyline didn't have to wait long for another sequel to come about. Also, if nothing else, The Alternative World truly shows just how much luster the OVA format had lost come the start of 1998, as instead of going with yet another straight-to-video release it was decided that a late-night TV time slot made more sense; to be fair, though, this show's later home video release included a bonus OVA in 1999.

Considering how big of a deal Pioneer & AIC wanted El-Hazard to be, it's no surprise that it would see release outside of Japan, as all of the anime versions & even the manga interpretation would see English release. The Alternative World, in particular, came out first via Geneon in 1999 & 2000 via both subbed & dubbed VHS as well as dual-audio DVD, with a DVD box set in 2003, followed by a re-release on dual-audio Blu-Ray by Nozomi Entertainment (alongside the rest of the anime productions) in 2022.

Meanwhile, debuting alongside El-Hazard: The Alternative World on "January 7 at 25:45" on TV Tokyo, & replacing Those Who Hunt Elves II, is a much more forgotten & obscure title: AWOL - Absent WithOut Leave. Conceived of by the same unidentified "et" as Next Senki Ehrgeiz, in what would be et's second & final creation, AWOL is about the terrorist group Solomon stealing a bunch of PDB missiles & essentially holding a small system of planets hostage by way of a planetary protection system now being under their control, as the one man in control of the system has gone AWOL & sided with Solomon. To combat this threat, Major Jim Hyatt is chosen to lead a small group of specialists who will find & infiltrate Solomon's HQ, eliminate their leader Duran Gash, & save the day. In concept, AWOL is honestly a neat little series, essentially being an anime equivalent to The Dirty Dozen, complete with Hyatt's group being a ragtag assembly of personalities, including some criminals who are working to shave time off of their sentences. Unfortunately, though, in execution AWOL is absolutely terrible for one main reason: The pacing. Simply put, barely anything happens in most episodes of AWOL, resulting in pacing that's so abhorrently slow that it takes two episodes for Solomon to be established as the threat they are (& Hyatt to even be properly introduced), five for the main villain's name to be spoken, six for Hyatt to assemble his crew, nine for Gash's second-in-command to be verbally spoken to by name, & so on. I mentioned last time that Ehrgeiz felt like something that was maybe originally intended to be a shorter OVA & was instead expanded into a 12-episode TV series, but AWOL feels like that even more so, with the end result being a nigh-unwatchable bore, especially in the first half. It was so bad that when AWOL was released on home video in Japan it was heavily re-cut into AWOL Compression Re-MIX, which truncated the entire series into four double-length OVAs, which included the removal of Episode 3 in its entirely, due to how pointless it was to the overall plot; the end result, though still flawed, is truly the only way to watch AWOL & not hate yourself.

However, when AnimeVillage.com licensed AWOL for English release they were not given AWOL Compression Re-MIX. Instead, they were given the original TV version(!), which they released across six subbed VHS tapes around 1999, & when they were renamed Bandai Entertainment in 2000 the first two episodes were re-released on a single dubbed VHS tape.

Luckily, those who stayed up late to watch TV Tokyo on "January 8 at 25:15" were treated to a brand new show that has since gone on to become a classic. Replacing Virus Buster Serge (after a two-week hiatus) was Seiho Bukyou/Starward Hero Outlaw Star, the debut work of Sunrise's then-newly established Studio 10. In terms of its provenance, Outlaw Star is interesting in that it took place in the sci-fi "Toward Star Worlds" universe of Takehiko Ito's 1988 manga The Future-Retro Hero Story, & is technically an adaptation of the Outlaw Star manga by Ito that ran in Ultra Jump & debuted in 1996, but the manga wound up never being finished, while the anime does tell a complete story. Anyway, the anime tells the story of Gene Starwind, a for-hire jack of all trades (with his 11-year old business partner Jim Hawking) who find themselves on a search for the "Galactic Leylines", which hold within them treasure, knowledge, & power. Naturally, this results in Gene & his friends (including fan favorite catgirl Aisha Clan Clan) being chased after by all manner of rivals, including both those who want the Leylines for their own purposes as well those who have personal vendettas against Gene. Outlaw Star would find itself a strong cult following over the decades, and while it wouldn't necessarily become one of the most beloved anime of the 90s it would often be maybe just below the all-time greats of the decade, consistently; it also helped that it managed to air on North American television via both Toonami &, later, Adult Swim. If anything, the only thing that arguably has kept Outlaw Star from being more widely beloved is the existence of another sci-fi action/adventure story with a (mostly) episodic flair that also debuted in 1998, saw international release around the same time, & had a certain "jazz" about it... but we'll get that one (way) later in this overview. There would later be a spin-off TV anime, Seiho Tenshi/Starward Angel Angel Links, that ran for 13 episodes in the Spring of 1999, but that actually aired in prime time in Japan (7 pm on WOWOW) so it won't be covered next time. Yeah, sometimes a late-night anime would later get a follow-up of some sort that wound up airing in prime time, for one reason or another; go figure.

As mentioned, while the Outlaw Star manga has yet to see English release, the anime quickly saw international release in English, first via subbed & dubbed VHS tapes in 1999 by AnimeVillage.com/Bandai Entertainment, followed by dual-audio DVDs in 2000. FUNimation would then re-release the anime on DVD & BD in the 2010s (while Anime Limited did the same in the UK), & Crunchyroll most recently gave it a new BD boxset re-release in 2024, keeping the show in print as of this overview. It should also be noted that Joss Whedon's late 2002 TV series Firefly had been often compared to Outlaw Star, & when considering how long the anime had been available in English by that point it is entirely possible that Whedon took heavy influence from it when creating his series.

That covers all of the new late-night anime that debuted in January, so up next we move over to MBS in March, with the show that replaced Fortune Quest L, which I neglected to mention was aired under what MBS called Anime Shower; to be fair, there will be a lot of named time slots for late-night anime over the decades. Anyway, debuting on "March 21 at 25:40", Round Vernian Vifam 13 was a mech anime by Sunrise that was related to the 1983-1984 mech anime Round Vernian Vifam, which told the Swiss Family Robinson-inspired story of a group of 13 kids (of varying ages) who have to find their way back home to Earth on a space colony while needing to fight off the alien forces that have left them stranded without any adults. However, instead of being a prequel, sequel, or even a simple spin-off to the original series, Vifam 13 was actually a midquel (of sorts) that took place in the space of time between Episodes 23 & 26 of the original 43-episode series, though even then there were changes to the plot made that didn't allow Vifam 13 to match exactly within the original Vifam's story; therefore, it's best to think of it as an alternate timeline midquel. A good amount of the original voice cast did return to reprise their roles, though the fact that some of the original actors were literal kids back in 1983 did mean that their current voices didn't quite match due to puberty. Unfortunately, though, the original Vifam's director (& essentially original creator of the series) Takeyuki Kanda had suddenly passed away in 1996 while working on the initial planning & pre-production of Vifam 13. In Kanda's place as director for this new anime was Toshifumi Kawase, who naturally brought a different style & feel to Vifam 13 that apparently ruffled some fans of the original, but in the end the series saw itself through to completion after 26 episodes; unlike the original, which saw four OVAs made after it finished airing, there were no Vifam 13 OVAs.

While the original Round Vernian Vifam did see a short-lived English subbed streaming option over on (the now long defunct) Daisuki, Vifam 13 has yet to receive an official English release, and considering that it's a midquel series that more or less assumes familiarity with the original I imagine it won't see an official English release until the original series receives one first... whenever it's given a second chance, that is.

Now we move into April, which is probably the most important month of 1998 when it comes to late-night anime from a historical standpoint, due to two shows that opened up new venues for TV anime that absolutely would play a major role in the proliferation of late-night as the place to air new anime. However, first we should go over the new anime that continued on what already was working, and first up in that regard is an all-time classic: Trigun. Debuting on TV Tokyo on "April 1 at 25:15" & replacing El-Hazard: The Alternative World, this 26-episode series by Madhouse was based on Yasuhiro Nightow's manga of the same name, which initially ran in Tokuma Shoten's Monthly Shonen Captain in 1995 & 1996, but when that magazine shuttered Nightow eventually managed to find a new home for it in Shonen Gahosha's Young King Ours, where it continued on as Trigun Maximum from 1997 to 2007. As for the TV anime adaptation, it wasn't a 100% direct adaptation of either part of Nightow's manga, though for the most part it was more an adaptation of the original Shonen Captain run, but with elements of Maximum's early run included for flavor. For those unfamiliar with Trigun, it's a sci-fi western taking place on the Planet Gunsoke & told the story of Vash the Stampede, a wanted man with a ridiculously high $$60 billion bounty, but in reality is a peace-loving pacifist who just happens to always wind up in highly destructive situations, all while eventually needing to deal with his maniacal twin brother Millions Knives & his Gung-ho Guns.

Though Trigun was always more of a niche cult favorite over in Japan, the anime in particular would become a smash hit abroad, & especially in North America, where it was first released by Pioneer Entertainment in 1999 via dubbed & subbed VHS tapes, followed by dual-audio DVDs in 2000, where it'd remain a consistent top seller for Pioneer (later Geneon). It got an additional boost in popularity when it started airing on Adult Swim in 2003, where it'd continue running via re-runs up through 2006, & in Canada it'd also air on G4TechTV's Anime Current block in 2007. The international popularity of Trigun would later result in FUNimation re-releasing it on DVD (it's never been remastered into HD) in the 2010s, where it remains in print to this day, & in 2010 an original theatrical anime film side story by Madhouse, Trigun: Badlands Rumble, would see release after years of production hell. Finally, Studio Orange & Toho would produce a complete reimagining of the series in 2023 with Trigun Stampede, followed by a second season this year (2026) with Trigun Stargaze. Without a doubt, Trigun is one of the most popular & important anime to have come from 1998's late-night anime line-up, though it's still not the most popular anime from the year. That show would technically first air on Japanese TV just a day or two after Trigun's debut, and even on TV Tokyo... but I'll get to it later on, because it wasn't quite ready just yet when it first aired in prime time.

The next show that debuted in late-night on TV Tokyo is a 12-episode series that's mostly become forgotten with time, but at the same time has inadvertently maintained some (literal) trivial notoriety because of a cameo it made in a popular American sitcom from the 00s. Debuting on "April 6 at 25:15" & replacing Vampire Princess Miyu TV, Jikuu Tensho/Spacetime Transfer Nazca was a 12-episode original story about a high school student name Kyoji Miura who discovers that he & his kendo teacher Masanari Tate are actually reincarnations of ancient Incan warriors named Bilka & Yawaru, with Bilka having stopped Yawaru from "purifying" the world via destruction... and now Tate wishes to finish the job, leaving Kyoji needing to do what his prior incarnation did in the past. Naturally, as the story continued more reincarnations of various Inca appear, while the idea of who these characters really are (i.e. "Are they who they currently are, or are they simply the same people they were in the past?") & if they're just acting out what's destined for them played factors in the story. Alongside a two-volume manga interpretation by Akira Himekawa (the duo that would later become known for their various manga adaptations of the Legend of Zelda franchise), Nazca was only the second anime ever for both Genco (following Battle Athletes Victory) & Radix (following Master of Mosquiton `99), but even in Japan was a series that seemingly just came & went, though it did at least receive a better than just VHS & LD, with a DVD boxset in 2005 looking to be the last time it was ever released over there.

Meanwhile, Pioneer Entertainment would license & release Nazca throughout 2000, both via subbed & dubbed VHS tapes & dual-audio DVDs, though it never would receive any sort of re-release beyond that. However, the only reason most anime fans continue to even know of Nazca's existence today comes from the simple fact that, for some reason, two quick clips from Episode 3 wound up being shown during the intro sequence of the popular sitcom Malcom in the Middle, alongside clips from One Million Years BC, Creature from the Haunted Sea, The Color of Skiing, Out of the Unknown, & The Brain From Planet Arous, as well as clips from WCW Mayhem 1999 & the 1982 North American Boxing Championships. Ironically enough, Bryan Cranston played Malcom's father in the show, & had done some anime dubbing voice work a few years prior, but by the time Pioneer released Nazca in English Cranston had long stopped working on anime. Meanwhile, to bring things back to the subject of late-night anime in 1998, NTV would start airing a full re-run of the Berserk TV anime it debuted in 1997 on "April 7 at 25:45"... the literal week after the final episode aired; at the very least, the first episode does technically take place after the final episode, so it kind of made sense in a recursive way.

Despite both El-Hazard: The Alternative World & AWOL -Absent WithOut Leave- debuting together on January 8, and both being only 12 episodes long, a one-week hiatus for AWOL after Episode 3 (probably got pre-empted by something) meant that it shared one week with the newly debuting Trigun before ending. Because of that, it wasn't until "April 8 at 25:45" that Sentimental Journey debuted in late-night to replace AWOL... and, boy, is this a perfect example of how late-night anime often makes no effort to feel like one show can carry over to the next, thematically. Where AWOL was (at least in theory) an espionage thriller about stopping a terrorist event, Sentimental Journey was based on the romance simulation game Sentimental Graffiti by Marcus that had come out on the Sega Saturn just that prior January. Designed to be "the next Tokimeki Memorial" & produced by Toshio Tabeta (who was a key member of the popular Sotsugyo/Graduation game series of "galge"), Sentimental Graffiti saw the player take command of a high school boy (default name: Ichiro Tanaka) as he tries to figure out which girl from the 12 different schools he had transferred between in the past anonymously sent him a letter simply stating "I want to see you"; each girl had three different endings (Bad, Good, & Happy), depending on how the player did. However, instead of trying to simply adapt the game into anime form, Sentimental Journey was actually an anthology prequel to the game, with each episode showing the life of one of the 12 girls one year before "the boy" reunites with each of them during his search for who sent him the letter, specifically showing how each one dealt with the likes of love lost, unrequited love, etc. Yes, this was technically a part of Sentimental Graffiti's media mix aspect, and though the game didn't quite reach the success of Tokimeki Memorial it didn't do half bad itself, receiving both a sequel (which starts with "the boy" being killed in a truck rollover accident!) & prequel game, a number of radio dramas, & even a 20th Anniversary celebration in 2018 that included (among other things) Sentimental Journey being made available via streaming in Japan.

Despite the game never seeing any sort of official English release, Sentimental Journey would eventually see an official English release by way of Media Blasters, which released the entire show at once via a sub-only DVD boxset in 2004 that (as of this overview) can still be had for ridiculously cheap. From what I can tell the show was received well enough in English, as its status as a prequel focusing on the girls allows it to be watched in isolation as simply an anthology of love stories.

Meanwhile, TV Tokyo must have been really happy with how the "Wednesday" late-night slot was doing at the time, because Sentimental Journey wasn't the only show to debut on "April 8"! That's right, what was originally a two-show block was now a three-show block, as that very same night at "26:15" also featured the debut of Weiß Kreuz/White Cross! However, I should immediately point out that Weiß Kreuz (technically pronounced like "Vais Croits") would wind up being the only late-night anime to actually air as part of the three-show "block", and when you consider what this anime was a part of it suddenly makes sense why. You see, Weiß Kreuz was actually a giant media mix vanity project created by prolific voice actor Takehito Koyasu, & first appeared via radio show, drama CD, & manga serialization in Shinshokan's Monthly Wings that was done by Kyoko Tsuchiya. Originally intended to be named "Cat People", Weiß Kreuz told the story of the titular Weiß, a quartet of assassins who moonlight by day (wouldn't that technically be "daylight", then?) as proprietors of a local flower shop. Each of the members of Weiß were voiced by Koyasu & three of his good voice actor friends (Tomokazu Seki, Shinichiro Miki, & Hiro Yuuki), with the four also performing songs in character via live concerts... concerts which Tomokazu Seki has since admitted he hated doing the most, since he prefers simply voice acting. But, yeah, Weiß Kreuz the anime would run for 25 episodes & quickly become infamous for its very lackluster animation by Magic Bus, its ridiculous episodic plots, & utterly absurd sequences, which in turn only emphasized the general notoriety vanity projects like this tend to have. Not just that, but the same year as this anime aired Kyoko Tsuchiya left "Project Weiß", which would result in legal issues in the future as she still retained copyright over the original character designs. Finally, as mentioned earlier, Weiß Kreuz would wind up being the only anime to actually debut in this time slot, which honestly just feels way too fitting for a vanity project; I wonder if Takehito Koyasu himself paid for the time slot.

After the Weiß Kreuz TV anime ended Weiß as a musical unit disbanded, though a two-episode OVA (Verbrechen & Strafe) did come out 1999 that uses Kyoko Tsuchiya's character designs. In 2001 Weiß reunited, followed by a second TV anime, 2002's Weiß Kruez Glühen/White Cross Burn, that featured completely new character designs (& was the first thing ever animated by Ufotable) so as to avoid any copyright issues with Kyoko Tsuchiya, & finally a new manga (Weiß sideB) by Shoko Omine that ran from 2003 to 2007 in Ichijinsha's Comic Zero-Sum; after that, nothing else has been seen of Weiß Kreuz since. Media Blasters would release both Weiß Kreuz & Weiß Kruez Glühen in English during the first half of the 00s, though now under the names Knight Hunters & Knight Hunters Eternity, with Knight Hunters coming out via subbed & dubbed VHS & dual-audio DVDs, while Eternity came out via dual-audio DVD only. Knight Hunters was likely originally licensed prior to the copyright issues with Kyoko Tsuchiya becoming a major problem, as Media Blasters would later only re-release Knight Hunters Eternity on dual-audio Blu-Ray in 2023, admitting that the first season was no longer available for licensing at that point; the two-episode OVA has never seen an official English release.

Up next we have the return of the network that originally debuted the very concept of late-night anime with Sennin Buraku in 1963, & would air five of the original 11 late-night anime that came before Those Who Hunt Elves, Fuji TV. I've got to pair some stuff together, because otherwise this overview for 1998 will seemingly never end, so let's go over Fuji TV's return to late-night for the first time since Super Zugan in 1992 as a pair, since they aired together as a block. On "April 18" Fuji TV debuted two new late-night anime, one of which would go on to become an iconic classic but first up was something much more obscure & forgotten. At "26:45" was the debut of DT Eightron, a 26-episode series by Sunrise that was actually a spin-off of the 1996-1997 radio drama DT Vampire (& its own sequel, DT Vampire 97), which was about a boy name Shugo discovering that he's "already dead", & how it relates to a string of mysterious deaths where the victims had all of their blood drained when found. In comparison, DT Eightron was more of a dystopian future sci-fi story starring Shu, a boy who initially lives in the domed city of Datania (which uses emotionally-controlled child labor to build structures called "Piles") before escaping & joining up with a resistance movement called the "Returners" who wish to free the remaining children from Datania & find the location of the supposed utopia of Amaurote. Much like AWOL & Nazca, DT Eightron is a series that more or less came & went without much fanfare, though it has at least seen some re-releases here & there in Japan (most recently in 2010), but has never seen an official English release. There would be one last "DT" production in the form of 2001's DT Lords of Genomes for the Game Boy Color, but in keeping with seeming tradition had nothing to do with DT Eightron or DT Vampire, outside of the "DT" naming.

Once the first episode of DT Eightron finished airing on "April 18", & the commercials were all done, Fuji TV debuted its next late-night anime, Initial D, at "27:20". This was a 26-episode series that adapted the manga of the same name by Shuichi Shigeno that detailed the rise of Takumi Fujiwara, a high school student in Gunma prefecture whose amazing skills at navigating the winding mountain pass roads (i.e. "touge") in his Toyota Sprinter Trueno AE86, while making early morning tofu deliveries for his father's business, results in him getting into illegal street races on those very same roads. Having already made a name for himself in manga with the motorcycle racing manga Bari Bari Densetsu, Shigeno would become an absolute legend with Initial D, a reputation that would only be expanded on with its anime adaptation, with this 1998 series being a co-production between Studio Gallop & Studio Comet. The Initial D anime would quickly become known for two things, in particular, namely its heavy usage of CG imagery for the various cars during races... & its heavy reliance on Eurobeat for its soundtrack, which in turn instantly associated the music genre with Japanese drift racing from then on out; real-life drift racers were already listening to the music, but this anime solidified the usage. The Initial D anime was a big hit for the time, resulting in a second season in 1999 (which we'll get to next time) which was then followed by other anime productions going all the way into the mid-2010s; this first anime would then retroactively be subtitled "First Stage".

TokyoPop would first release Initial D: First Stage via dual-audio DVDs between 2003 & 2005, notoriously replacing the Eurobeat soundtrack for its English dub with (poorly made) hip hop simply because CEO Stu Levy didn't like Eurobeat. After re-releasing TokyoPop's DVDs as boxsets, FUNimation would then give the anime an entirely new release in 2010, complete with a brand new English dub, this time keeping the Eurobeat 100% intact. We'll get to what else TokyoPop & FUNimation released for Initial D next time.

We finally reach the end of April 1998 with another pair of shows, but in this case they're being put together because (while airing on different networks) they both marked the start of late-night anime finding brand new venues to be seen on, both of which would later greatly expand the sheer number of titles that could air in a single calendar season, i.e. a cour. First we jump back to "April 2", the day after Trigun's debut on TV Tokyo, as on "24:30" the first episode of Legend of Basara debuted on both Chiba TV & (with a five-minute delay) Sun TV. This is notable because, unlike all prior TV channels that had aired late-night anime up to this point (even dating back to 1963), these two were UHF stations, i.e. independent outlets that are not a part of a larger network (& usually have a smaller, more regional, reach), and while prior late-night anime would eventually get broadcast on UHF stations so as to cover more of Japan, Legend of Basara was the first ever late-night anime to debut on a UHF station. Based on the iconic 1990-1998 shojo manga by Yumi Tamura, this 13-episode anime told the story of Sarasa, a teenage girl who winds up needing to take up the identity of her twin brother Tatara, who was seen as the destined hero who will lead a resistance against the Golden Emperor, after he's killed by the Red King, the son of the Golden Emperor. However, Sarasa finds love in Shuri... the very Red King she's sworn vengeance against, though neither realizes the true identity of the other. An absolute epic of a shojo-styled, post-apocalyptic fantasy/romance story, Legend of Basara naturally only covers a fraction of the 27-volume manga, but its status as the first ever "UHF anime" gives it historical relevance. While it wouldn't happen right away, by the mid-00s UHF stations would become the primary vector that'd lead to late-night anime becoming so utterly (& incalculably) prevalent. As for an official English release, while the Basara manga did see one by Viz throughout the 00s, Legend of Basara has yet to receive any.

A few days after Legend of Basara's debut another alternate TV option would take its first step into brand new late-night anime, opening up yet another new option. Launching on December 25, 1984, WOWOW (a name it'd take in 1989) is a satellite station, though it didn't start doing traditional broadcasts until 1991, first via subscription-based "scrambled" programming that February, followed by standard "unscrambled" programming for free that April. WOWOW had aired various anime dating back to 1988 (back when it still the Japan Satellite Broadcasting Corporation), but on "April 10, 1998 at 25:00" it would air its very first brand new anime, Nessa no Haoh Gandalla/Gandalla, The King of Burning Desert. An original anime co-produced by Big West (of Macross fame) & Ashi Pro, & conceived of by Big West founder Yoshimasa Ohnishi himself, this 26-episode series told the story of Yuki Saijo, a musician in Los Angeles who finds himself (& his band mates) caught up in a battle over the search for Gandalla, a legendary being that can turn anything into sand & was once connected to a race called the Nessarians. It's rumored that whoever can gain control over Gandalla can rule over the world, and that the only thing that can tame Gandalla is a certain type of music. Being a Big West production it's no surprise that music played a notable factor in Gandalla's story, just like Macross before it, and in order to reach the widest net possible WOWOW aired this show unscrambled. Unfortunately, Nessa no Haoh Gandalla wouldn't go on to achieve much notoriety & would be quickly forgotten once its home video release finished up in 1999, having never been given any re-release in Japan, nor licensed for an English release. However, it did open up a new venue for late-night to debut on, and the show that'd replace Gandalla later in the year would truly open up the idea of using satellite stations like WOWOW to debut new late-night anime... again, we'll get to it in time in this overview, because it's easily the most important late-night of 1998.

It sure took a while, but we finally have now left April 1998 behind completely, and for our next new late-night anime we move over to a single show in June. An original creation conceived of by art director/character designer Hideyuki Tanaka, Super Milk-chan debuted on Fuji TV on "June 17 at 25:00" as part of the network's Flyer TV variety show. The anime was a 14-episode series of shorts starring the titular Milk-chan, a five year old "superhero" who takes on various missions by an undisclosed "President", all while constantly managing to avoid having to pay rent to her landlord. With a pop art-influenced visual style, Super Milk-chan was a mix of absurdist humor, dark comedy, & all manner of parodies of anime, manga, & real world celebrities that could be fit within its short run time. From what I can tell, this more or less seemed to fit the general style of Flyer TV, which saw fashion model Anji Ito (who was the MC for the show) exist in a full-CG environment & converse with a different CG character (voiced by a different musician) each day, with Super Milk-chan acting as one of the various "channels" that Anji would switch to each day the show ran. Super Milk-chan would get a more "traditional" (i.e. 12 episodes, at ~24 minutes each) TV anime run in 2000 as Oh! Super Milk-chan, but that would air in prime time on WOWOW, so it won't be covered in detail next time.

Both seasons of Super Milk-chan would receive an English release in the 00s via ADV Films, which also managed to get the show to air on TV via Adult Swim. Interestingly, ADV produced two different dubs for the shows, with one simply being a straight adaptation that aimed for accuracy to the original Japanese scripts (the 1998 series being referred to as "Vintage Milk-chan"), while the other was "The Super Milk-chan Show" that was produced for Adult Swim & rewrote the shows entirely with more "American" jokes, even replacing the live-action segments with new ones featuring the dub cast at the ADV offices.

July would be the next month to feature multiple new late-night anime, and we start with "July 2 at 25:15" on TV Tokyo, which marked the debut of Shadow Skill, the show that replaced Outlaw Star. Based on the manga by Megumu Okada (which went from doujinshi to a professional serialization across two different magazines, at the time), Shadow Skill is actually kind of quaint to see by this point in late-night anime history for one simple reason: It's the first ever straight up shonen action manga, i.e. "battle manga", to debut in late-night. Yeah, while there had already been numerous manga from shonen magazines to see late-night anime adaptations already they had all been of various other genres & styles, and while Trigun was technically an action manga that had run in a shonen magazine Vash was by no means a character who was all about fighting; in fact, he prefers to be a pacifist. In comparison, Shadow Skill's story of Gau Ban learning to become a powerful warrior by travelling the land with his surrogate sister figure Elle Ragu (the 59th Sevalle, the series' equivalent to a "high master") is 100% all about the intense martial arts fights that happen, and was already the recipient of a four-episode OVA from 1995 to 1996. Ironically enough, the Shadow Skill TV anime ran just as the manga was ending its 1.5-year run in Monthly Dragon Jr., with the anime's 26th & final episode on December 23, 1998 airing right as the final chapter of the manga's second run (at the time) got serialized. The manga would return in 2000 via Kodansha & run irregularly before finally ending in 2014... and then literally just a week or so before this overview went live it was announced that the Shadow Skill manga would be returning, this time via Tokuma Shoten. Some places online say this TV anime is fully titled "Shadow Skill: Eigi", but in reality "Eigi" is just people misreading the literal kanji for "Shadow Skill", i.e. 影技", so just ignore the kanji; it's simply Shadow Skill.

While the initial Shadow Skill OVAs saw English release back in the early 00s via Manga Entertainment, the Shadow Skill TV anime wouldn't see English release until the mid-00s, when ADV Films released it via dual-audio DVDs.

Up next is yet another series that has since become a beloved & iconic cult classic, as "July 6 at 25:15" over on TV Tokyo saw the debut of Serial Experiments Lain, which replaced Nazca. An original concept created by producer Yasuyuki Ueda, this 13-episode series told the story of Lain Iwakura, a middle school student in Japan who starts looking more into "the Wired", a VR-like digital realm that's slowly gaining popularity with the populace, after a classmate who recently died via suicide had sent an e-mail to all of her classmates, claiming to have actually just left her physical body to live in the Wired. A mix of psychological horror with an early look at the potential problems that an "always online" populace (using Carl Jung's idea of the "collective unconscious") would have, Serial Experiments Lain's outlook on things like the internet & how its increased usage can lead to social isolation, paranoia, & the like may have been very early... but even today is still seen as being remarkably insightful & even prescient in the days of social media, influencers, & the like. Combined with an avant garde & sometimes surreal art style headed up a debuting Yoshitoshi Abe (who Ueda had discovered for this show), as well as a script by Chiaki J. Konaka, Lain has since gone on to be considered one of the most iconic cult-classics in anime history outside of Japan, i.e. it'll likely never be considered most people's first pick for "Greatest Anime of All Time" but those who have watched it tend to consider it a strong contender. Lain was also part of a larger media mix project, as there was a manga serialization that debuted a couple of months prior, as well as a PS1 game that really emphasized the idea of what's real & what's not by way of watching various clips, some of which look to have been tampered beforehand. Serial Experiments Lain is simultaneously an anime that could have only been made in 1998, yet also something that rings all too true, in some ways, almost 30 years later.

Pioneer Entertainment wouldn't take long to release Serial Experiments Lain in English, getting the first dual-audio DVD singles out in 1999, & kept it in print as Geneon into the mid-00s. After Geneon went under FUNimation would eventually re-release it via various DVD/BD combo sets in the 2010s, though today those releases are now long out-of-print.

To finish off TV Tokyo's new titles for July we have an adaptation of an "adult" game, though technically not the first one to appear in late-night (as we'll get to with the next pair of entries). Released for the PC-98 on December 22, 1993, Night Walker: Mayonaka no Tantei/The Midnight Detective was a mystery adventure game by Tomboy starring Tatsuhiko Shido, head of the Shido Detective Agency & a dhampir (i.e. half-vampire), who winds up having to work with a high school girl named Riho Yamazaki after her friend is killed by "nightbreed", a race of demons that possess people & feed on their souls. The game would then get ported to Windows 95 & in 1995 KBS Kyoto would air a radio drama adaptation, while in 1996 a drama CD adaptation saw release, though only via doujin circles due to Tomboy not being able to sign a deal with a major label; a sequel was even announced, but never came to be. Finally, on "July 8 at 25:45", replacing Sentimental Journey, a 12-episode TV anime adaptation of Night Walker debuted in late-night, becoming the first "original" TV anime based on an "adult" game. While I had surmised that both Next Senki Ehrgeiz & AWOL may have originally been intended to be shorter OVAs before being reworked into single-cour late-night TV anime, that actually is 100% confirmed to be the case with Night Walker. Originally the plan was for it to just be a four-episode OVA that would start to see release in Fall 1996, which would have put it coming out right around the time Those Who Hunt Elves made its debut in late-night. Likely because the producers heard about TWHE's late-night production, it was then decided that the Night Walker anime would instead be expanded out into a 12-episode late-night TV series, though the first four episodes were literally just the OVA episodes that had been originally planned. Because of this shift in plans, though, the following eight episodes that were put into production suffered from a change in staff, most notably the character designer, due to scheduling conflicts; this is also likely why it took nearly two years for this anime to finally debut. Also, as one would expect, the more violent & sexual scenes from the game had to be toned down & censored for TV, with even the most extreme violence being shown in monochrome (though they'd be in color for home video).

Central Park Media would release the Night Walker anime in English in the early 00s via dubbed VHS tapes & dual-audio DVDs, and in 2017 Discotek Media would re-release the show via DVD boxset.

Legend of Basara ended its debut run on UHF stations on June 25, 1998, and while it didn't immediately jump start a new venue for late-night anime to debut on, it's mere existence was most certainly noticed. In particular, Sun TV (which was one of Basara's first-run stations) still wanted to offer something via late-night, so the very next week, on "July 2 at 24:35", Sun TV aired the first episode of Dokyusei 2/Classmates 2, an anime adaptation of élf's "ren'ai adventure" game (i.e. an early precursor to the modern dating sim) that first came out for various PCs in 1995. However, this was NOT a wholly new production, but rather was a TV airing of the OVA adaptation that had been seeing new episodes of released ever since 1996, and by the time this debuted on Sun TV 10 episodes were out. The likely reason for this was due to how well the OVA had performed, as it was only originally planned to be nine episodes, but strong sales resulted in an additional three episodes coming out throughout 1998. Because of this, the TV airing only covered those initial nine episodes, but this still resulted in Dokyusei 2 being the first time an anime adaptation of a clearly "adult" game ever aired on terrestrial broadcast TV (since it debuted six days before Night Walker); naturally, the more "adult" sexual scenes were removed for broadcast.

Dokyusei 2 must have done very well for UHF stations, as on "September 1 at 24:40" (less than a week after the ninth episode had aired) TV Kanagawa would debut élf Version Kakyusei: Anatadake wo Mitsumete.../Underclassmates: I Only Look at You... at late-night as essentially a continuation of Dokyusei 2's airing; Sun TV would also air this, but TV Kanagawa was simply first to do so. Just as before, this was a TV broadcast of a prior OVA adaptation of élf's 1996 spin-off of the Dokyusei series, and the reason why it's called "élf Version" is because this four-episode OVA from earlier in 1998 is completely different from Pink Pineapple's original four-episode OVA adaptation from 1995; it's not made any less confusing by the simple fact that Pink Pineapple produced both OVAs. Much like with Dokyusei 2, Kakyusei received some edits & censorship so as to follow broadcasting standards (remember, Berserk's iconically brutal & violent Eclipse episodes earlier in 1998 were seemingly OK for late-night, but you can't show anything even remotely sexual), and the fact that it was only four episodes really just felt like the various UHF stations simply wanted something thematically similar as before so as to fill out a proper 13-week cour. Still, this broadcast of Kakyusei must have clearly worked, as just a year later a proper TV anime adaptation would be produced for UHF stations, and we'll get to that next time.

While SoftCel Pictures did release the first two episodes of the 1995 OVA adaptation of Kakyusei via subbed VHS tapes in 2001 under the name First Loves, neither the Dokyusei 2 OVA nor élf Version Kakyusei: Anatadake wo Mitsumete... have ever seen official English release.

We're nearing the end of this absurdly massive year for late-night anime, but first we have to go through October, which saw seven new series debut in the wee hours of the night, just one shy of matching April. First up we finally get NTV's proper follow up to Berserk, after the network finished simply re-airing the entire show throughout the year: Master Keaton. Debuting on "October 5 at 24:50", this 24-episode series was an adaptation of the 1988-1994 manga by writer Hokusei Katsushika (a pen name for Hajime Kimura) & artist Naoki Urasawa, though editor Takashi Nagasaki would later also be credited for the writing. It told the adventures of Taichi Hiraga-Keaton, a former member of the SAS who now works freelance as an insurance investigator for Lloyd's of London as a means to help finance his dream of continuing European archaeological research. The series sees Keaton be sent on various jobs, where he oftentimes finds himself in some dangerous scenario that he has to find himself out of, using his SAS skills as needed; in other words, it's kind of an anime take on MacGyver. The anime would look to do extremely well for its time, as after the TV airing ended on "March 29, 1999" it would continue on as an OVA series, releasing an additional 15 episodes between June 1999 & June 2000; today both productions are treated as a single overall series with 39 episodes. Without a doubt, Master Keaton likely wasn't anything viewers were expecting NTV to air after two full runs of Berserk, but it clearly worked for the network, and moving forward NTV would continue to offer something a little outside of the box, when compared to other networks airing new late-night anime at the time.

Pioneer/Geneon Entertainment would license & release the Master Keaton anime (TV & OVA) in English via dual-audio DVD singles (but no boxset) between 2003 & 2004, in what was a perfect example of an anime that one normally wouldn't expect to see released, even during the 00s anime bubble. Unfortunately, though the original manga would later see an English release by Viz, the Master Keaton anime has yet to be given any sort of English re-release, though it did receive a BD release in Japan in 2011.

Debuting the same night as Master Keaton, but over on TV Tokyo, was yet another anime that has more or less become forgotten with time, St. Luminous Mission High School. Despite its current obscurity there's actually an interesting history to this anime, as it was part of an interesting media mix franchise. "Saint Luminous Jougakuin" first appeared as a late-night radio program on Nippon Cultural Broadcasting where voice actors Tetsuya Iwanaga & Tomoko Ishimura (then going by Mifuyu Hiiragi) played Kaihei Kijima & Sister Akane (their real identities were kept secret until the final episode), and the two asked listeners for advice in regards to how Kaihei could help revitalize the all-girls private school he inherited from his grandfather, with responses being submitted via pager. That program ran from April 1997 to March 1998, & in the following July a radio drama based on the radio show ran as part of Aimi Mizuno's program Harapekopai. Finally, on "October 5 at 25:15", & replacing Serial Experiments Lain (an unenviable position, I'm sure), a 13-episode TV anime debuted that looked to be an adaptation of the radio drama. While the basic concept was still about Kaihei inheriting an all-girls private school from his deceased grandfather, the anime was now about Kaihei needing to solve a series of mysterious disappearances happening to the students, all while Kaihei continually receives cryptic messages on the pager he was given as a memento of his grandfather. After the anime there would be one last production for the St. Luminous Mission High School franchise in the form of a romance simulator for the PS1 that was published by Xing on May 25, 2000, though aside from the main character also inheriting the school from his grandfather the game had a completely different cast & no mystery to solve.

Despite being co-produced by Pioneer over in Japan, the St. Luminous Mission High School anime would never see an official English release by Pioneer/Geneon Entertainment, & has yet to be licensed for English release in general, though the current owner of Pioneer's catalog (NBCUniversal Entertainment Japan) has continued to keep the anime available over in Japan, even if recently only via streaming.

Next we have an example like Weiß Kreuz, i.e. a late-night anime that claimed true (anime) exclusivity over the slot, but in this case it was an entirely separate day! Yes, by this point TV Tokyo had been airing late-night anime for a solid two years, but one day of the week it hadn't tried yet was Tuesday (i.e. technically Wednesday), & that would finally change on "October 6 at 26:55" with the debut of Generator Gawl. This 12-episode series by Tatsunoko Pro marked a few firsts, as it was Tatsunoko's first ever "creature-type" hero, i.e. it wasn't simply someone wearing a costume or armor, & their first brand new superhero series in general since Itadakiman back in 1983. Sure, there were series like Zillion, Shurato, & Teyandee during that time, but they weren't in the vein of Tatsunoko's traditional superheroes, like Gatchaman, Tekkaman, or Casshan. It was also Tatsunoko's very first anime production meant for late-night & it marked the directorial debut of Seiji Mizushima, who'd later become famous for anime like Shaman King [2001], Fullmetal Alchemist [2003], & Gundam 00. Generator Gawl told the story of Gawl Kudo, one of three scientists from the 22nd Century who time travel back to the year 2007 to prevent Prof. Takuma Nekasa from making a gene code discovery that, in the future, leads to World War III & the absolute decimation of humanity. However, to prevent Gawl & his friends form succeeding a mysterious man named Ryuko Saito has also traveled to the past with people known as "Generators", who can transform into monstrous forms. Gawl, though, is also a Generator but uses his power to fight back against Ryuko so that the future can become better than the one he knows. The show would begin a run of new, "darker" Tatsunoko hero anime over the next decade, which included 2001's The SoulTaker, 2005-2007's Karas, & even 2008-2009's Casshern Sins (though Madhouse did the animation for that last one). As mentioned earlier, Generator Gawl would be the only anime to air in this Tuesday late-night slot on TV Tokyo, and it wouldn't be until Witch Hunter Robin in July 2002 that the network would try that day of the week again.

ADV Films would license & release Generator Gawl across both dubbed VHS tapes (I can't find proof of any subbed VHS, at least) & dual-audio DVD singles from 2000 to 2001, followed by a DVD boxset in 2002. A new re-release of DVD singles did start up in 2005, but was stopped after only the first DVD; the show has never been licensed rescued yet, as of this overview.

So far, outside of the élf Version Kakyusei OVA (which is more of a technicality, anyway), 1998 hasn't really seen any sort of late-night anime remake or reimagining of anything that was once popular back in the day, similar to how 1997 had Vampire Princess Miyu TV. Well, that finally came to an end on "Ocobter 7 at 25:15" on TV Tokyo, which saw Trigun replaced with Bubblegum Crisis Tokyo 2040. Like the title states, this 24-episode series was a full-on remake of the 1987-1991 OVA series Bubblegum Crisis that had been co-produced by Artmic & AIC, though with Artmic going out of business in 1997 AIC took control of Artmic's catalog. Despite technically taking place in a year (2040) beyond the original OVA (2032-2033), BC Tokyo was indeed made to be its own wholly separate universe, though the basic idea of an all-woman vigilante group known as the Knight Sabers taking on Blade Runner-esque humanoid robots called Boomers was still the same as before. However, it's really impossible to confuse the two Bubblegum Crisis worlds for each other, as in place of Kenichi Sonoda's character designs we now had Masaki Yamada making his debut in such a position, one that he'd later be used for productions like Great Dangaioh, the CG Appleseed movies, Book of Bantorra... and more than a fair share of "adult" productions, too. Without a doubt, this was "Bubblegum Crisis for the 90s", just as the original OVA was designed around the aesthetics of the 80s, and like the original would also see some notable success. While only 24 episodes aired on TV, there were two additional episodes made for the home video release, and much like how the OVA eventually led to the creation of the spin-off A.D. Police Files OVA in 1990 BC Tokyo would be followed up by a brand new A.D. Police TV anime, but we'll get to that next time. There was also the Parasite Dolls OVA that came out in 2003, but that took place in the original OVA's universe, not Tokyo 2040's.

ADV Films would first release Bubblegum Crisis Tokyo 2040 via dubbed & subbed VHS tapes starting in 1999, before also releasing dual-audio DVDs in the early 2000s, and kept the show in print up through 2008. FUNimation would then license rescue the series for a DVD boxset in 2011, followed by a re-release in 2015, the second of which looks to still be in print, as of this overview.

We come to the end of TV Tokyo's sheer amount of new late-night anime for 1998, and much like how the OG "modern day late-night anime infomercial" Those Who Hunt Elves received a second season in 1997 the same would finally happen to its original follow-up... sort of. If you go back to my overview of 1996 & 1997 you will see that Eat-Man, a 12-episode TV anime based on Akihito Yoshitomi's Dengeki Gao! manga, was the second modern-day example of a late-night anime. However, I also mentioned that the Eat-Man anime wasn't actually an "adaptation", instead simply taking the basic concept of Bolt Crank being a wandering "mercenary" who can eat inorganic materials & reproduce it from his body and telling it's own stories that had next to nothing to do with the original manga. The often claimed story is that viewers were immensely disappointed with the end result (though the series itself is very good, if also very obtuse), but the response also showed that people were indeed interested in seeing a proper adaptation of Eat-Man. So, on "October 7 at 25:45" TV Tokyo replaced the Night Walker anime with Eat-Man '98, and this time around the idea was to be a direct adaptation of Yoshitomi's manga. Specifically, four stories from the manga were chosen for adaptation, one of which introduced Hard (a fellow mercenary who becomes a recurring partner of Bolt's in the manga), which covered half of the 12 episodes. As for the other half, Yoshitomi himself came up with two brand new story concepts that would be exclusive to Eat-Man '98, giving fans even more of an incentive to watch the show. While there are some who wind up preferring the original Eat-Man anime for its willingness to challenge viewers with its oftentimes open-ended storytelling, Eat-Man '98 is still an excellent series in its own right, and while the two original stories can be a mixed bag for some, the four manga stories that were adapted remain some of the absolute best in the series.

Just as with the first anime, Eat-Man '98 would first see English release by AnimeVillage.com via subbed VHS tapes in the early 00s, though Bandai Entertainment would actually re-release this second anime via DVD boxset in 2005, complete with the first two episodes now including an English dub. In this case, though, the dubbed episodes do tell a whole story (Bye Bye Aimie) & actually work well as a solo watch. Discotek Media would then license rescue the show, first releasing it via DVD boxset in 2017, followed by an SD-BD re-release in 2018 where it was bundled with the first Eat-Man anime, similar to what happened in Japan in 2015 (though there it was an HD-upscaled BD boxset).

Did you forget about MBS? Yeah, me too. Therefore, we finally return to that network for its other 1998 late-night anime offering, Devilman Lady. Replacing Vifam 13 for Anime Shower & debuting on "October 10 at 25:40", this 26-episode series had the same name as Go Nagai's then-still running Weekly Morning manga that initially acted as a gender-swapped take on his iconic Devilman manga from the 70s, though later it'd be revealed to be a full-on sequel, similar to how Violence Jack was also a sequel in its own way. However, the Devilman Lady anime was in no way an adaptation of Nagai's manga, instead being a wholly unique take on the concept of supermodel Jun Fudo finding out that she can transform into a humanoid devil form, & after meeting the mysterious Lan Asuka decides to fight against her own kind, who wish to replace humanity as the next step in evolution. Headed up by director Toshiki Hirano & writer Chiaki J. Konaka, Devilman Lady TV aimed to be more of a straight up horror series that aimed to feel like a live-action TV series would in Japan, with a focus on giving characters different clothing each episode (like real people would do) & even having the writing team be filled with people who worked on various Heisei Era Ultraman shows. In fact, to honor the death of Shotaro Ishinomori in 1998 (who Go Nagai had worked under as an assistant for a time) a number of Heisei & even Reiwa Era Kamen Rider shows would use monster designs first seen in Devilman Lady TV, as the anime's monsters were themselves influenced heavily by Kamen Rider monsters. Though there were some production hiccups, there's no doubt that this anime aimed to be something truly different & unique from other late-night anime, and in the end it did wind up being Anime Shower's highest-rated series for the time, averaging around 5%; a rating like that today would put Devilman Lady as the #3 most-watched TV anime in Japan right now.

ADV Films would be the first company to release Devilman Lady in English, under the altered name of The Devil Lady, via dual-audio DVDs throughout 2003, followed by a boxset in 2004. Then, over 15 years later, Discotek Media would re-release the anime via Blu-Ray boxset in 2020, this time under its original title.

Hey, remember that anime I kept teasing earlier on in this overview? Well, it's time we finally talk about what would become easily the most iconic late-night anime of 1998, Cowboy Bebop... though, technically, it didn't actually debut in late-night... sort of. The (solo) directorial of Shinichiro Watanabe, Cowboy Bebop went through a long production process of roughly two years, mainly due to Bandai backing out as a sponsor once it realized that it wasn't going to be the toy seller they initially planned it to be; Bandai Visual would later sponsor it, allowing it to really get into production. Then, in early 1998, TV Tokyo was in a panic when a planned series for the Spring season suffered production delays (there seemingly has never been confirmation as to what this show was, & it may not have even been an anime), so Cowboy Bebop was hastily tossed into that slot, initially debuting on April 3 at 6:00 pm, i.e. prime time, amusingly replacing the Kodocha anime. However, only 12 of the planned 26 episodes (2, 3, 7 to 15, & 18) were shown during this airing, followed by an exclusive recap episode (Yoseatsume/Mish-Mash Blues) to round things out, ending with the message "THIS IS NOT THE END. YOU WILL SEE THE REAL 'COWBOY BEBOP' SOMEDAY!"; since the show was primarily episodic the storytelling wasn't messed with. "Someday" finally came about on "October 23 at 25:00" on WOWOW's unscrambled service, replacing Nessa no Haoh Gandalla, as all 26 episodes of Cowboy Bebop would finally air in their entirety for the first time on Japanese TV. For those unfamiliar, the series told the adventures of the bounty hunter crew of the titular spaceship, the Bebop, while also occasionally delving into the personal lives of said crew, most notably the tragic past of lead character Spike Spiegel & his old partner-turned-rival Vicious, and how that past was coming back to haunt Spike again.

With its jazzy soundtrack by Yoko Kanno & a style that combined the likes of Western, noir, & sci-fi, Cowboy Bebop became a notable hit in Japan, contrary to what's usually stated online (i.e. it was NOT a bomb in Japan), but became truly iconic when it saw international release. It first came out in English between 1999 & 2000 via dubbed & subbed VHS tapes from AnimeVillage.com/Bandai Entertainment, followed by a dual-audio DVD release that was kept in print all throughout Bandai Entertainment's life until 2012, with the English dub often cited as one of the greatest anime dubs of all time. This was all buoyed by a popular TV run on Adult Swim that debuted in 2001 & was re-run over & over up through 2015 (& would return on & off up through 2022). Finally, FUNimation would license rescue the series in the 2010s, where it's continued to be re-released & kept in print to this day, even after getting renamed to Crunchyroll following that company's acquisition. There was also a standalone film in 2001 that saw international release, but debuted in Japanese theaters prior to the show's debut on Adult Swim in North America.

The last isolated late-night anime, i.e. something that wasn't part of a larger programming block or variety show, would debut at the start of that November. On "November 5 at 25:25" over on TBS was the first episode of Yoiko/Good Girl, a 20-episode series of half-length (i.e. ~12 minute) episodes based on the manga by Yugo Ishikawa that ran in Shogakukan's Big Comic Spirits from 1996 to 2001. Anyone who's ever watched the 1996 film Jack, starring Robin Williams, will be familiar with the general concept of Yoiko, which stars Fuuka Esumi, a fifth grade schoolgirl who just happens to have the body of a full-grown young adult woman. In turn, the series is a comedy revolving around Fuuka's general childish innocence being contrasted with her adult-like body, with the anime following her time in school as she gets herself a group of close friends, endears herself to her classmates, & is looked after by her teacher (who sometimes despairs over the fact that one of her students actually looks more attractive than her), while also showing Fuuka's life living with her aunt, uncle, & cousin Jiro (who goes to high school). While one would assume that Yoiko would be more than a bit eager to take advantage of the potential bawdiness a concept like this could have, the anime is actually a bit more chaste than you'd expect. Sure, there's some fanservice to be seen (each episode literally starts with Fuuka taking a shower or bath), but at the same time it's a series that knows to only take itself so seriously, and the fanservice featured feels more "naturally placed", if you understand what I mean. It's definitely something that could never fly outside of late-night, especially since this was a time when you could still show bare breasts on TV anime during late-night, but there's an earnest & fun heart to Yoiko, in the end.

Yoiko has never been licensed for official English release, both in manga & anime form, while over in Japan the anime has seemingly never received anything better than VHS.

Finally, to end off this absurdly long overview for 1998, let's do a lightning round of the entire year TBS' variety show Wonderful had, as this was the first year that it debuted brand new anime, after re-airing The Ping Pong Club in 1997 due to the (more or less) last-minute origin it had. By & large, most anime that aired on Wonderful featured episodes no longer than 5 to 10 minutes, unless specifically mentioned. From January 5 to April 2 was Sexy Commando Gaiden: Sugoi yo, Masaru-san!, a super direct adaptation of Kyosuke Usuta's Shonen Jump manga that, in many ways, was one of the originators of the "modern" style of gag manga, where absurd scenarios, non-sequitur humor, & general zaniness reign supreme; since Wonderful ran daily from Monday to Thursday this allowed Sexy Commando to total 48 episodes. Then from April 6 to April 23 there was (Agent) Aika, a TV broadcast of the four-episode OVA that came out over the prior year, making this a "full-length" anime that was broadcast on Wonderful, and after this aired a Special Trial OVA would come out in May, followed by an additional three episodes up through April 1999. This looks to be listed as having appeared on 11 episodes of Wonderful, so either the OVAs were split up into portions or were simply re-run throughout the month. After that came Futari Gurashi/Living Together, which ran from April 27 to June 29 for 36 episodes & was based on the Young Jump manga by Kenjirou Kakimoto about an aspiring 24-year old mangaka living with a 16-year old girl who, up until her 16th birthday, had been raised as a boy; cue romantic comedy hijinks; this ran for 36 episodes & even featured the hosts of Wonderful at the time making a cameo in one episode. From June 30 to August 24 was Super Radical Gag Family, a 32-episode (plus one unaired episode) adaptation of the Weekly Shonen Champion standard slapstick gag manga by Kenji Hamaoka (that's still running to this day) about elementary school student Koutetsu Osawagi; the series was directed by comedy anime legend Akitaro Daichi. If you couldn't tell already, anime that ran as a part of Wonderful throughout 1998 tended to either be absurd comedies or very heavy on the fanservice, if not both.

After that came Momoiro Sisters, which ran from August 25 to October 5 & was based on the four-panel manga series by Tamami Momose that ran in Young Animal. This 23-episode (plus 1 unaired episode) anime followed the life of high school student Momoko Murakami & her office worker sister Sakura, with the two finding themselves (plus their friends & colleagues) in all manner of romantic & erotic situations; to no surprise, Satoru Akahori was the head writer of this anime. October 6 to November 2 aired Let's Nupunupu, a 16-episode series based on the four-panel Weekly Shonen Magazine gag manga by Akira Mitsumori that acted as an anthology series based around five main segments: Sushi Cat, about a cast who used to work at a sushi restaurant but now works all sorts of odd jobs; The Girl & The School Rules, about a girl who puts into action some sort of absurd rule at her school; Dekainai-kun, about an elementary school student who (like his name states) is utterly incapable of anything; The Takagi Family, which follows the brother/sister duo of a family which also includes a foreigner father, a monstrous mother, & a "cicadaman" little brother; & Ms. Shitara in the Infirmary, about the nurse at the school of one of the Takagi siblings, who engages in sexual behavior. For the anime Sushi Cat & Ms. Shitara in the Infirmary would receive the primary focus between the segments. November 3 to November 27 would see Only・You Viva! Cabaret Club, a 16-episode adaptation of Toshihiko Fujinami's manga about businessman Takeshi Kogane's secret trips to hostess clubs, with the manga supposedly helping spark a hostess club boom in Japan (at least, according to descriptions of digital re-releases of the manga). In terms of the anime adaptation, however, Cabaret Club is notable for being the only Wonderful anime to have never received a home video release, not even via VHS. Finally, Wonderful finished out its 1998 with If I See You in My Dreams, which ran from November 30 to December 24 for 16 episodes & was an adpatation of the Business Jump manga by Yorinuki Yamahana. This followed the romance of Masao Fuguno, who was told by a fortune teller that he'd never find love, & Nagisa Shiozaki, who has an extreme fear of men but slowly warms up to Masao over time... plus (naturally) other love rivals for both Masao & Nagisa.

Out of everything that aired on Wonderful in 1998, only the Agent Aika OVA has ever seen official English release, first by Central Park Media on subbed & dubbed VHS and dual-audio DVD in the early 00s. Bandai Entertainment would then re-release it via DVD boxset in 2007, this time also including the Special Trial OVA that CPM didn't originally include, as a sub-only bonus. Bandai Entertainment would also release 2007's AIKa R-16: Virgin Mission prequel OVA via dual-audio DVD in 2008, but not the AIKa Zero OVA from 2009.

And with that we've finally, eventually, & mercifully reach the end of 1998's utterly massive catalog of modern day late-night anime infomercials! If 1997 was simply the evolution of the concept from mere experiment to an early success, then 1998 was easily the point where the industry truly took notice & decided to go all-in on the concept. TV Tokyo embraced the concept even more so, adding in new days & time slots (even if only temporarily), MBS continued with its Anime Shower time slot, TBS more than expanded out with both Yoiko & an entire cadre of shows for Wonderful, & even NTV finally jumped in properly (after re-airing Berserk) with Master Keaton. Meanwhile, the idea of not relying on the major networks at all became a possibility with the debut of UHF anime (which, in a few years, would be the primary cause for late-night becoming the source of so much bloat, when it comes to new seasonal anime), while WOWOW offered another alternative via satellite.

When we return in June we'll go over both 1999 & 2000, and while together the two roughly equal what 1998 alone offered, it'll be 1999 taking the lion's share as (for whatever reason) things oddly slowed down greatly in 2000... but that'll wind up being nothing more than a bizarre outlier when compared to later years.

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Monday, March 30, 2026

An Overview the Early Years of the "Modern Day Late-Night Anime Infomercial": 1998

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