A.D. Vision
A.D. Vision Holdings, Inc. was an American multimedia entertainment distributor headquartered in Houston, Texas, and founded in 1992 by video game fan John Ledford and anime fans Matt Greenfield and David Williams. The company specialized in home video production and distribution, theatrical film distribution, merchandising, original productions, magazine and comic book publishing. They also ran Anime Network, a television channel devoted to airing the company's titles. Titles distributed by the company included Neon Genesis Evangelion, Super Dimension Fortress Macross, RahXephon, Full Metal Panic!, Azumanga Daioh, Elfen Lied, Gantz, Red Garden, and Le Chevalier D'Eon.
The company maintained offices in North America, Europe and Asia. In addition to North America, ADV Films distributed their home media releases in the United Kingdom, Italy, and Germany. The company was also involved in various lawsuits with other companies, though none of them made it to court.
With declining fortunes in the mid-2000s due to low sales, ADV ceased operations and eventually liquidated their assets in 2009. Sentai Holdings, owner of Section23 Films, Sentai Filmworks, AEsir Holdings, Valkyrie Media Partners, and Seraphim Digital, took over the ADV brand name and still uses it on some of their releases. Most titles formerly licensed by ADV have been re-released by other companies. Sentai was subsequently acquired by AMC Networks in January 2022., ADV exists as a domiciled shell corporation.
History
Beginnings
The origin of A.D. Vision can be traced back to the early 1990s, when John Ledford, a native of Houston, Texas, started a Japanese video game and video console import business in 1990. He was introduced to anime when he watched My Neighbor Totoro at his friend's suggestion. At the time, Matt Greenfield, born in Sacramento, California, ran a local anime club called Anime NASA, which also included classmate David Williams. After consulting with Ledford, Greenfield joined him and Williams to found A.D. Vision, which officially opened for business on August 17, 1992. Ledford contacted Toho about optioning the rights to license Devil Hunter Yohko. Shozo Watanabe, the general manager of Toho's Los Angeles office, expressed concern that A.D. Vision would not be able to handle the distribution of the film. Unable to find another distributor, Toho convinced A.D. Vision to license the series. That December, Devil Hunter Yohko became the first title to be released by A.D. Vision.In 2007, Japan's Sojitz announced that Japan Content Investments, an investment group run by Sojitz, Development Bank of Japan, and film distribution company KlockWorx, planned to contribute money to A.D. Vision, in return for equity in the company. Ledford was to remain the majority shareholder and CEO. JCI subsidiary ARM also planned to contribute money for ADV to use in acquiring new distribution licenses. The investment was to ADV Films to raise its output of new anime titles, which had dropped in 2006, back to previous levels or above. In return, ADV planned to assist Sojitz with the acquisition of North American and European content for importation into Japan. According to ADV, they also reportedly had "big plans" for its manga line.
Partnerships and acquisitions
In August 2007, a notice was sent to retailers stating that ADV Films would be taking over the distribution, marketing, and sales of Geneon properties in the US as of October 1. In preparation, Geneon USA laid off most of its sales division; however, in September the distribution deal was canceled. Dentsu confirmed that the distribution deal was canceled through a press release on September 21, 2007 with no reasons given except that Geneon and ADV were "unable to reach a mutual agreement."In June 2006, 20% of ADV Films was acquired by the Japanese Sojitz Corporation. This was done as a means of acquiring more titles in the Japanese market. From this point on, virtually all titles that ADV acquired were under Sojitz's ownership. However, in January 2008, ADV mysteriously removed a large number of titles from their website. All the titles removed were titles acquired since the Sojitz acquisition including Gurren Lagann, which had test disks sent out with dubbed episodes. As of May 2008, Gurren Lagann was licensed by Bandai Entertainment. ADV Films made booth appearances at the Anime Central 2008 convention, but they canceled their planned panel. In July 2008, Funimation Entertainment announced the acquisition of thirty of these titles.
On October 20, 2008, it was announced that ADV had entered into a licensing arrangement with new licensor Sentai Filmworks. The highlight of the new partnership was that ADV would be distributing the anime television adaptation of the popular visual novel Clannad, also they acquired the distribution rights to Koharu Biyori, Mahoromatic, Mahoromatic: Something More Beautiful, Tsukihime, Pet Shop of Horrors, and Jewel BEM Hunter Lime.
Following the May 2009 bankruptcy and liquidation of Central Park Media, ADV Films acquired the North American rights of Grave of the Fireflies and re-released it on DVD on July 7, 2009. ADV Films also acquired the licenses of multiple other Central Park Media titles as well.
Collapse
On September 1, 2009, ADV announced that it was ceasing all operations and selling its assets, including intellectual properties, its distribution arm and the Anime Network. These assets would be transferred to four companies: Seraphim Studios, AEsir Holdings LLC, Valkyrie Media Partners LLC and SXION 23 LLC. The impact of this sale on the company's plans to license and release new titles, is still not fully known, but the ADV brand name and logo have been retired. Anime News Network has reported that Seraphim Studios, Valkyrie Media Partners and SXION 23 are all corporations registered by Griffin D. Vance IV, who was ADV's senior vice president of business and legal affairs.The following companies all acquired assets from A.D. Vision:
- Sentai Filmworks is the licensor company for acquiring Japanese anime into the North American market.
- AEsir Holdings has licensed rights to most of ADV Films' former library of titles.
- Seraphim Studios acquired Amusement Park Media, ADV's production studio, and it was renamed Seraphim Digital Studios.
- Valkyrie Media Partners acquired the Anime Network. The network continues to operate as before the sale.
- Section23 Films is a distributor and marketing company of Switchblade Pictures, Sentai Filmworks, Maiden Japan, and AEsir Holdings.
On September 18, 2009, the anime review site iSugoi.com posted a full podcast devoted to the shutdown of ADV, analyzing that ADV had not shut down and the new companies such as Section 23 were ADV selling itself to itself: that it was not a shutdown but a drastic rebranding and restructuring. The report went on to say that Section 23 was, for all intents and purposes, the direct successor-organization to the old ADV company name, and that ADV split its assets such as the Anime Network into the other three companies to take advantage of several legal loopholes. The podcast report concluded with the assertion that Section 23, and the umbrella of associated companies ADV split into, could effectively be thought of as Neo-ADV.
On October 15, 2009, rival distribution company Funimation posted an online Q&A video panel hosted by events manager Adam Sheehan. When asked about ADV going out of business, Sheehan's response was the following:
Ken Hoinsky, Managing Founder of MX Media LLC, a translation and localization company contracting with most major anime distribution companies, appeared on the October 29, 2009, Anime News Network podcast: in it he said that his company also contracts with Section 23, but that he also collectively refers to the allied companies that ADV split into as Neo-ADV.
Divisions
ADV Films
ADV Films was the home video publication arm of A.D. Vision based in Houston, Texas, specializing in publishing anime and tokusatsu videos, as well as other live-action material. In 1996, ADV Films opened its UK division, and diversified into the realm of live-action television series and Japanese films.The first title to be licensed and released to video was Devil Hunter Yohko. After that, they began acquiring an extensive library of titles. Initially, titles were released to video with the original Japanese language track and English subtitles added. A few years later, they began dubbing releases to English using a production and recording facility in Houston. They eventually started offering their recording services to other companies, so this studio was named Amusement Park Media. This studio was sold to Seraphim Digital after their bankruptcy.
ADV Films offered a program called Anime ADVocates, which provided free screening material and other promotional content to nearly 3,000 anime clubs in North America. To qualify for the program, the club had to be sponsored by a local high school, college, university, or public library and have at least 10 members. Member clubs were also asked to participate in surveys about the content they received. However, in November 2007, ADV Films put the program on hiatus, then on January 18, 2008, ADV Films announced that the program was being suspended indefinitely due to amount of resources the program needed. The company continued to offer anime clubs screening permission for its titles prior to its reorganization.
In July 2008, ADV Films and ARM Corporation transferred the licenses to over 30 different shows into the hands of fellow anime distributor Funimation. Those rights included the home video, broadcast, digital, and merchandising rights in North America and other regions.
Since then, former ADV titles have since been re-licensed by other companies such as Funimation, Sentai Filmworks, Discotek Media, Universal, Paramount and Nozomi Entertainment. Today, the ADV Films brand name is owned by Sentai Filmworks, who has released several titles under its name, such as Mezzo DSA on DVD, Kino's Journey on DVD, and standard-definition Blu-ray, Elfen Lied on DVD and Blu-ray, and Lady Death: The Motion Picture on Blu-ray.