Bandai Entertainment, Inc

Bandai Entertainment

Bandai Entertainment, Inc. is an anime distribution company, owned by the Japanese enterprise Namco Bandai Holdings. It is involved in the distribution of numerous anime in North America, as well as manga and other merchandising ventures related to anime.

History

The company was first established by Bandai Co., Ltd. in 1998 as its anime distribution arm in North America. VHS and DVD products were initially released under the AnimeVillage.com label, (which it currently uses for online business), the company began releasing titles under the Bandai Entertainment label from 1999 onwards. Its headquarters in the United States are located in Cypress, California.

Distributed properties

Anime

The company has distributed numerous anime series created by Sunrise, Inc., another of Bandai Co., Ltd.'s subsidiaries, including Mobile Suit Gundam and many of its sequels, Cowboy Bebop, Brain Powerd, The Big O, Infinite Ryvius, Vision of Escaflowne, Witch Hunter Robin, Planetes, s-CRY-ed, Zegapain and Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion. Its other noted distributed anime properties include The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, Galaxy Angel and its sequels, Fantastic Children, Fancy Lala, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex and its sequels, Wolf's Rain, Eureka Seven, Please Teacher! and its sequel Please Twins! and Clamp School.

While a large number of the company's distributed anime properties were also produced by Bandai's primary Japanese production and distribution subsidiary, Bandai Visual, Bandai Entertainment has also distributed numerous series with which Bandai Visual has had no prior involvement.

Manga

Bandai Entertainment has also distributed numerous manga series, including the adaptations of Eureka Seven (its first manga release), Samurai Champloo and the Cowboy Bebop film. It has also distributed other graphic novels, including Tomb Raider and Witchblade.

Fan support

As with many North American anime distributors, Bandai Entertainment offers a 'fan support' program to facilitate public screenings of licensed content at anime clubs and anime conventions.