Aniplex of America
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. 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. Starting in 2010, Aniplex of America began releasing the Japanese parent company's titles, starting with the "Gurren Lagann" movies and "Durarara!!" (which had been previously announced to stream on Crunchyroll). "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). 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. 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). Starting with "Oreimo" in 2010, they started streaming some of their titles on Anime News Network. In April 2011, they started streaming some of their titles on Hulu and Viz Anime (Neon Alley), with "Blue Exorcist" being the first. In June 2011, they started airing titles on [adult swim], with  Durarara!! being the first. In July 2011, they started streaming their titles on Crackle, with "Star Driver" being the first. In June 2012, they announced that they would release their first non-anime, Hatsune Miku's "Mikunopolis" concert. 2013–present: Streaming expansion and new management. In 2013, Aniplex started streaming some of their titles on their website (called Aniplex Channel). In April 2014, they launched the English version of Aniplex+. Later in April 2014, they started streaming shows on Netflix, with "Blue Exorcist" being the first. In 2015, they started streaming some of their titles on Daisuki and Funimation. In  March 2017, they started streaming some of their titles on Anime Strike, with "Eromanga Sensei" being the first. In June 2017, they launched their first mobile game, the English version of the "Fate/Grand Order" mobile game. 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. Later in August 2017, Aniplex Channel was shut down. In October 2017, they started streaming some of their titles on go90, which included exclusive rights to the "" and "God Eater" dubs . In January 2019, they started streaming some of their titles on HIDIVE, with "The Promised Neverland" being the first. 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. They later did the same with "". 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. In May 2020, Funimation announced they partnered with Aniplex of America to release a standard edition Blu-ray  set for "". Later in May 2020, they started streaming some of their titles on HBO Max. 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. Criticism. In episode five of "" 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?" 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. 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. 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.