"Gamera 3: Revenge of Iris" Saturday On UTB

The Los Angeles-area UTB television Japanese network will be showing Gamera 3: Revenge of Iris this coming Saturday afternoon.

From the station's website:

June 27th（SAT） 3pm - 5pm

GAMERA 3 Revenge of Iris

I’ll never forgive Gamera. The end of the century. The supermutant Gyaos appear all over the world and finally emerge in Shibuya. Gamera chases Gyaos to Tokyo. Shibuya is destroyed by the battle of the two monsters. Meanwhile, a young girl named Ayana, whose parents were killed in the monsters’ battle four years ago, begins to raise a mysterious creature she calls Iris in hopes that it will kill Gamera.

Daiei's (now Kadokawa Pictures) Gamera 3 is considered by many Japanese science-fiction/kaiju fans as the high point in Japanese special effects. It was shown at G-FEST '99 in Hollywood to a packed house at the Egyptian Theater. It was directed by Shusuke Kaneko, with special effects directed by Shinji Higuchi.

Digital Broadcasting Opens Door To Japanese TV

One great discovery (for me, at least) now that the transition to digital broadcasting has been completed, I can receive a television station with 24-hour Japanese programming.

UTB (United Television Broadcasting), now has a spot on Channel 18.2 in Los Angeles, where viewers can tune to Japanese or Japanese-related programs, including a large portion of English-language content from Japan’s public broadcaster, NHK.

Although I watch very little television these days, I am finding myself tuning in at UTB to watch some anime and other Japanese programs. Thankfully, many of them are captioned in English.

As I am writing this, an ad for the station came up which included a clip from Gamera 3, indicating the kinds of movies they show. Their website indicates that Gamera, Guardian of the Universe is scheduled to be broadcast on June 25.

If you enjoy Japanese culture, kaiju or get a kick out of Japanese television, you may want to take a good look at UTB.

The Rafu Shimpo, a Japanese newspaper in Los Angeles, has an article on UTB.