Company type | Subsidiary |
---|---|
Industry | Entertainment |
Genre | Anime |
Predecessor | A.D. Vision |
Founded | June 4, 2008 [1] |
Founder | John Ledford |
Headquarters | 10114 West Sam Houston Parkway Alief, Houston, Texas 77099, U.S. |
Area served | North America, United Kingdom, Ireland, Denmark |
Products | |
Services | |
Parent | AMC Networks |
Divisions | Sentai Studios |
Website | sentaifilmworks.com |
Sentai Filmworks, LLC (or simply Sentai) 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.
The company has its origins in A.D. Vision, which was founded in 1992 by video game fan John Ledford and Matt Greenfield. ADV collapsed due to low sales and eventually liquidated their assets in 2009. Ledford founded Sentai in 2008 and acquired the majority of ADV's titles. Sentai was then acquired by New York City-based AMC Networks in 2022 and became its subsidiary. Its offices are in the International District in Southwest Houston. [2] [3]
In 1990, John Ledford, a native of Houston, started a Japanese video game and video console import business. He was introduced to anime when he watched My Neighbor Totoro at his friend's suggestion. His friend, Matt Greenfield, born in Sacramento, California, ran a local anime club called Anime NASA. [4] Both men established A.D. Vision, which officially opened for business on August 17, 1992. [4] Ledford contacted Toho about optioning the rights to license Devil Hunter Yohko , which became the first title to be released by ADV. [4] [5]
In June 2006, the Japanese Sojitz Corporation acquired a 20% stake in ADV Films. This was done as a means for ADV Films to acquire more titles in the Japanese market. [6] From this point on, virtually all titles that ADV acquired were with Sojitz's help. The following year, Sojitz announced that Japan Content Investments (JCI), Development Bank of Japan, and film distribution company KlockWorx, planned to contribute money to ADV, in return for equity in the company. Ledford was to remain the majority shareholder and CEO. JCI subsidiary ARM also planned to contribute money for ADV to use in acquiring new distribution licenses. The investment was to ADV Films to raise its output of new anime titles, which had dropped in 2006, back to previous levels or above. In return, ADV planned to assist Sojitz with the acquisition of North American and European content for importation into Japan. According to ADV, they also reportedly had "big plans" for its manga line. [7]
However, in January 2008, ADV mysteriously removed a large number of titles from their website. [8] Among the titles which were subsequently removed was Gurren Lagann , which had test disks sent out with dubbed episodes. As a result, ADV sued ARM Corporation and its parent Sojitz for a breach in a contract made previously. In the suit, the exact amount ADV paid to license twenty-nine titles was disclosed. The lawsuit was withdrawn and no ruling was made. [9] That July, Funimation announced the acquisition of thirty of these titles licensed by Sojitz from ADV. [10]
Ledford established Sentai Filmworks in October 2008. [11] Among its first titles to be released were Clannad, Princess Resurrection , Indian Summer , Appleseed and Mahoromatic (formerly licensed by Geneon). [12] [13] On September 1, 2009, ADV had closed its doors and sold off its assets, which included transferring distribution rights to Section23 Films. [14]
On July 4, 2013, during its industry panel at Anime Expo, Sentai Filmworks announced its plans to release a number of classic titles from Tatsunoko Production. [15] The current list of released titles from the partnership include the original Gatchaman series and movie, Time Bokan: Royal Revival , and Casshan , and more titles followed.
Sunrise announced a licensing deal with Sentai Filmworks that included a number of titles from Sunrise's library that were formerly licensed by Bandai Entertainment during its Otakon panel on August 8, 2013. [16]
In 2014, Sentai opened its in-house localization and recording facility, Sentai Studios. [17]
On June 1, 2015, Sentai made an announcement on its website that Akame ga Kill! had been picked up by Adult Swim for broadcast on its Toonami programming block, almost one week after its announcement at MomoCon 2015. [18] [19] The show began airing on the broadcast night of August 8, 2015, and its premiere night was one of the most watched programs in the block's history with over 1.8 million viewers. [20] Later that year, Parasyte -the maxim- , premiered on October 3. [21] Sentai has promoted the time that the two shows air as "#SentaiHour" on social media. On July 6, 2019, Food Wars!: Shokugeki no Soma began airing on Toonami. [22]
In March 2017, Sentai signed a deal with Amazon to stream the majority of its new licensees exclusively on its Anime Strike channel on Amazon Prime Video in the United States, starting with the Spring 2017 season. [23] After Anime Strike was shuttered in early 2018, all titles previously exclusive to the service were made available to Amazon Prime subscribers in the U.S. at no extra charge. [24]
On July 18, 2019, Sentai Filmworks launched a GoFundMe appeal in the wake of the arson attack at Kyoto Animation. [25] With a target of US$750,000, it surpassed the $1 million donation mark within the first 24 hours, and reached $2,370,910 at closing. [26] [27]
On August 1, 2019, Sentai Filmworks' parent company Sentai Holdings, LLC announced that the Cool Japan Fund invested US$30 million for shares of the company, stating that "Sentai's independent status makes it a rarity in North America as a licensor of Japanese anime". [28] On September 30, 2020, the Cool Japan Fund made an additional US$3.6 million available, stating that Sentai had achieved better financial results in 2019 compared to 2018, with plans for medium and long-term growth, and strategic changes following the COVID-19 pandemic. [29]
On September 5, 2020, Crunchyroll announced that they had entered in a partnership with Sentai Filmworks to distribute Crunchyroll licensed titles onto home video and electronic sell-through, with Granbelm , Food Wars!: Shokugeki no Soma: The Fourth Plate , Ascendance of a Bookworm , and World Trigger being the first titles distributed through the partnership. [30]
On January 5, 2022, AMC Networks announced it had acquired Sentai Filmworks' parent company Sentai Holdings, LLC, and all its assets and subsidiaries, including Hidive, Anime Network, and "member interests" from the Cool Japan Fund, via its subsidiary Digital Store LLC. [31] [32] [33] [34] Prior to the sale, in August 2021, Sony's Funimation Global Group (a joint venture between Sony Pictures Entertainment and Sony Music Entertainment Japan's Aniplex) acquired Crunchyroll from AT&T's WarnerMedia (later spun out by AT&T and merged with Discovery, Inc. to form Warner Bros. Discovery), and later on, in March 2022, Funimation would be rebranded as Crunchyroll, LLC. This would eventually lead to several Sentai titles departing from the Crunchyroll OTT platform on March 31, 2022. [35]
After Right Stuf was acquired by Crunchyroll, LLC in August 2022, Sentai announced on March 7, 2023, that all future home releases from them along with Section23 Films would be distributed by Distribution Solutions (DS), the releasing unit of wholesaler Alliance Entertainment, on April 3. [36]
On March 2, 2023, Sentai announced that they had entered in a partnership and distribution agreement with Mainichi Broadcasting System. [37]
Sentai Filmworks does not directly release its properties outside of America but instead sub-licenses to other companies. In 2011, MVM Entertainment licensed Mahoromatic: Something More Beautiful after Sentai's re-release of the series, and has done the same with Broken Blade . [38]
In March 2018, it was revealed that Sentai held the distribution rights to the film No Game No Life: Zero that the company gave to the Mexican distributor Madness Entertainment. It was revealed that they directly commissioned a Spanish dubbed version for the film. [39] On March 15, Sentai announced the acquisition of Alice or Alice to Spain and Portugal. [40]
Type of business | Division |
---|---|
Type of site | Video on demand |
Available in | 3 languages |
List of languages
| |
Founded | June 20, 2017 [41] |
Predecessor(s) | Anime Network Online |
Headquarters | , U.S. |
Area served | North America, United Kingdom, Ireland, and Oceania |
Owner | AMC Networks |
Industry | Entertainment |
Products | |
Parent | AMC Networks Streaming |
URL | hidive |
Commercial | Yes |
Registration | Required |
Users | 300,000 (2020) [42] |
Current status | Active |
Hidive (stylized in all caps) is an anime-focused streaming service that launched in June 2017.
After the discontinuation of Anime Network Online in 2017, Hidive, LLC, a new company not affiliated with Anime Network, acquired the service's assets and spun them off into a new streaming service called Hidive. [43] [41] Former subscriptions for Anime Network Online were migrated over to Hidive. [44]
Hidive is the exclusive carrier of select licensed titles from Sentai and Section23. Following the closure of Anime Strike, Hidive began streaming titles that were previously exclusive to the former service. [45] [46]
On July 21, 2017, Hidive announced the service would start to offer selected anime titles with Spanish and Portuguese subtitles. [47]
In April 2018, Hidive began offering "Dubcasts" to compete against Funimation's SimulDub program. [48] Similar to SimulDubs, Hidive streams dubs of simulcast titles approximately two to three weeks after the initial Japanese broadcast.
On October 18, 2018, VRV announced that Hidive would be launching a channel on its service. Hidive's channel replaced that of FunimationNow, which left the service on November 9, 2018. [49]
Following Funimation's acquisition of VRV's parent company Crunchyroll on August 9, 2021, Hidive left VRV on September 30 of that year. [50]
Hidive was part of AMC Networks' acquisition of Sentai in January 2022. [31]
In March 2024, Hidive's website was updated with a new user interface. [51] New features were also added, such as offline viewing, updated history queues, and the ability to create multiple customized watchlists. [52] [53]
A.D. Vision Holdings, Inc. was an American multimedia entertainment distributor headquartered in Houston, Texas, and founded in 1992 by video game fan John Ledford and anime fans Matt Greenfield and David Williams. The company specialized in home video production and distribution, theatrical film distribution, merchandising, original productions, magazine and comic book publishing. They also ran Anime Network, a television channel devoted to airing the company's titles. Some of their titles were Neon Genesis Evangelion, Super Dimension Fortress Macross, RahXephon, Full Metal Panic, Azumanga Daioh, Elfen Lied, Gantz, Red Garden, and Le Chevalier D'Eon.
John Robert Ledford II is an American entrepreneur and audio engineer in the anime industry. He founded A.D. Vision, Anime Network, Newtype USA, and Sentai Filmworks, and has been an executive producer for hundreds of anime titles including Halo Legends, Appleseed Alpha, Short Peace, Sailor Moon, Hello Kitty, and the dubbing of Neon Genesis Evangelion.
Kira Vincent-Davis is an American voice actress best known for her work in English-language versions of Japanese anime. She voices Lucy/Nyu in Elfen Lied, Anchovy in Girls und Panzer, Izuna Hatsuse in No Game No Life, Ayumu Kasuga in Azumanga Daioh, Mirai Kuriyama in Beyond the Boundary, Kansai in World's End Club, Minagi Tohno in Air, Mizuki Tachibana in Gravion, Rino Rando and Pucchan in Best Student Council, Chaika Trabant in Chaika - The Coffin Princess, and Mio Sakamoto in the Strike Witches series.
Hilary Haag is an American voice actress. Haag has been involved in several lead roles in anime series, including Nene Romanova in Bubblegum Crisis Tokyo 2040, Teletha Testarossa in the Full Metal Panic series, Seth Nightroad in Trinity Blood, Rebecca Miyamoto in Pani Poni Dash!, Rosette Christopher in Chrono Crusade, and Chloe in Noir.
John Gremillion is an American stage and voice actor. He has provided voices for a number of English-language versions of Japanese anime series and video games; notable credits include Gentle Criminal from My Hero Academia, Dracule Mihawk from One Piece, Roland Chappelle from Food Wars, Arthur Randall from Black Butler, Go Mutsugi from Area 88, Yamato Hotsuin from Devil Survivor 2: The Animation, Hakuoro from Utawarerumono, and Takeshi Hirokawa from Parasyte.
Greg Ayres is an American voice actor who works on a number of English versions of Japanese anime series. He voiced Hideki in Nerima Daikon Brothers, Koyuki Tanaka in Beck: Mongolian Chop Squad, Son Goku in Saiyuki, Clear in Dramatical Murder, Chrono in Chrono Crusade, Yuu Nishinoya in Haikyu!!, Kaoru Hitachin in Ouran High School Host Club, Negi Springfield in Negima, Heihachi Hayashida in Samurai 7, Frost in Dragon Ball Super and Tomoki Sakurai in Heaven's Lost Property.
Louisa Michelle Christian is an American voice actress and ADR script writer. She has provided many voices for English versions of Japanese anime series and films.
Allison Leigh Sumrall is an American voice actress, known for her roles in the English-language dubs of anime series. She is a veteran of the former Masquerade Theatre and Generations Theatre in Houston, Texas, and received her education in performing arts from the University of Houston. In anime, she is known as the voice of Miia from Monster Musume, Mui Aiba from Magical Warfare, Kagura from Azumanga Daioh, Lilith Asami from Trinity Seven, Nana Astar Deviluke from the To Love Ru series, and Taiga Fujimura from the Fate/Kaleid liner Prisma Illya series.
Jessie James Grelle is an American voice actor and ADR script writer in English language dubs of Japanese anime. They are known for voicing numerous main characters in the harem genre. Major roles include Armin Arlert in Attack on Titan, Itsuki Takeuchi in Initial D, Fumikage Tokoyami in My Hero Academia, Byakuya Togami in Danganronpa, Teruhiko Yukimura in Classroom of the Elite, Nobuchika Ginoza in Psycho-Pass, Glenn Radars in Akashic Records of Bastard Magic Instructor, Kenichi Shirahama in Kenichi: The Mightiest Disciple, Mao Sadou / Demon King Satan in The Devil Is a Part-Timer! and Yuri Katsuki in Yuri on Ice!!!. Grelle has voiced lead characters Zen Wisteria in Snow White with the Red Hair, Kyohei Takano in The Wallflower, Komatsu in Toriko, Akihisa Yoshii in Baka and Test, Koichi Hayase in Linebarrels of Iron, Kazuya Aoi in Freezing, Tasuku Yamane in Trickster, Yuki "Yukiteru" Amano in The Future Diary, Atsushi Hatake in Big Windup!, Shido Itsuka in the Date A Live series, Futaro Uesugi in The Quintessential Quintuplets, Masamune in Masamune-kun's Revenge, Yamato Naoe in Majikoi!, Touya in In Another World With My Smartphone, Ichika Orimura in Infinite Stratos, and Issei Hyodo in High School DxD: BorN and the 4th season, titled Hero. In video games, they have voiced Ludger Kresnik in Tales of Xillia 2, Phog from Xenoblade Chronicles X and Xbalanque from Smite.
Carliyn Cyd Mosier is an American voice actress and political activist. She is also a board member for the River Oaks Area Democratic Women (ROADWomen).
SXION 23 LLC, doing business as Section23 Films, is an American multimedia distributor based in Houston, Texas specializing in releasing anime and Japanese films. Established in 2009, Section23 is one of five successors to ADV Films; alongside Sentai Filmworks, Switchblade Pictures, Maiden Japan, and AEsir Holdings. The company is named after a Texas tax code.
Sentai Studios is an American post-production studio of Sentai Filmworks located in Houston, Texas. It was founded as Industrial Smoke & Mirrors, the in-house studio of ADV Films. It was renamed ADV Studios in 2005 when it merged with ADV's secondary studio, the Austin-based Monster Island; and then in 2006, when ADV began offering its services to other companies, the studio was also called Amusement Park Media before it was sold off by A.D. Vision in 2008. It was then renamed Seraphim Digital and was renamed to its current name in 2014.
David Wald is an American voice actor who voices in English dubs of Japanese anime. Some of his major roles include: Gajeel Redfox in Fairy Tail, Hannes in Attack on Titan, Bulat in Akame ga Kill!, and Master Chief in Halo Legends. He is involved in productions for Funimation and ADV Films in Texas. He is openly gay and advocates bringing positive homosexual representation in dubbed anime. He served as ADR director for Sentai Filmworks dubs of yuri and yaoi titles: Love Stage, Bloom into You, Hitorijime My Hero, and Kase-san and Morning Glories.
Emily Marie Neves is an American voice actress, ADR director and script writer known for her work on English adaptations of Japanese anime shows and films. Some of her major voice roles include Kotomi Ichinose in Clannad, Kanade "Angel" Tachibana in Angel Beats, Minene Uryu in Future Diary, Yuko Kanoe in Dusk Maiden of Amnesia, Chelsea in Akame ga Kill!, Angelise Ikaruga Misurugi in Cross Ange, Toriko Nishina in Otherside Picnic, Ayase Shinomiya in Guilty Crown and Umaru Doma from Himouto! Umaru-chan. In 2005, she was a preliminary contestant for the fourth season of American Idol at the Las Vegas auditions, where she advanced to the Hollywood round and was eliminated. She was a resident actress at the Alley Theatre in Houston.
Log Horizon is a Japanese novel series written by Mamare Touno and illustrated by Kazuhiro Hara. It began serialization online in 2010 on the user-generated novel publishing website Shōsetsuka ni Narō, being later on acquired by Enterbrain and published as a light novel in Japan since 2011. Yen Press began publishing an English translation in 2015. The series follows the strategist, Shiroe, and the other players of the long-lived MMORPG Elder Tale after they find themselves whisked away into the game world following a game update.
Christina Marie Kelly is an American voice actress who provides voices for English dubs of anime series.
Bryson Baugus is an American voice actor, who provides voices for English versions of Japanese anime series and video games.
Adam Gibbs is an American voice actor who provides voices for English versions of Japanese anime series. He is known for his lead roles of Hotaro Oreki from Hyouka, Masaya Hinata from Aokana: Four Rhythm Across the Blue, Shinichi Izumi from Parasyte, Hachiman Hikigaya from the My Youth Romantic Comedy Is Wrong, As I Expected series, Seiya Kanie from Amagi Brilliant Park, Taichi Mashima from Chihayafuru, Kei Kuramoto from Flying Witch, Hiromi Nase from Beyond the Boundary series, Fumiya Tomozaki in Bottom-tier Character Tomozaki, and Nice from Hamatora.
Brittney Karbowski is an American voice actress who has appeared in numerous anime films, television series and video games. Along with her voice over work since her debut in 2004, Karbowski is known for her roles as Mikoto Misaka in A Certain Magical Index, Rimuru Tempest in That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime, Black Star in Soul Eater, Camie Utsushimi in My Hero Academia, Wendy Marvell in Fairy Tail and Nanachi in Made in Abyss. This list is exclusive to either main characters she has played, or minor characters with recurring roles.
Copyright Agent c/o SENTAI FILMWORKS 10114 W Sam Houston Pkwy S Houston, Texas 77099-5109and Privacy Policy Archived November 14, 2021, at the Wayback Machine states: "Attn: SENTAI FILMWORKS Privacy Administration, 10114 W. Sam Houston Parkway South, Suite 100, Houston, Texas 77099-5109"