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Some Kids' Anime Restored, Expanded After Quake (Updated)

After nearly a week of continuous news coverage devoted to the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, Japanese studios and stations have decided to restore and even broaden some children's programming — anime in particular — to comfort kids.

Tokyo FM, a radio station mostly known for popular music for adults, has taken the unusual step of playing the theme songs to children's anime such as Anpanman and Precure (pictured at right) this past week. The Soreike! Anpanman and Suite Precure anime normally air on television on Friday afternoon and Sunday morning, respectively, but they were preempted this past week by earthquake news coverage. Tokyo FM said that it played anime theme songs to comfort the children who were not able to watch their favorite anime this week. The station added that it received much positive feedback from listeners.

The subscriber satellite channel Kids Station announced that it is running "HapiKura Time," its morning programming for preschool children, for free starting on Thursday. Kids Station explained that the shows can spare the children from the anxiety and fear that they have been feeling since the earthquake. The shows that run during "HapiKura Time" include the namesake educational show Happy! Clappy!, Oyako de Cooking (Cooking with Parents and Kids), reruns of Anpanman, and Wakuwaku Sanrio Time (a show with Hello Kitty, Sugar Bunnies, Jewelpet, and other Sanrio characters).

The game and media company Level 5 issued a Wednesday statement to announce that the children's anime Inazuma Eleven and Danbōru Senki are not being delayed. The company offered its condolences to the victims of the disaster. It talked with the broadcaster TV Tokyo to ensure that the one-hour Danbōru Senki special aired on Wednesday as scheduled. It is also working to ensure that both anime "that deliver hopes and dreams to children" will continue to air as scheduled.

Update: The rerun of the classic folktale anime Manga Nihon Mukashi Banashi is returning for a second week on April 10 at 5:00 p.m. on the Osaka television station MBS. The sister station in Tokyo, TBS, has not listed the second week of Manga Nihon Mukashi Banashi. TBS has been planning to premiere Blue Exorcist in the same 5:00 p.m. timeslot on April 10.