Manga Entertainment

Manga Entertainment is a licensor and distributor of Japanese animation ("anime") in the United States and United Kingdom. The company was founded in London in 1991, and began to operate in the US in 1994. It is now headquartered in Chicago, with offices in London, Los Angeles and Tokyo.

The company's principal business is the sale of anime movies and TV series on DVD, but Manga Entertainment have also released some of their titles in cinemas. Ghost in the Shell, Perfect Blue and Ninja Scroll have all had a theatrical release. Despite their name, the company does not sell manga.

Manga Entertainment is owned by Anchor Bay Entertainment which was acquired by Liberty Media in May 2006.

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 sublicenses a number of titles such as Akira and Naruto from American companies who do not have a UK division.

Current licenses

Amon Saga
Angel Cop [17+] [TV-MA] [MPAA: Restricted]
Appleseed (OVA) [16+] [TV-14] [MPAA: Restricted]
Black Jack: A Surgeon with the Hands of God [15+] [TV-14] [MPAA: Restricted]
Blood: The Last Vampire [17+] [TV-MA] [MPAA: Restricted]
Bounty Dog
The Castle of Cagliostro [9+] [TV-PG] [MPAA: PG-13]
Dangaioh [13+] [TV-PG] [MPAA: PG]
Dead Leaves [17+] [MPAA: Restricted]
Devilman
Evangelion: Death and Rebirth [14+] [TV-14] [MPAA: PG-13]
The End of Evangelion [17+] [TV-14] [MPAA: PG-13]
Ghost in the Shell (along with Polygram Films) [17+] [TV-14] [MPAA: Disputed (some sources say Restricted, but others agree that the least it deserves is a PG rating)]
Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex (along with Bandai Entertainment) [13+] [TV-14]/[TV-PG] [MPAA: PG-13]
*Ghost in the Shell: S.A.C. 2nd Gig [13+] [TV-14]/[TV-MA] [MPAA: PG-13]
Ghost Sweeper Mikami (Movie) [16+] [TV-14] [MPAA: PG-13]
Giant Robo [13+] [TV-14] [MPAA: PG-13]
Kaidohmaru
Karas [16+] [TV-14] [MPAA: PG-13]
Landlock
Legend of the Overfiend [18+] [TV-MA] [MPAA: NC-17]
Macross II [13+] [TV-PG] [MPAA: PG]
Macross Plus [13+] [TV-14] [MPAA: PG]
Ninja Scroll [18+] [TV-MA] [MPAA: Restricted]
Orguss 02 [13+] [TV-PG] [MPAA: PG]
Perfect Blue (along with Miramax Films) [17+] [TV-14] [MPAA: Restricted]
Psychic Wars
Rayearth (OVA) [10+] [TV-PG] [MPAA: PG]
R.O.D.: Read or Die [TV-14]
Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie [13+] [TV-14] [MPAA: PG-13]
Street Fighter II V [13+] [TV-14] [MPAA: PG-13]
Street Fighter Alpha: The Movie [13+] [TV-14] [MPAA: PG-13]
Street Fighter Alpha: Generations [13+] [TV-14] [MPAA: PG-13]
Shadow Skill (OVA and movie)
Sword for Truth
Vampire Wars
Violence Jack
Virus Buster Serge
X the Movie [TV-14] [MPAA: Restricted]

See also: List of anime licensed by Manga Entertainment.

Expired licenses

Guyver [TV-14] [MPAA: PG-13]
Fist of the North Star (TV) [13+] [TV-14] [MPAA: Restricted]
Patlabor 1: The Movie [10+] [TV-PG] [MPAA: PG]
Patlabor 2: The Movie [10+] [TV-PG] [MPAA: PG-13]
New Dominion Tank Police
Red Hawk [15+] [TV-14] [MPAA: Restricted]
Dark Myth
Black Magic M-66 [16+] [TV-14] [MPAA: Restricted]
Wings of Honneamise [TV-PG] [MPAA: PG]
Gunbuster [13+] [TV-14] [MPAA: PG]

Both Patlabor Movies were subsequently licensed by Bandai Visual, who released remastered and redubbed versions of the movies on DVD on April 25, 2006.

Controversy

Over the years, Manga Entertainment has been the subject of many complaints from western anime fans.
* A frequent complaint is that the name of the company is inaccurate and, because of its early prominence in the release of anime in the west, has lead to a perception that anime as a whole is called Manga. Manga technically refers to printed Japanese comics rather than animation. However, even in Japanese, the word is often used to refer to both printed and animated material, in the same way as the English word "cartoon."
* Some have accused Manga of trying to market anime as exploitation movies by focusing on pornography and ultra-violence in their earlier releases. Many of their releases have become infamous for their content, such as Legend of the Overfiend (a hentai series). More vocal critics even blame Manga for giving Japanese animation a bad reputation in certain parts of the west. In the mid 1990s, media controversy over Overfiend (particularly in the Daily Mail newspaper) caused a crash in the UK anime market leading to companies such as Pioneer Entertainment (now Geneon) pulling out of the UK market.
* The company have often been accused of tampering with the material they distribute. Changes have included replacing the original Japanese soundtrack with rock music, dumbing down translated dialogue and creating dubs with added profanity. This has declined over time, but re-releases of older shows still contain edits. Also infamous is their editing of the soundtrack played during Ghost in the Shell's ending credits, in which Kenji Kawai's "Reincarnation" is replaced with the song "One Minute Warning", by U2. Some fans feel this change in tone ruins the intended feel of the movie's ending.
* Their DVD releases have often contained errors - for example, the audio track of Ghost in the Shell was not properly synchronized, their UK Macross Plus discs were mislabelled, and their release of The End of Evangelion contained bugs that made it incompatible with some DVD players.
* They frequently make mistakes with releases, such as forgetting to add English subtitles to go with Japanese dialogue. This is notable on some Region 2 UK releases of Akira that only include hard of hearing English subtitles, making it very distracting to watch the film with original Japanese dialogue.

External links

* Manga Entertainment
* List of anime licensed by Manga Entertainment.