The history of anime in the United States began in 1961, when Magic Boy and The White Snake Enchantress, both produced by Toei Animation, became the first and second anime films to receive documented releases in the country. Anime has since found success with a growing audience in the region, with Astro Boy often being noted as the first anime to receive widespread syndication, especially in the United States. Additionally, anime's growth in popularity in the US during the 1990s, commonly referred to as the "anime boom," is credited with much of anime's enduring relevance to popular culture outside Japan.
Funimation was an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. Launched in 2016, the service was one of the leading distributors of anime and other foreign entertainment properties in North America. It streamed popular series, such as Dragon Ball, One Piece, YuYu Hakusho, My Hero Academia, Attack on Titan, Fairy Tail, Black Clover, Fruits Basket, Assassination Classroom and Tokyo Ghoul among many others. The service and its parent company were acquired by Sony, who ran the service through Sony Pictures Entertainment from 2017 to 2019 and then through SPE and Sony Music Entertainment Japan's Aniplex from 2019 to its closure in 2024. In 2021, Sony acquired Crunchyroll.
Dragon Ball is a Japanese anime television series produced by Toei Animation that ran for 153 episodes from February 26, 1986, to April 19, 1989, on Fuji TV. The series is an adaptation of the first 194 chapters of the manga series of the same name created by Akira Toriyama, which were published in Weekly Shōnen Jump from 1984 to 1995. It was broadcast in 81 countries worldwide and is the first television series adaptation in the Dragon Ball franchise. The series follows the adventures of Goku, a young boy with a monkey tail and exceptional strength who battles evil-doers in hand-to-hand combat.
Christopher Robin Sabat is an American voice actor and voice director. Some of his prominent roles in animations and anime include Vegeta and Piccolo in Dragon Ball, Roronoa Zoro in One Piece, All Might in My Hero Academia, Daisuke Jigen in Lupin the Third, and Dr. Arthur Watts in RWBY.
Kyoto Animation Co., Ltd., often abbreviated KyoAni, is a Japanese animation studio and light novel publisher located in Uji, Kyoto Prefecture. It was founded in 1985 by husband and wife Hideaki and Yoko Hatta, who remain its president and vice-president respectively.
Eric Vale is an American voice actor featured in numerous English versions of Japanese anime series.
One Piece is a Japanese anime television series produced by Toei Animation that premiered on Fuji TV in October 1999. It is based on Eiichiro Oda's manga series of the same name. The story follows the adventures of Monkey D. Luffy, a boy whose body gained the properties of rubber after unintentionally eating a Devil Fruit. With his crew, named the Straw Hat Pirates, Luffy explores the Grand Line in search of the world's ultimate treasure known as the "One Piece" in order to become the next Pirate King.
Crunchyroll is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service owned by Sony Group Corporation. The service primarily distributes films and television series produced by East Asian media, including Japanese anime, and is headquartered in San Francisco, California, with a Japanese branch located in Shibuya, Tokyo.
Sentai Filmworks, LLC is an American entertainment company. Located in Houston, the company specializes in the dubbing and distribution of Japanese animation and Asian cinema. Its post-production arm is Sentai Studios.
Alexis Tipton is an American voice actress and ADR director. She has provided voices for English-language versions of anime series and video games. Her roles include Komaru Naegi in Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope's Peak High School, Sun Seto in My Bride Is a Mermaid, Musubi in Sekirei, Mizuki Himeji in Baka and Test, Millianna in Fairy Tail, Moka Akashiya in Rosario + Vampire, Honey in Space Dandy, Hyoka Kazakiri in A Certain Magical Index, Mina Carolina in Attack on Titan, Kurumi Tokisaki in Date A Live, Yomi Isayama in Ga-Rei: Zero, Anya Hepburn in Soul Eater Not!, Inori Yuzuriha and Mana Ouma in Guilty Crown, Kid Trunks in the Funimation dub of Dragon Ball Super, Mei Hatsume in My Hero Academia, Reze in Chainsaw Man, Karen Kurutsu in Island, Anna Schneider in Takt Op. Destiny, Iris in Fire Force and Kaguya Shinomiya in Kaguya-sama: Love Is War.
Aniplex of America, Inc., or Aniplex USA, is an American entertainment company founded in March 2005 and located in Santa Monica, California that serves as the American distribution enterprise of Aniplex, an anime and music production company owned by Sony Music Entertainment Japan, where its goal is to reinforce 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, MVM Films, Siren Visual and corporate siblings Crunchyroll UK and Ireland and Crunchyroll Store Australia.
Date A Live is a Japanese light novel series written by Kōshi Tachibana and illustrated by Tsunako. Fujimi Shobo published 22 volumes from March 2011 to March 2020 under their Fujimi Fantasia Bunko imprint. Yen Press holds the license to publish the light novel in English.
Dragon Ball Z is a Japanese anime television series produced by Toei Animation. Part of the Dragon Ball media franchise, it is the sequel to the 1986 Dragon Ball television series and adapts the latter 325 chapters of the original Dragon Ball manga series created by Akira Toriyama. The series aired in Japan on Fuji TV from April 1989 to January 1996 and was later dubbed for broadcast in at least 81 countries worldwide.
Dragon Ball Super is a Japanese manga series written by Akira Toriyama and illustrated by Toyotarou. Set during the time frame of Toriyama's original Dragon Ball manga, it follows the adventures of Son Goku and friends during the ten-year timeskip after the defeat of Majin Boo. It began serialization in Shueisha's monthly shōnen manga magazine V Jump in June 2015. The manga is simulpublished in English by Viz Media and by Shueisha on their Manga Plus platform.
Bryn Apprill is an American voice actress. Her voice acting career began when she was a high school student in 2013, and since then, she has been providing voices for a number of English-language versions of Japanese anime films and television series. She is often typecast as shy young girls due to her airy high-pitched voice. Some of her major roles include Christa Lenz / Historia Reiss in Attack on Titan, Kurumi in Hal, Kurumi Narumi in Mikagura School Suite, Kaede in The Boy and the Beast, Awaki Musujime in A Certain Magical Index, Himeko Momokino in Citrus, Hiyori Iki in Noragami, Kobeni Higashiyama in Chainsaw Man, Hikari Takanashi in Interviews with Monster Girls, Roka Shibasaki in D-Frag!, Sumireko Hanabusa in Riddle Story of Devil, Izumiko Suzuhara in Red Data Girl, Kotori Itsuka in Date A Live, Akane Sakurada in Castle Town Dandelion, Haruna in Kancolle: Kantai Collection, San Diego in Azur Lane, Honoka Tamarai in ReLIFE, Miku in Darling in the Franxx, Yaya in Unbreakable Machine-Doll, Chocola in Nekopara, Mimosa Vermillion in Black Clover, and Cyan Hijirikawa in Show by Rock!!.
Toei Animation Inc. is an American licensing and distributor based in Los Angeles. It is Toei Animation's American sister company. It holds partnerships with TV channels, DVD distributors, and streaming websites.
Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero is a 2022 Japanese animated martial arts fantasy adventure film and the sequel to Dragon Ball Super: Broly (2018). It is the twenty-first animated feature film based on the 1984–95 manga series Dragon Ball, the second to carry the Dragon Ball Super branding, the first to be produced mainly using CGI animation, as well as the fourth and final animated Dragon Ball film to be produced under the supervision of franchise creator Akira Toriyama before his death in March 2024. In the film, Piccolo and his former student Gohan head on a mission to save the world from the newly reformed Red Ribbon Army.
Crunchyroll, LLC, d/b/a Crunchyroll, formerly known as Funimation, is an American entertainment company based in Coppell, Texas, focused on the distribution and licensing of anime, films, and television series. The company, then known as Funimation Productions, was founded in May 1994, by Gen Fukunaga and his wife Cindy in Silicon Valley, with funding by Daniel Cocanougher and his family, who became investors in the company, which then relocated to North Richland Hills and later Flower Mound, Texas.
