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Aniplex of America

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Aniplex of America Inc.
TypeBusiness corporation
IndustryAnime and music production
FoundedMarch 2005; 16 years ago (2005-03)[1]
HeadquartersSanta Monica, California, U.S.
Key people
Shu Nishimoto (president)
ProductsSoundtracks, anime, music, merchandise
OwnerSony (through Sony Music Entertainment Japan)
ParentAniplex
Websitewww.aniplexusa.com

Aniplex of America Inc. or Aniplex USA is the U.S. distribution enterprise of Aniplex, an anime and music production company owned by Sony Music Entertainment Japan. It was established in March 2005 in Santa Monica, California, with the goal of reinforcing the parent company's licensing business in the North American market. They operate the English language version of the Aniplex+ store, and from 2013 to 2017 operated a streaming service called Aniplex Channel through their website. The company most of the time only directly releases its titles in the Americas, however, some of its titles have been released in other territories by other distributors, such as Anime Limited, Manga Entertainment, MVM Films, Madman Anime Group, and Siren Visual.

Their home video sets are distributed in the North American market by Right Stuf Anime and their titles are usually streamed on Crunchyroll, Funimation, Hulu, and HIDIVE, and occasionally streamed on Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, and HBO Max. Some of their titles were also available on Anime Strike, Daisuki, go90, Crackle, Anime News Network, and Neon Alley but they have been removed and/or the service shut down.

History[]

2005–2012: Founding and independent distribution[]

Aniplex of America was founded in March 2005.[2][3] At this point, the Japanese parent company still licensed its titles through other distributors, such as Funimation, Bandai Visual, Geneon, ADV Films, NIS America, and Media Blasters.[4]

Starting in 2010, Aniplex of America began releasing the Japanese parent company's titles, starting with the Gurren Lagann movies[5] and Durarara!! (which had been previously announced to stream on Crunchyroll).[6][7] Durarara!! was the first time they partnered with Bang Zoom for an English dub (the studio they would almost exclusively work with for dubs from this point on).[8] They also re-released Read or Die (OVA) and R.O.D the TV on home video, despite them having previously been licensed through Manga Entertainment and Geneon.[9] The aforementioned titles was the first time they sold a home video set on Right Stuf Anime (the website that would eventually be the only retailer in North America to sell their home video sets).[10] Starting with Oreimo in 2010, they started streaming some of their titles on Anime News Network.[11] In April 2011, they started streaming some of their titles on Hulu and Viz Anime (Neon Alley), with Blue Exorcist being the first.[12] In June 2011, they started airing titles on Toonami, with Durarara!! being the first.[13] In July 2011, they started streaming their titles on Crackle, with Star Driver being the first.[14] In June 2012, they announced that they would release their first non-anime, Hatsune Miku's Mikunopolis concert.[15]

2013–present: Streaming expansion and new management[]

In 2013, Aniplex started streaming some of their titles on their website (called Aniplex Channel).[16] In April 2014, they launched the English version of Aniplex+.[17] Later in April 2014, they started streaming shows on Netflix, with Blue Exorcist being the first.[18] In 2015, they started streaming some of their titles on Daisuki[19] and Funimation.[20] In March 2017, they started streaming some of their titles on Anime Strike, with Eromanga Sensei being the first.[21] In June 2017, they launched their first mobile game, the English version of the Fate/Grand Order mobile game.[22]

In August 2017, it was announced that Shu Nishimoto was appointed as president of the company, with former president Hideki "Henry" Goto becoming head of international business development with the Tokyo branch.[23] Later in August 2017, Aniplex Channel was shut down.[24] In October 2017, they started streaming some of their titles on go90, which included exclusive rights to the Anohana and God Eater dubs.[25] In January 2019, they started streaming some of their titles on HIDIVE, with The Promised Neverland being the first.[26]

In August 2019, they announced that they partnered with Funimation Films to release Rascal Does Not Dream of a Dreaming Girl in North American theaters.[27] They later did the same with Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba the Movie: Mugen Train.[28]

In January 2020, they allowed Funimation to dub Darwin's Game, which was the first time that a new Aniplex of America title that was dubbed was not dubbed by Bang Zoom.[29] In May 2020, Funimation announced they partnered with Aniplex of America to release a standard edition Blu-ray set for Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba.[30] Later in May 2020, they started streaming some of their titles on HBO Max.[31] In December 2020, the company made a partnership with Lucky Helmet Agency to help with merchandising and licensing for the release of Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba the Movie: Mugen Train in the United States.[32]

Criticism[]

In episode five of Kaguya-sama: Love Is War season two, one line in the subtitled script read "What's the deal with the social distancing?", which references the COVID-19 pandemic. Aniplex of America apologized for this and corrected the line to "Why are you so far away from me?"[33]

Fans of the Magia Record mobile game criticized Aniplex of America for not offering refunds for in-game purchases made in the game, which was announced to shut down its English version on September 29, 2020, after about one year of service.[34] It was later announced that the English version of the game would instead close operations on October 30, 2020. This was done in order to add a gallery mode, which allows players to view their magical girls earned in the game, even after the shutdown.[35]

Catalog[]

Note: Any anime that has been dubbed in English by anybody, including Aniplex of America themselves, is marked with an asterisk (*) beside the title.

Anime[]

Video games[]

Music artists[]

References[]

  1. ^ "Corporate History | Aniplex | アニプレックス オフィシャルサイト". Archived from the original on August 27, 2013. Retrieved January 19, 2012.
  2. ^ "Aniplex Corporate History". Archived from the original on August 27, 2013. Retrieved November 29, 2020.
  3. ^ "Funimation Hires New Chief Content Officer, Chief Product Officer". Anime News Network. January 16, 2020. Archived from the original on September 26, 2020. Retrieved November 29, 2020.
  4. ^ "Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood Debuts on Funimation". Anime News Network. April 4, 2009. Retrieved December 25, 2020.
  5. ^ "Aniplex of America Sells Gurren Lagann Movie DVDs in July". Anime News Network. April 16, 2010. Archived from the original on December 24, 2020. Retrieved November 29, 2020.
  6. ^ "Aniplex of America Adds Durarara!! Anime with Dub (Update 2)". Anime News Network. July 3, 2010. Archived from the original on November 2, 2020. Retrieved November 29, 2020.
  7. ^ "Crunchyroll Confirms Simulcast of Durarara!! TV Anime (Update 2)". Anime News Network. January 6, 2010. Archived from the original on October 26, 2020. Retrieved December 3, 2020.
  8. ^ "Aniplex USA Industry Panel - Otakon 2010". Anime News Network. July 30, 2010. Archived from the original on November 15, 2020. Retrieved December 1, 2020.
  9. ^ "Aniplex USA to Ship All of Read or Die on BD". Anime News Network. July 30, 2010. Archived from the original on June 19, 2017. Retrieved November 29, 2020.
  10. ^ "Aniplex to Ship Durarara, R.O.D via Bandai, Right Stuf". Anime News Network. October 8, 2010. Archived from the original on December 9, 2020. Retrieved December 1, 2020.
  11. ^ "Anime News Network to Launch 1st Simulcast, Oreimo". Anime News Network. October 4, 2010. Archived from the original on April 22, 2019. Retrieved November 29, 2020.
  12. ^ "Aniplex to Stream Blue Exorcist in U.S., Canada". Anime News Network. April 8, 2011. Archived from the original on June 19, 2017. Retrieved November 29, 2020.
  13. ^ "Durarara!! to Run on U.S. Adult Swim Network in June". May 28, 2011. Archived from the original on November 11, 2020. Retrieved November 30, 2020.
  14. ^ "Hulu, Crunchyroll, Crackle to Stream Star Driver". Anime News Network. July 29, 2011. Archived from the original on December 21, 2020. Retrieved November 29, 2020.
  15. ^ "Aniplex USA to Release Hatsune Miku's Mikunopolis Concert". Anime News Network. June 29, 2012. Archived from the original on September 8, 2020. Retrieved November 29, 2020.
  16. ^ "AniplexChannel.com is the New Channel for Fans to Access their Favorite Aniplex Shows in One Place". Anime News Network. April 25, 2013. Archived from the original on December 8, 2018. Retrieved November 29, 2020.
  17. ^ "Aniplex of America Launches Aniplex+ Online Store". Anime News Network. April 2, 2014. Archived from the original on December 3, 2020. Retrieved November 29, 2020.
  18. ^ Blue Exorcist [@BlueExorcistUSA] (April 22, 2014). "This Just in, Blue Exorcist is Now on Netflix! Watch the entire series subtitled today!" (Tweet). Retrieved November 30, 2020 – via Twitter.
  19. ^ "Aniplex USA to Stream Nisekoi Season 2, Gunslinger Stratos, Plastic Memories". Anime News Network. March 20, 2015. Archived from the original on December 3, 2020. Retrieved November 29, 2020.
  20. ^ "Funimation to Stream The Asterisk War Anime". Anime News Network. October 10, 2015. Archived from the original on November 1, 2020. Retrieved November 29, 2020.
  21. ^ "Aniplex USA to Simulcast Eromanga Sensei on Crunchyroll, Daisuki, and Anime Strike". Anime News Network. March 31, 2017. Archived from the original on December 22, 2017. Retrieved November 29, 2020.
  22. ^ "About Us". Aniplex of America. Archived from the original on August 14, 2020. Retrieved December 9, 2020.
  23. ^ "Aniplex of America Names Shu Nishimoto as President" (PDF). Aniplex. Archived from the original (PDF) on August 8, 2017. Retrieved August 8, 2017.
  24. ^ "Aniplex Channel on August 16, 2017". Archived from the original on August 16, 2017. Retrieved November 29, 2020.
  25. ^ "Verizon's go90 Service to Exclusively Stream English Dubs of Anohana, God Eater Anime". Anime News Network. October 1, 2017. Archived from the original on December 5, 2020. Retrieved November 30, 2020.
  26. ^ "HIDIVE to Also Stream The Promised Neverland Anime". Anime News Network. January 4, 2019. Archived from the original on December 9, 2020. Retrieved December 2, 2020.
  27. ^ "Funimation and Aniplex are Bringing Rascal Does Not Dream of a Dreaming Girl to Select Theaters!". Funimation. August 31, 2019. Archived from the original on November 19, 2020. Retrieved December 4, 2020.
  28. ^ "Funimation and Aniplex of America Bringing Demon Slayer – Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Movie: Mugen Train to Theaters". Funimation. July 3, 2020. Archived from the original on November 12, 2020. Retrieved December 4, 2020.
  29. ^ Funimation [@FUNimation] (December 24, 2019). "We will be dubbing it!