On Saturday, March 23, at 4 and 8 p.m., in the Japanese-American Cultural and Community Center (JACCC), smack in the middle of Little Tokyo, downtown Los Angeles, FUNimation will screen a brand new episode of Dragonball Z and the premiere episodes of two recent stateside arrivals- the early nineties Japanese hit Yu Yu Hakusho and 1999's Blue Gender. Though successful shows in their own right and certainly representative of Japanese tastes, how these anime reflect Japanese-American culture - at least to the extent that would justify a screening at a Japanese-American cultural center - stretches the imagination. Not discerning between a legitimate screening and a blatant marketing tool for FUNimation here indicates, perhaps, the inextricable and inexorable merging of culture and commodity.

But FUNimation isn't mucking up the issue with beguiling verbiage. "We felt like it was a great opportunity to promote our new properties to a new audience and it fit in with our release plans," explains FUNimation rep Lacey Nichols. "We are looking for more opportunities like this. We feel it will be very successful." The raw marketing interests for FUNimation remain unabated.

"Our fans have been asking for materials for quite awhile and we have been screening materials at conventions for the last year, but it didn't seem like we were doing our part to promote anime to the whole marketplace," Nichols continues. "Who better to push your property than the fans themselves? Plus, we like to see their comments before we release a video. Our fans are very important to us and we'd like to gain their support through utilizing their clubs and members to push our properties. We have had a great response from anime clubs across the country."

However, FUNimation has already released all three titles, so it doesn't intend on using the JACCC screenings to generate hype for the products. And when pushed to postulate how these specific titles could be considered ambassadors of Japanese culture worthy of screenings at JACCC, Nichols wisely noted that she probably isn't the person to answer that. Nor does she need to. The Los Angeles JACCC (through curator and event organizer Chris Padilla) approached FUNimation about the screenings, prompted by FUNimation's campaign to set up similar screenings at anime clubs throughout the country.

"The March event was programmed to be a 'fun' event with the intent of opening the door to future anime programming," says Gail Matsui of JACCC. "Anime represents a cultural offering which transcends cultural barriers and could serve to reach a new audience for the JACCC to include Japanese speaking, Japanese American and mainstream anime/film interested patrons. This is a new path for us and we will continue to develop offerings which will serve to draw the various target markets."

JACCC, then, sees FUNimation as a tool to provide Japanese programming to an American audience, which demonstrates how varied perceptions of FUNimation actually are.