After a few too many hours on various Japanese database sites, I’ve finally managed to compile a 99% complete list of anime which first aired from 1994-2000, along with their respective timeslots. If you’re curious about the details, you can find the data I’ve gathered on this spreadsheet. Note on the format: the master list has just the networks, timeslots, and years of airing. Other sheets contain the shows aired in a given year and those aired on non-Japanese TV, with relevant links for the numerous series for which the Japanese wikipedia page didn’t provide sufficient information on the timeslot.

There’s a lot of information there, so I’m going to try and slice it up to make it a bit easier to digest. One fairly natural division for TV shows is the networks (or family of networks) they were broadcast on. The major players in new anime over this period were Fuji TV, MBS/TBS, NHK, Nihon TV, TV Asahi, TV Tokyo, and WOWOW, each of which will be covered in the next couple of weeks.

For each broadcaster, I’ll be asking two questions. First, which, if any slots did they have dedicated to anime in general? To qualify as an anime slot for the purposes of this exercise, a timeslot has to have aired premieres of at least 3 TV anime from 1994 to 2000. This excludes, for example, the Fuji TV Sunday 18:30 slot, which has been running Sazae-san for a really long time. I’m more interested in timeslots that would have been available to new shows during this period.

Second, which, if any shows did that broadcaster air after midnight? I want to give as complete a view as possible on the stance different companies took in regards to airing anime late at night. Since I’ve been poring over the data, I already have a decent idea of what the answer is going to be, but it’s neat to look at how different broadcasters’ stances were during this period.

Show title [month of first episode airing]

Wednesday 19:00

Jungle Emperor Leo [10-1965]
Oraa Guzura Dado [04-1968]
Dokachin [04-1968]
Kurenai Sanshirou [04-1969]
Ashita no Joe [04-1970]
Kunimatsu-sama no Otoridai [10-1971]
Akadou Suzunosuke [04-1972]
Kouya no Shonen Isamu [04-1973]
Chiisana Viking Vicky [04-1974]
Arabian Nights: Adventures of Sinbad [10-1975]
Dokaben [10-1976]
Maeterlink’s Blue Bird [01-1980]
Ganbare Genki [07-1980]
Dr. Slump: Arale-chan [04-1981]
Dragon Ball [02-1986]
Dragon Ball Z [04-1989]
Dragon Ball GT [02-1996]
Doctor Slump [11-1997]
One Piece [10-1999]

(One Piece switched slots to Sunday 19:30 at the end of March, 2001, and was replaced with a variety program, 100% Chicken!)

Wednesday 19:30

Kuma no Puutarou [04-1995]
Rurouni Kenshin [01-1996]
Dokkiri Doctor [10-1998]
GTO [06-1999]

(GTO switched slots to Sunday 19:00 starting October, 1999, and was replaced with a variety program, Chikara no Kagiri GoGoGo!!)

Sunday 9:00

Aoki Densetsu Shoot! [11-1993]
Kuso Kagaku Sekai Gulliver Boy [01-1995]
Gegege no Kitarou ’96 [01-1996]
Himitsu no Akko-chan 3 [04-1998]
Digimon Adventure [03-1999]
Digimon Adventure 02 [04-2000]
Digimon Tamers [04-2001]
Digimon Frontier [04-2002]
Konjiki no Gash Bell [04-2003]
Digimon Savers [04-2006]
Gegege no Kitarou ’07 [04-2007]
Dragonball Kai [04-2009]
Toriko [04-2011]
Dragon Ball Kai [04-2014]

Sunday 19:30 (World Masterpiece Theater)

Dororo to Hyakkimaru [01-1969]
Moomin [10-1969]
Anderson Monogatari [01-1971]
Shin Moomin [01-1972]
Yama Nezumi Rocky Chuck [01-1973]
Alps no Shojo Heidi [01-1974]
Flanders no Inu [01-1975]
3000 Leagues in Search of Mother [01-1976]
Araiguma Rascal [01-1977]
Perrine Monogatari [01-1978]
Akage no Anne [01-1979]
Tom Sawyer no Bouken [01-1980]
Swiss Family Robinson [01-1981]
Minami no Niji no Lucy [01-1982]
Alps Monogatari: Watashi no Annette [01-1983]
Makiba no Shojo Katri [01-1984]
Shokoujo Sara [01-1985]
Ai Shojo Pollyanna Monogatari [01-1986]
Ai no Wakakusa Monogatari [01-1987]
Shokoshi Ceddie [01-1988]
Peter Pan no Bouken [01-1989]
Watashi no Ashinaga Ojisan [01-1990]
Trapp Family Story [01-1991]
Bush Baby [01-1992]
Wakakusa Monogatari: Nan to Jo-sensei [01-1993]
Nanatsu no Umi no Tico [01-1994]
Romeo no Aoi Sora [01-1995]
Meiken Lassie [01-1996]
Ie Naki Ko Remi [09-1996]
-World Masterpiece Theater Ends-
GTO (from Wednesday 19:30) [10-1999]
Gakkou no Kaidan [10-2000]
One Piece (from Wednesday 19:00) [04-2001]

(One Piece switched slots to Sunday 19:00 in January of 2005, and was replaced with a talk show/quiz program, Heisei Kyouiku Yobikou.)

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Late Night Programs:

Initial D First Stage (Tuesday 24:00, 1998)
Initial D Second Stage (Thursday 25:55, 1999)
DT Eightron (Friday 26:45, 1998)
Super Milk-chan (Monday-Friday 24:45, 1998) [Part of Flyer TV block]

___

Comments:

-The World Masterpiece Theater run from 1975-1997 on the Sunday 19:30 block was long, and largely successful. It’s interesting to note that ratings were in constant decline for that entire period; Watashi no Ashinaga Ojisan was the only series that posted numbers equal to its predecessor, and all others dropped off. The final show of the block, Ie Naki Ko Remi, only posted an average rating of 8.5%. That number looks good compared to modern anime, but compare it Gakkou no Kaidan, which, 3 years later in the same slot, never posted ratings below 10% for a single episode. It’s sort of understandable why it was eventually put on ice for a while.

-Fuji TV is a fairly mainstream network. They’ve got some of the most venerable, prime-time slots, and were slow to try their hand at late-night, establishing no consistent slots and put fewer new shows on after midnight than any major broadcaster save for NHK (0) and WOWOW (3) in the 1997-2000 post-Eva period.

-It’s interesting to not that One Piece was the last anime to air in both the Wednesday 19:00 and the non-WMT Sunday 19:30 slots. This is likely because it simply left a difficult void to fill; even early on, it occasionally put up ratings in excess of 15%. It’s kind of hard for replacement-level kids’ anime to put up those kinds of numbers right off the bat.

-With the pacing of this season of Dragon Ball Kai and the Spring 2015 release date currently given, nobody gets to bet on which timeslot the new Digimon Adventure anime will eventually be airing in.