(abbreviated as NBCUEJ) is a Japanese music,

anime is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...

, and home entertainment production and distribution enterprise headquartered in Akasaka,

Minato Minato (港 or 湊) is Japanese for 'harbor', and may refer to: Places * Minato, Tokyo or Minato City, a special ward in Tokyo, Japan * Minato-ku, Nagoya, a ward of Nagoya, Japan * Minato-ku, Osaka, a ward of Osaka, Japan * Minato (湊), a neig ...

, Tokyo. It is primarily involved in the production and distribution of

within Japan. The company was founded in March 1981 by Pioneer Corporation as LaserDisc Corporation, a LaserDisc player production company. In 1989, the company was renamed Pioneer LDC, Inc. as it branched into the anime, music, and film industries, and later Geneon Entertainment Inc. (after being acquired by Dentsu in 2003). In 2008, Geneon merged with Universal Pictures Japan to form Geneon Universal Entertainment Japan, LLC; in 2013, the company changed its name to the current NBCUniversal Entertainment Japan. Some of the well-known anime series the company has produced are '' A Certain Magical Index'', '' The Heroic Legend of Arslan'', '' Danganronpa: The Animation'', '' Golden Kamuy'', and '' Seraph of the End'' among many others. Their North American branch (founded as Pioneer Entertainment, later Geneon USA) specialized in translating and distributing anime and related merchandise, such as

soundtrack A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrac ...

s across the region. After declining fortunes, it was shut down in 2007. After its shutdown, they licensed their titles out to other anime distributors for distribution, such as Funimation. At one point, they distributed their titles directly in Australia through Universal Pictures and

Sony , commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professional ...

's home video joint venture, but they have stopped. Despite the name, NBCUniversal Entertainment Japan does not distribute

Universal Pictures Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Americ ...

films theatrically in Japan; Toho (through Toho-Towa) exclusively distributes them for Japanese theaters.

History

Founding

Pioneer Corporation founded the in March 1981 to produce LaserDisc players in Japan. The LaserDisc Corporation changed its name to in 1989 as part of an attempt to branch off into the anime,

film A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmospher ...

, and

music Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspe ...

industries. The first anime title they released was '' Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-Ohki'' in 1992. Its North American division was later renamed again to Pioneer Entertainment. Geneon

On July 21, 2003, the company was acquired by Japanese advertising and marketing company firm Dentsu and renamed to , while its North American division, Pioneer Entertainment, was renamed Geneon USA. Geneon is a

portmanteau A portmanteau word, or portmanteau (, ) is a blend of wordsNBC Universal's Universal Pictures International Entertainment (UPIE), who planned to merge the company with its Universal Pictures Japan division—which had no longer theatrically distributed Universal Pictures films in Japan, having delegated its theatrical distribution tasks to Toho subsidiary Toho-Towa since the dissolvement of

United International Pictures United International Pictures (UIP) is a joint venture of Paramount Pictures and Universal Pictures that distributes their films outside the United States and Canada. UIP also had international distribution rights to certain Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer an ...

Japan in 2007—to form a new company. The merger later closed, with the new company known as . On December 9, 2013, the company once again changed its name to NBCUniversal Entertainment Japan LLC. On February 17, 2013, they made a partnership with Universal Sony Pictures Home Entertainment to distribute their anime titles directly in Australia and New Zealand.

Purchase of Paramount Japan

On January 1, 2016, Paramount Japan was purchased by NBCUniversal and dissolved shortly afterwards. This was due to

Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film and television production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the main namesake division of Paramount Global (formerly ViacomCBS). It is the fifth-oldes ...

establishing a joint-venture with Toho-Towa named Towa Pictures Company Limited, which would distribute Paramount's films in Japan. On July 12, 2017, they announced a partnership with

Crunchyroll Crunchyroll is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service owned by Sony through a joint venture between Sony Pictures and Sony Music Entertainment Japan's Aniplex. The service primarily distributes films and t ...

to co-produce anime with "international appeal".

Geneon USA

Beginnings

Viz Media VIZ Media LLC is an American manga publisher, anime distributor and entertainment company headquartered in San Francisco, California. It was founded in 1986 as VIZ LLC. In 2005, VIZ LLC and ShoPro Entertainment merged to form the current VIZ M ...

(then known as Viz Video) made a deal with Geneon (then known as Pioneer) to release Viz's properties to DVD, such as '' Ranma ½'' before Viz began producing their own DVDs. Pioneer also worked with Bandai Entertainment before they started to produce their own DVDs. On November 11, 2004, they signed a deal with

Toei Animation () is a Japanese animation studio primarily controlled by its namesake Toei Company. It has produced numerous series, including ''Sally the Witch,'' '' GeGeGe no Kitarō,'' '' Mazinger Z'', '' Galaxy Express 999'', '' Cutie Honey'', '' Dr. Slu ...

to distribute some of their titles into the North American market. Launching titles included ''

Air Master is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Yokusaru Shibata. It was serialized in Hakusensha's ''seinen'' manga magazine ''Young Animal'' from 1996 to 2006, with its chapters collected in twenty-eight ''tankōbon'' volumes. The st ...

'', ''Interlude'', and ''

Slam Dunk A slam dunk, also simply known as dunk, is a type of basketball shot that is performed when a player jumps in the air, controls the ball above the horizontal plane of the rim, and scores by shoving the ball directly through the basket with one ...

''. However, on September 18, 2006, the deal ended and all of the released titles went out of print. In 2006, they were named "Best Anime Company" by the Society for the Promotion of Japanese Animation. On March 5, 2007, they became the exclusive North American distributor for Bandai Visual USA.

Shutdown

Four months later, it was announced that

ADV Films A.D. Vision Holdings, Inc. (known simply as ADV and also referred to as ADV Films) was an American multimedia entertainment distributor headquartered in Houston, Texas, and founded in 1992 by video game fan John Ledford and anime fans Matt G ...

would take over the distribution, marketing, and sales of their properties in the United States, starting October 1, 2007. According to the announcement, they would continue to acquire, license, and produce English subs and dubs of anime for release in North America. However, the deal was canceled in September before it was implemented, with neither company giving details as to why beyond stating they were "unable to reach a mutual agreement." On September 26, 2007, they announced that they would close distribution operations, with titles solicited through November 5 shipped. Titles that were in mid-release or licensed but unreleased were left in limbo. The Bandai Visual USA titles that were being distributed by Geneon were not affected by this closure, though some were delayed while Bandai Visual found a new distributor. Another North American anime company, Funimation, began negotiating with them to distribute some of the company's licensed titles. In July 2008, a formal arrangement was announced and Funimation acquired the rights to "manufacture, sell, and distribute" various Geneon anime and live-action titles.

Afterwards

Several of their former titles were re-licensed by other companies, such as Funimation, Sentai Filmworks, Discotek Media, and

Nozomi Entertainment Right Stuf Inc. (formerly known as The Right Stuf International Inc.) is an American video publisher and distributor of video programming that specializes in Asian entertainment (anime and live action films). The company since 2022 is owned by ...

Other ventures

The company is also a

record label A record label, or record company, is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the pr ...

, which means they handle music distribution for multiple musicians, like fripSide and Kotoko. Their first major live event was called the "NBCUniversal Anime x Music festival", and was held in 2018. They also use their music as soundtracks for their anime productions. One example of that is the band fripSide performing the first opening for '' A Certain Scientific Railgun''. As Pioneer LDC, they developed and published several

video games Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This feedbac ...

for the Sega Saturn and PlayStation, such as games based on '' Magical Girl Pretty Sammy'', '' Tenchi Muyo!'', and ''

Serial Experiments Lain ''Serial Experiments Lain'' (stylized as ''serial experiments lain'') is a Japanese anime television series created and co-produced by Yasuyuki Ueda, written by Chiaki J. Konaka and directed by Ryūtarō Nakamura. Animated by Triangle Staf ...

''. They also opened an anime cafe in Akihabara, which featured items themed towards their series, such as '' A Certain Magical Index'', '' Is the Order a Rabbit?'', and '' Yuyushiki''. Some examples of these items were a drink with a hand inside, hot chocolate and spaghetti, and curry pizza.

References

External links

* * * * * * {{Authority control 2003 mergers and acquisitions 2008 mergers and acquisitions 2016 mergers and acquisitions Entertainment companies of Japan Mass media companies based in Tokyo Anime companies Entertainment companies established in 1981 Mass media companies established in 1981 Japanese companies established in 1981 Former Vivendi subsidiaries NBCUniversal Japanese subsidiaries of foreign companies Universal Pictures subsidiaries Japanese record labels