U.S. Renditions was a Special Projects Division of Books Nippan (which was the American branch of Nippon Shuppan Hanbai) and one of the pioneers of

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 ...

home video distribution in

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

. The division was founded in February 1987 by Kevin Seymour, David Keith Riddick, Sho Nagata and Satoshi Komatsu. Robert Napton later joined the division and became a key figure in its productions. After producing two music projects for the ''

Robotech ''Robotech'' is a science fiction franchise that began with an 85-episode anime television series produced by Harmony Gold USA in association with Tatsunoko Production and first released in the United States in 1985. The show was adapted from t ...

'' television series, U.S. Renditions produced the very first subtitled direct-to-home anime video for the American anime market. In March 1990, they began a release of a subtitled version of ''

Gunbuster ''Gunbuster'', known in Japan as , is a Japanese OVA anime series produced by Bandai, Victor, and Gainax and released from 1988 to 1989. It was the directorial debut of Hideaki Anno, best known as the creator and director of ''Neon Genesis ...

'', followed in the same month by ''

Dangaioh is a Japanese anime OVA series produced and animated by AIC and Artmic and released in Japan in 1987. Dangaioh featured character designs by creator Toshiki Hirano, mechanical designs by Shoji Kawamori, and animation direction by Masami ...

''. They also released such subtitled hits as '' Appleseed'' and ''

Black Magic M-66 is a cyberpunk manga written and illustrated by Masamune Shirow. It was first published as a ''dōjinshi'' in 1983, and was later reprinted in ''tankōbon'' format by Seishinsha in 1985. The series was later adapted into an OVA in 1987 whic ...

'', and even began dubbing anime in 1992, the year their release of ''Dangaioh'' was completed. Their first dubbing projects included ''

Macross II is a six episode OVA in the ''Macross'' franchise. It was the first installment of ''Macross'' to feature a new cast of characters. ''Macross II'' was produced by Big West, with no involvement from the original series creators from Studio N ...

'', ''

Giant Robo is a Japanese manga series by Mitsuteru Yokoyama. The manga, which was first published in 1967, spawned a live-action ''tokusatsu'' television series of the same name, as well as a series of original video animations called '' Giant Robo: ...

'' and ''

Fight! Iczer-One ''Iczer One'', known in Japan as , is a 1983 sci-fi horror and Yuri (genre), yuri manga published in the hentai magazine ''Lemon People''. It was created by Aran Rei. In 1985 the story was adapted into a three part Original Video Animation di ...

''. These video projects were a joint venture with L.A. Hero, which was headed by Ken Iyadomi. U.S. Renditions also worked with

U.S. Manga Corps Central Park Media, often abbreviated as CPM, was an American multimedia entertainment company based in New York City, New York and was headquartered in the 250 West 57th Street building in Midtown Manhattan (on the corner of Central Park, hence ...

on a select number of titles. The company also had a label called Dark Image Entertainment, which was geared for mature audiences. Titles under Dark Image Entertainment included ''

Ambassador Magma is the title and protagonist of a manga and tokusatsu TV series created by Osamu Tezuka. The TV series, produced by P Productions, Norway Productions and Krantz Films, was aired on Fuji TV from July 4, 1966, to June 26, 1967, lasting a ...

'', ''

Devilman is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Go Nagai. The manga focuses on a high school student named Akira Fudo who absorbs the powers of the demon called "Amon" with help of his friend Ryo Asuka in order to battle ...

'' and '' Guyver: Out of Control''. U.S. Renditions had a deal with

Manga Entertainment Manga Entertainment was a producer, licensee, and distributor of anime in the United States and the United Kingdom. Originally founded in the UK in 1987, the UK branch became Funimation UK and Ireland in 2021, also currently known as Crunchyro ...

's UK Division to distribute selected anime titles and have them dubbed in-house, before

Island Records Island Records is a multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It was founded in 1959 by Chris Blackwell, Graeme Goodall, and Leslie Kong in Jamaica, and was eventually sold to PolyGram in 1989. Island and A&M Records, anoth ...

established Manga's North American operations via its acquisition of L.A. Hero in 1994. When Books Nippan ceased operations in the mid-1990s, U.S. Renditions was dissolved. Books Nippan's animation division was later acquired by

Digital Manga Digital Manga is a California-based publishing company that licenses and releases Japanese manga, anime, and related merchandise in the English language. Digital Manga also owns and operates eManga, a digital publishing site for manga and l ...

. Kevin Seymour went on to become a successful anime English voice director and co-founded

Animaze Animaze.. iNC was an American production company known for producing English language dubs for many high profile anime series, such as '' Cowboy Bebop'', ''Trigun'', ''Code Geass'', and ''Wolf's Rain'', and video games, such as '' Xenosaga Epis ...

. Robert Napton became the director of Bandai U.S.A.'s manga division. Ken Iyadomi went on to produce/co-produce domestic releases by Manga Entertainment and

Bandai Entertainment was a Japanese anime, film production, and distribution enterprise, established by Bandai and a subsidiary of Bandai Namco Holdings. They focused mainly in international distribution of anime properties in North America. Most of the anime and f ...

. Although some of their releases have seen re-release through Bandai Visual USA (which subsequently merged with Bandai Entertainment), Manga Entertainment and

Media Blasters Media Blasters, sometimes abbreviated as MB, is an American entertainment corporation that was founded by John Sirabella in 1997 and is based in New York City. It is in the business of licensing, translating, and releasing to the North American ...

, other titles such as the original uncut subtitled version of ''Dangaioh'', ''Ambassador Magma'' and ''Guyver: Out of Control'' were never re-released and have remained out of print on home video.

Releases

References

Akemi's Anime World: U.S. Renditions/Dark Image Entertainment Company Info
{{Authority control Anime companies Publishing companies established in 1987 Carson, California