Manga Entertainment

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Manga Entertainment, LLC
Type Subsidiary of Starz Media LLC
Founded 1991
Headquarters Los Angeles, California[1]
Key people Andy Frain, Chris Blackwell, Marvin Gleicher, Laurence Guinness, Mike Preece
Industry Entertainment (Anime)
Products Anime theatrical and direct marketing and production
Website Manga Entertainment

Manga Entertainment UK

Madman Entertainment (Handles Manga's Licences In Australia)
This article is about Manga Entertainment, the anime distributor. For Manga, a term for Japanese comics, see Manga.
 To comply with Wikipedia's guidelines, the introduction of this article may need to be rewritten. Please discuss this issue on the talk page and read the layout guide to make sure the section will be inclusive of all essential details. (September 2009)

Manga Entertainment is a producer, licensor and distributor of Japanese animation in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, France, Australia and New Zealand.

Manga Entertainment was founded by Andy Frain for Chris Blackwell's Island Records in 1991.[verification needed] The company's first release, Akira, was both a critical and commercial success,[citation needed] and led the company to license more anime for release in the European, Australian and, subsequently, the United States markets. Manga Entertainment became a hugely successful brand, consistently achieving Top 20 entries in the UK video charts.[citation needed][citation needed]

The company's distribution was initially focused in the UK, Australia and Europe before expanding to the U.S. and Canada in 1994. Originally based near Chicago, Illinois, Manga's U.S. branch became Manga Entertainment Inc. and focused on the North American anime market. Manga Entertainment's Australian division became Manga Entertainment Australia Ltd., but Manga Entertainment in the UK still has control over a majority of Manga Australia's catalogue. Frain resigned from Manga in November 1995[verification needed]to start Touchwood Animation Ltd. but he retained a minority share in the company which he sold back to Blackwell prior to Manga's acquisition by IDT.[verification needed] In November 1995, Marvin Gleicher replaced Frain as CEO, with Mike Preece as UK managing director.[verification needed]

Despite their name, the company's principal business is the distribution of anime rather than manga, although they have published some manga in the UK under the Manga Books imprint such as Crying Freeman.[2]

Contents

[edit] The company

Manga Entertainment is an entertainment company that co-produces animation such as Ghost in the Shell, Street Fighter Alpha: The Animation, Highlander: The Search for Vengeance and Eon Kid,[3], usually through financial contributions toward production costs. However, Manga is primarily involved in the distribution of anime in Europe and the U.S. Manga is a division of Starz Media, a subsidiary of venture capital firm Liberty Media.

Manga Entertainment UK does not license some anime to Australia because Madman Entertainment has already secured the rights the license and distribute to the titles below and are at least six months ahead of Manga UK:

Manga has also played a part in dubbing anime, when it is not sub-licensing a production that has already been licensed by another company (e.g., Akira, licensed and redubbed by Geneon in 2001, Bounty Dog, and Lupin III: Bye Bye Liberty Crisis).

Manga Entertainment originally opened in London in 1991 in order to bring anime to the European market. The companies first release was the film Akira (which was translated and dubbed in English by Streamline Pictures). The success of Akira was unprecedented and the Manga Entertainment company was quickly created. The U.S. arm debuted in July 1994 with an office near Chicago, Illinois; their first North American release was Macross Plus on late February 1995. Manga Entertainment has become a very well known brand around the world due to its continuing distribution of anime, which have proved to be a great success with fans around the world. This can be seen when Manga released Ninja Scroll and Ghost in the Shell, the latter being the only Japanese animated film to reach No. 1 on the Billboard Top 40 Video Sales chart (August 24, 1996). The company has also become associated with controversy concerning the distribution of hentai anime Urotsukidoji in Europe and Australia.

Managing Director, Kaoru Mfaume, oversaw Manga Entertainment's worldwide operations until he left in 2007.[verification needed] His tenure at Manga followed an extensive career in the anime industry originally working as a production and development executive before becoming Manga’s Vice President of Acquisitions. He has served as executive producer on a number of high profile anime projects including Dead Leaves, Blood: The Last Vampire, Street Fighter Alpha Generations and Iron Kid, and is a permanent member of the Ghost in the Shell Production Committee.

[edit] Manga Entertainment Australia

The first presence of Manga Entertainment in Australia and New Zealand was in 1991, when Manga Entertainment UK sub-licensed Akira to Ronin Films Pty Ltd. Akira was a commercial success in Australia when it was released in cinemas nationwide. Manga then transferred that license to 21st Century Pictures Pty Ltd in 1992 and then received a VHS release. Manga UK tried to get Urotsukidoji: Legend of the Overfiend released in the country for a cinema-wide release, but was refused classification by the OFLC, which in turn was banned outright in Australia. Due to the recession in Australia at the time, Manga Entertainment and Island Records did not think it was a good idea to set up an Australian subsidiary until 1994, when Manga Entertainment Australia Pty Ltd. was established. Manga Australia re-submitted Urotsukidoji for classification, which was then classified R18+ without cuts. It received a cinema-wide release but then the Classification Review Board made the OFLC cut it before a VHS release date was announced. Manga then gave Siren Entertainment the distribution rights to most of their titles. Manga Entertainment merged with its new distributor, Madman Entertainment, in 2003 before being sold to IDT.

[edit] Manga UK products

[edit] Manga Force

Main article: Manga Force: The Ultimate Collection

From January 2007. Manga UK started to produce a fortnightly magazine aimed at promoting both the company itself through the use of some of its more revered titles. Issue one, for example, used Ghost in the Shell. The magazine will run for fifty issues and cost £8.99 for each issue after the first issue which was £2.99.

[edit] Anime Showcase

DVD cover for Anime Showcase

Anime Showcase is a promotional DVD which is being distributed for Manga UK by HMV. The price of the DVD is £3.99 and includes various snippets of different anime including:

  • Noein - Episode 1
  • Heat Guy J - Episode 1
  • Otogi Zoshi - Episode 1
  • A five minute preview of Hellboy: Sword of Storms
  • Trailers For 'Tokyo Zombie', 'Noein', 'Tactics' and others.

A second Anime Showcase DVD was recently released. Priced at £3.99 (or free with selected Manga DVDS), it contained the following-

  • Bleach - Episodes 1 & 2
  • Naruto - Episodes 1 & 2
  • Trailers for various Manga properties.

[edit] Anime licenced by Manga Entertainment

As of 2005, Manga Entertainment owns the English rights to 57 anime titles. Their UK arm, Manga Entertainment UK, also sub-licenses a number of titles such as Bleach and Naruto from American companies who do not have a UK division.

Manga Entertainment UK now sub-licenses titles from Funimation in the US on a case by case basis.

[edit] Current Licenses

[edit] United Kingdom (DVD Region 2)

[edit] Australia (DVD Region 4, Distributed By Madman Entertainment, formerly by Siren Entertainment and Polygram)

[edit] Expired licences in Australia

  • Voltron (Re-released by Madman Entertainment)
  • Cyber City Oedo 808 (Re-released by Madman Entertainment, OFLC's Manga VHS certifications, M and MA 15+, DVD certification, M, Released on 3 VHS tapes, and released on 1 tape as apart of Manga's The Cyberpunk Collection)
  • Demon City Shinjuku (OFLC: M, Re-released by Madman Entertainment, used to be called

by Manga's Name, Monster City, released on 1 tape from Manga, and bundled with Wicked City on 1 tape)

[edit] Yet to be released on DVD by Manga Entertainment in Australia (Still Licensed)

[edit] North America (DVD Region 1)

See also the list of anime licensed by Manga Entertainment.[5]

[edit] US Spanish-language releases
  • Ninja Scroll
  • Patlabor the Movie 1 (expired)
[edit] Expired licenses in North America

Both Patlabor movies were subsequently licensed by Bandai Visual USA (now a subsidiary of Bandai Entertainment) and released through its Honneamise distribution label. Their releases included remastered video and audio and new English dubs for both movies (they were released in 2006). Bandai Visual USA also released a subtitled-only DVD set of Gunbuster on February 2007, as well as a DVD/Blu-Ray twin set of Wings of Honneamise on September 2007.[6]. Giant Robo has since been licensed by Media Blasters, which completed the series (along with the Ginrei spinoff) and re-dubbed the English dialogue.

[edit] References

  1. ^ "About Us." Manga Entertainment. Retrieved on February 5, 2009.
  2. ^ Shirow, Masamune (1995) [1985]. Appleseed Volume One: The Promethean Challenge. trans. Studio Proteus (UK ed. ed.). London: Manga Publishing. ISBN 1-900097-01-X. 
  3. ^ "Manga Entertainment Announces International Partnership for Iron Kid". Anime News Network. September 8, 2005. http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/press-release/2005-09-08/manga-entertainment-announces-international-partnership-for-iron-kid. Retrieved 2007-11-05. 
  4. ^ [1] BBFC Rating for Death Note
  5. ^ "Anime which Manga Entertainment has licensed". Anime News Network. http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/company.php?id=10. Retrieved 2007-11-05. 
  6. ^ The Wings of Honneamise - BluRay/DVD Combo (DVD) - Anime News Network

[edit] External links

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Website: www.starz.com
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