Recently, KTEH, a public television station broadcasting out of San Jose, California, aired a sobering documentary on how Franklin Delano Roosevelt's signing of Executive Order 9066 led to one of the worst displays of race-based discrimination in this nation's history as the United States government herded more than a hundred thousand citizens of Japanese ancestry into internment camps that evoked the tone of the prison compounds built by Nazis for European Jews.

This gaze back at the disturbing past preambles, whether purposefully or not, a glimpse into the brighter future as KTEH readies itself to broadcast three Japanese imports on March 10; the anime titles Generator Gawl, All-Purpose Cultural Cat Girl Nuku Nuku and City Hunter. The station has already garnered a reputation for anime friendliness, airing an assortment of anime titles over the last few years that included Evangelion, Ranma 1/2 and Bubblegum Crisis 2040. As recently as last month Dirty Pair Flash sidled into a weekly slot Sundays at 9:30 p.m. That having ended for the time being, KTEH programming planners have now allocated a two-hour block for anime on Sundays starting at 9 p.m.

"We are trying out a few different series," says Davina Maese of KTEH Viewer Services. "We are going to ask viewers to pledge during their favorite show. Whatever pledges the best, we'll keep."

Being a public television outlet, KTEH depends primarily on the monetary contributions of its viewership to stay afloat. And, at least on Sundays, the station is certainly targeting a very specific demographic. "We put anime in our sci-fi line up on Sundays, along with Dr. Who, Red Dwarf, and The Prisoner," Maese explains. "It works well in the sci-fi line up."

But, with limited funds and virtually no ad revenue, KTEH is at the mercy of whatever company is willing to donate their properties. So it isn't surprising that the titles aired thus far have been primarily from ADV, the biggest and most aggressive marketer in the anime industry.

However, the anime fare on KTEH hues closer to a fan's ideal than the severely edited titles that have made their way onto the WB and Fox. And with a little more exposure in the public television arena, anime may reach a level of prominence in the entertainment landscape removed from the notion that the way Japanese audiences and American audiences process stories is inherently different.

To follow anime on KTEH, visit their website at www.KTEH.org.