DO NOT disturb Singapore Polytechnic graduate Kirk Teng Tian between 4 and 10pm on weekdays.
During this time, he parks himself in front of the TV watching anime series on the cable TV channel Animax (StarHub Channel 84) or in front of his computer monitor.
Mr Kirk, 20, who is waiting to serve his full-time national service, has been hooked on Japanese animation for seven years. He explains the appeal of these cartoons of figures with giant eyes and colourful hair over TV soapies and the like: 'The drawing can be clearer than what the camera can catch. It's more exciting than real-life dramas.'
He may not have taken into account real-life courtroom drama surrounding anime in Singapore right now.
Angry fan reaction has not abated since local anime distributor Odex took legal action against illegal downloaders by seeking information on them through Internet service providers.
Odex has successfully obtained court orders to get SingNet and StarHub to reveal names of their downloaders but is appealing a ruling that denies it from similar information from Pacific Internet.
Ironically, Mr Stephen Sing, one of Odex's directors, points to download figures showing how popular anime has become, during an interview with LifeStyle on the anime scene.
With 483,000 illegal downloads made here over the past 10 months, Singapore has the highest percentage of anime downloads per capita, ahead of countries such as the United States, Australia and Hong Kong, according to figures released at a press conference held by Odex on Thursday.
'I'm not encouraging downloads, but the figures show how big the potential can be,' he tells LifeStyle.
Indeed, the anime scene in Singapore has become more vibrant in recent years as more industry players jump on the bandwagon to provide anime.
Odex was a lone anime distributor when it started in 1996, but in the last three years, names such as Blue Max and Innoform Media have also begun to release anime titles.
A Blue Max spokesman explains that it moved into anime distribution because the market is maturing.
'As the original group of anime viewers grow older, they continue to watch anime and at the same time, you have another new age group becoming interested,' she says.
The big draw
SO YOU'VE been invited to a cosplay party but can't tell the difference between anime and manga? Here are some terms to throw into the conversation with the otaku.
Anime: Derived from a French word meaning 'animated'. Generally refers to Japanese animation. True-blue Japanese pronounce it as 'ah-ni-meh', while English speakers say 'an-ni-meh'. Anime characters usually have big eyes and faces.
Manga: Japanese term for comics. Pronounced as 'mahng-gah'. Many anime series are adapted from manga and original anime have become material for manga as well.
OVA: Stands for Original Video Animation. Refers to anime titles that are released direct-to-video, without prior showing on TV or in theatres.
Otaku: Japanese term which refers to people with obsessive interests - particularly anime and manga fanatics.
Shojo: Pronounced 'shio-jo'. Means young girl in Japanese but also refers to anime or manga targeted at young girls. Often features cutesy female protagonists. Titles include Sailor Moon and Cardcaptor Sakura. The male equivalent is shonen.
Hentai: Japanese slang which refers to sexually explicit anime and manga.
Akira: The iconic 1988 post-apocalyptic anime film about a boy with 'psionic' powers. Often attributed as the film which opened the doors for anime and manga to the Western market.
Parallel imports from Taiwan and Hong Kong are also available in retail shops.
Once stuck in graveyard hours on Channel 8, anime series are now broadcast on Channel U and Arts Central.
On cable TV, there is more on offer. Besides shows on Mandarin channels like E City (StarHub Channel 56), Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE) Networks-Asia launched a 24-hour channel Animax dedicated to anime in Singapore three years ago.
Mr Ricky Ow, general manager of SPE Networks-Asia, says the number of subscribers for the channel is 'in the high five-figure area', and is increasing.
'In my childhood days,' says the 42-year-old, 'whatever anime you got was from the free-to-air channel. Now you have cable, DVDs and the Internet offering a wide variety of stuff - sports, fantasy, romance and many others. There is something for everyone.'
The first anime series hit Singapore in the 1980s, when titles such as Candy Candy, Gatchaman and Doraemon were favourites on Channel 8.
According to A Capsule History Of Anime (1996) by American writer Frederick Patten, a well-known researcher on the subject, the earliest Japanese cartoons were created in 1917 after hobbyists were inspired by American and European pioneer animators.
Early anime were inspired by folk tales and Western comedies. They were later replaced by military stories during the pre-World War II period in the 1930s and 1940s.
After the war, Japanese animators took the lead from American cartoon icon Walt Disney and began to produce animated feature films.
In the late 1950s, comic book artist Osama Tezuka, emulating the success of America's Hanna-Barbara television series, started the first anime TV studio, Mushi Productions. Its first release, Astro Boy, based on his earlier comic book series, was a hit, and other anime TV studios began to mushroom.
Today, there are over 400 anime studios in Japan producing both feature-length films and TV series. The Japan External Trade Organisation estimates that the industry generated about 20 billion yen in 2004 in worldwide revenues for Japan, taking into account related films, video games and merchandise.
Ms Lynne Loi, Innoform's director of international acquisitions and business development director, says that the challenge local distributors face now is to release new titles earlier so that fans do not rely on alternative sources, such as parallel imports or illegal downloads.
'The ease of technology means that most fans can have access to anime directly from Japan,' she says. 'Also, local distributors sometimes have to wait for US dubbing or Chinese subtitles before releasing the local version.'
Odex is now working with its Japanese partners towards airing anime series on TV the same day as its broadcast in Japan.
The first title may be sci-fi series D. Gray Man, showing on Arts Central every Wednesday to Friday. The series is one season behind the Tokyo telecast, but will catch up when season two starts in December. Says Mr Sing: 'As much as we discourage piracy, we must give alternatives to consumers, so that they don't have to resort to pirating.'
