History Main / OtakuOClock

* In 2000-2002 and since 2015, Italian channel Italia 1 has aired anime and cartoons after midnight, usually in the early morning hours and featuring multiple episodes of the same series. This slot included series that couldn't have been broadcast during the day, mostly because the cartoon line-up was already filled with [[Merchandise-Driven more profitable series]] and, in one istance, to avoid backlash from {{Moral Guardians}} for series aimed at an older demographic.

* In 2000-2002 and since 2015, Italian channel Italia 1 has generally aired anime after midnight, usually in the early morning hours, featuring multiple episodes of the same series. The slot was initially devised as an experiment directed towards older anime fans and containing series that couldn't have been broadcast during the day, either because the cartoon line-up was already filled with [[MerchandiseDriven more profitable series]] or to avoid backlash from {{Moral Guardians}}.
** It didn't start well: the first series to be aired was Anime/{{Wedding Peach}}, which had been bought years earlier after the great success of Anime/{{Sailor Moon}}, but didn't find its place on the schedule and was aired during night hours, between August and September, on Fridays at 5 or 6 episodes each time, to fulfil the contract obligations as rights were going to expire. Fans who stayed awake or recorded the show on VHS were upset to still find, even in a late-night airing, a heavily censored dub of the series clearly aimed at children. And in fact the series had been edited originally with an afternoon time slot in mind, and received the same treatment of most Mediaset acquisitions at the time.

* In Australia, anime is most prevalent on public children's channel Creator/{{ABC3}} where it airs in a block at the latest point on the channel's run on Saturday (''Anime/AstroBoy'', ''Anime/DeltoraQuest'', ''Manga/FruitsBasket'', and other kids shows). Being a children's channel, however, [=ABC3=] stops at 9pm. Otherwise, anime airs at either seven in the morning on a commercial channel (''Franchise/YuGiOh'', ''Anime/PokemonTheSeries'', ''Franchise/{{Digimon}}'' and other kids' programs) or around midnight on the multicultural channel Creator/{{SBS}} (the collected works of Creator/HayaoMiyazaki, ''Anime/GhostInTheShell'' and so forth).

* In Australia, anime is most prevalent on public children's channel Creator/{{ABC3}} where it airs in a block at the latest point on the channel's run on Saturday (''Anime/AstroBoy'', ''Anime/DeltoraQuest'', ''Manga/FruitsBasket'', and other kids shows). Being a children's channel, however, [=ABC3=] stops at 9pm. Otherwise, anime airs at either seven in the morning on a commercial channel (''Franchise/YuGiOh'', ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'', ''Franchise/{{Digimon}}'' and other kids' programs) or around midnight on the multicultural channel Creator/{{SBS}} (the collected works of Creator/HayaoMiyazaki, ''Anime/GhostInTheShell'' and so forth).

* Preteen male-oriented cable network Creator/DisneyXD broadcasts a block simply named "The Anime Block" every Saturday morning which includes shows such as ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'', ''Anime/BeybladeBurst'', and ''Anime/YokaiWatch''.

* Preteen male-oriented cable network Creator/DisneyXD broadcasts a block simply named "The Anime Block" every Saturday morning which includes shows such as ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'', ''Anime/BeybladeBurst'' and ''Anime/YokaiWatch''.
* ''WesternAnimation/ToadPatrol'' was aired by Creator/ToonDisney in the wee hours of the morning when it's target audience was asleep (one timeslot was 5:00 AM) despite being a kids show (the dark undertones might be why it was put in such a timeslot).

* ''WesternAnimation/ToadPatrol'' was aired by Creator/ToonDisney in the wee hours of the morning when it's target audience was asleep (one timeslot was 5:00 AM) despite being a kids show (the dark undertones might be why the Mouse put it in such a timeslot).

* Despite being a {{shoujo}} series, the first season of ''LightNovel/MariaWatchesOverUs'' aired at this timeslot, while the second aired on a more intuitive Sunday morning timeslot. Aside from testing series potential, this was probably a safety device to see [[SubText how far they were allowed to go]] and because the producers are well aware of the net created by its PeripheryDemographic loyalty from adult male {{Yuri Fan}}s. After a "third season" of [=OVAs=], the fourth season again aired around this time.

* Despite being a {{shoujo}} series, the first season of ''LightNovel/MariaWatchesOverUs'' aired at this timeslot, while the second aired on a more intuitive Sunday morning timeslot. Aside from testing series potential, this was probably a safety device to see [[SubText how far they were allowed to go]] and because the producers are well aware of the net created by its PeripheryDemographic loyalty. After a "third season" of [=OVAs=], the fourth season again aired around this time.

* Compared to the previous incarnation airing on Saturday mornings, ''[[Manga/TokyoMewMew Tokyo Mew Mew New]]'' aired at midnight.

* For much of its run, Creator/{{MTV}} aired its pioneering AlternativeRock block ''120 Minutes'' in the early morning hours. In the late '80s and early '90s, the time slot helped build the hip and inaccessible reputation of the program and the music it played. When MTV2 briefly revived it in 2011, it was intentionally slotted at 6 a.m. on Friday mornings. MTV Classic still airs a ''120 Minutes'' block at midnight on Monday mornings.

* In ''Manga/LuckyStar'', Konata is known to lament the fact that shows airing in this slot on normal channels often don't air at all when sports broadcasts run long, in addition to shows airing earlier being bumped into it temporarily.
* ''Manga/RankingOfKings'', the anime airs after midnight in Japan, on Fuji TV during their popular noitaminA block, meant for anime aimed at older audiences; all of that so the audience knows the artstyle is just a choice, not that it is as child friendly as it may appear.

* Creator/{{HBO}} made its ''WesternAnimation/{{Spawn}}'' adult animated series with the intent of airing it in this kind of time slot, and Creator/ToddMcFarlane ended up using the freedom that the time slot gave him to make the kind of show that ''could'' only be shown late at night when kids were asleep.

* ''Manga/RankingOfKings'', the anime airs after midnight in Japan, on Fuji TV during their popular Noitama block, meant for anime aimed at older audiences; all of that so the audience knows the artstyle is just a choice, not that it is as child friendly as it may appear.

** Oddly enough, ''Anime/HunterXHunter'' (the 2011 version) started airing at ''10:55 AM'' on Sunday morning, despite being one of the most violent mainstream {{Shounen}} manga out there. [[{{Bowdlerize}} It was censored]], but it was still quite violent for its time slot, hence moving to Tuesday Nights 25:30/Wednesday Mornings 1:30 AM for the last portion.

* And in this era of DVR technology, it doesn't really matter when you air the program anyway; the fans will record it or stream it. Where the show isn't aired, {{fansub}}s will provide the show.

* ''Manga/DemonSlayerKimetsuNoYaiba'', had its marketing strategist to be very adamant in airing the animated adaptation late at night, in order to preserve the levels of violence present in the original manga, for it had become increasingly common for Magazine/ShonenJump animated shows to mildly, or severely, tone down violent and other suggestive content over the years; this decision proved to be one of the many reasons the Demon Slayer anime became a gigantic success.

* Despite being a {{shoujo}} series, the first season of ''LightNovel/MariaWatchesOverUs'' aired at OtakuOClock, while the second aired on a more intuitive Sunday morning timeslot. Aside from testing series potential, this was probably a safety device to see [[SubText how far they were allowed to go]] and because the producers are well aware of the net created by its PeripheryDemographic loyalty. After a "third season" of [=OVAs=], the fourth season again aired at OtakuOClock.

* ''Manga/DemonSlayerKimetsuNoYaiba'' has its marketing strategist to be very adamant in airing the animated adaptation late at night, in order to preserve the levels of violence present in the original manga, for it had become increasingly common for Magazine/ShonenJump animated shows to mildly, or severely, tone down violent and other suggestive content over the years; this decision proved to be one of the many reasons the Demon Slayer anime became a gigantic success.

* ''Manga/DemonSlayerKimestsuNoYaiba'' has its marketing strategist to be very adamant in airing the animated adaptation late at night, in order to preserve the levels of violence present in the original manga, for it had become increasingly common for Mangazine/ShonenJump animated shows to mildly, or severely, tone down violent and other suggestive content over the years; this decision proved to be one of the many reasons the Demon Slayer anime became a gigantic success.

* This is the theory behind Creator/AdultSwim, which broadcasts nightly from 8 PM and 6 AM and devotes Saturday nights to anime (since May 2012 under the "revived" Creator/{{Toonami}} brand[[note]]This was originally an April Fool's Day joke, however. In actually, it's just the previous "Adult Swim Action" block running [[InNameOnly under a different name]].[[/note]]).

* An in-universe example occurs in ''Manga/{{Bakuman}}''. The anime adaptation of the ''Magazine/ShonenJump'''s ''Otters 11'' is aired at midnight due to the nature of its content. Its brand of serious humor seems cater more toward an older PeripheryDemographic than to Jump's younger audience.

{{Anime}} aired from around 11 p.m. until the wee hours of the morning, occasionally indicated by the odd-looking "22:00-27:00" notation. They are almost universally watched by an older teens and [[{{Seinen}} young adults]].