AnimeFunTV (AFTV) is a public access TV show that debut in 2003 in San Antonio, TX.
It was created by its founder, Ernest Zamora, Jr under his UltraSonic Entertainment Production studio.
At that time Ernest was helping film and edit public access shows for his local church; from there he found the necessary resources to create his own TV show for public access. However, he did not have an idea on what the show will be about but at the time anime was largely popular with dozens of series airing on television and soon a new concept emerged, the Anime Music Video or “AMV” for short. Ernest fell immediately in love with the concept and wanted that to be the main focus in his new show and so AnimeFunTV was born.
AnimeFunTV is play on words for “Animation Fun on TV” as Ernest was not just a fan of Japanese anime, but also a fan of all types and styles of animations as well.
AFTV premiered on March 20, 2003.
AFTV has already aired 90+ episodes since its premiere in 2003 and is still the only known show in the United States that continuously showcases fan made AMV’s on public access television which can now be seen free online via The City of San Antonio’s Public Access web stream. AFTV also takes the time off from its AMV season’s to air projects of interest that includes videos from conventions, guest interviews, and seasonal award shows.
AFTV soon branched out as a AMV Contest sanctioning body for presenting AMV Contests & Showcases at conventions such as San-Japan, Mizuumi-Con, IKKiCON, Texas Furry Fiesta, Oni-Con & (Pony Music Video) PMV Contest at Brony Fan Fair. At one point, AFTV was known as the largest sanctioning body for hosting AMV Contests in Texas.
In October of 2012 AFTV founder Ernest Zamora, Jr announced a new venture with a new Anime/Animation convention in San Antonio, TX called “Southwest Animation & Gaming Expo” in hopes that it will bridge the gap between Anime and Animation once and for all. Sadly however, the plans for this never fully flourished and the venture was dropped in the later part of 2014.
For 2015 and beyond, AFTV has new entertainment vision for its online and TV show content and plans are in place to set new grounds for its AMV Contests.
In 2019, AFTV & UltraSonic Entertainment announced that it will present the very last AMV Contest and official anime convention appearance at Oni-Con XVI (2019). However, during that announcement it was noted that it did not mean the end for AFTV & UltraSonic Entertainment, we will begin to focus more on our local TV broadcast and online entertainment for 2020.
Currently AFTV is one of the longest running TV shows aired on San Antonio’s Public Access TV.