A.D. Vision
A.D. Vision (commonly referred to as
ADV) is an
American international
multimedia entertainment company based in
Houston, Texas, active in
home video production and distribution, broadcast
television,
theatrical film distribution, merchandising, original productions, magazine and
comic book publishing. It is the largest
anime company in
North America.
It was founded in
1992 by
anime fans
John Ledford and
Matt Greenfield. Since then, the company has grown immensely in size and diversified with several subsidiary companies, handling an array of properties and original content. Perhaps their most popular property is the
Gainax anime series
Neon Genesis Evangelion, originally released by ADV in the U.S. in 1997 and rereleased several times since. The company maintains offices in North America,
Europe and
Asia.
Company representatives have claimed, beginning in the mid-
1990s, that the meaning of "A.D." is a closely guarded secret. In fact, it formerly stood for "Animation Dubbing", as can be seen on some of their earliest titles, such as
The Girl From Phantasia. David L. Williams often jokes at some conventions that ADV stands for Army of Darkness Video (stated at AnimeExpo NY) but more recently holds to secret of the true name.
*
ADV Films, the original core of the company, which distributes
anime,
tokusatsu and live-action material
*
Soft Cel Pictures is the arm of the company that specializes in
h anime pictures. Usually, these pictures do not have English dubs in them.
Newtype USA, the US edition of
Japan's
Newtype magazine
*The
Anime Network, which is the
United States' first all-
anime cable TV network
*
ADV Manga, which publishes
Japanese
manga *
ADV Music, which publishes
soundtracks from anime and other Japanese films
*
ADV Pro, which is the company's
anime production studio
*
ADV Toys, the merchandizing and character licensing division
*
ADV Films Website
