What is noitaminA?

Question

I only know that noitaminA is "Animation" written backwards. It sometimes appear at the beginning of episodes of anime.

noitaminA logo

But does it mean anything? At Anime-Planet, it is considered a tag/genre. At MyAnimeList it is treated as a broadcast block. I don't really get it either way.

It's a programming block. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noitamina — Logan M, Dec 17 '13 at 01:03
@LoganM or student080705639 should post something like that comment as an answer so this is no an "unanswered" question. — Mark S., Dec 17 '13 at 03:52
@MarkS. Generally if I leave a comment like that, I don't intend to type a full answer, or at least it's not a high priority item. You can use it yourself if you want, though in this case the question has already been answered satisfactorily. — Logan M, Dec 17 '13 at 05:03

score 13 · Accepted Answer · edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:54

As @LoganM points out in a comment, noitaminA is a programming block on Fuji TV that initially went from 24:45-25:15 on Thursday nights (i.e. 12:45a-1:15a on Friday) and was later lengthened to 24:45-25:45.

Old noitaminA shows tended to have one major commonality - they targeted a different audience than most other late-night anime. Some good examples of this are:

Nodame Cantabile (a josei manga)
Honey and Clover (another josei manga)
Wandering Son (I don't know what demographic it targets, but it addresses serious issues of gender identity, which isn't standard fare for your typical anime)
Genji Monogatari Sennenki (a relatively dry adaptation of the classic Japanese novel)
Terror in Resonance (a high-concept anime-original show with some serious political commentary, execution notwithstanding)

While the shows aired by noitaminA do not have any single unifying feature, "not being like a typical late-night anime show" is an interesting enough feature to merit a tag or genre on sites like Anime-Planet, I suppose. One other unusual feature of noitaminA shows is that they typically (though not always) last 11 or 22 episodes, rather than 12-13 or 24-26.

Some argue that the past couple years of noitaminA have been characterized by very conventional anime, rather than the mold-breakers of noitaminA's early days, thus diluting the value of noitaminA as a marker of quality. Examples:

If anyone else gets confused about the times that go beyond a 24hr clock: [Why do airing shows have times listed beyond a 24-hour clock?](http://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/4019/why-do-airing-shows-have-times-listed-beyond-a-24-hour-clock/4020#4020) — user2716766, Jun 09 '14 at 23:56

What is noitaminA?

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