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Funimation

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FUNimation Entertainment
Company typeA wholly owned subsidiary of Navarre Corporation
IndustryEntertainment Industry
FoundedEarly 1990s
HeadquartersFort Worth
Key people
Gen Fukunaga
Daniel Cocanougher
Productsanime and other entertainment properties
Websitehttp://www.funimation.com

FUNimation Entertainment (previously known as FUNimation Productions) is an American entertainment company formed by Gen Fukunaga in the early 1990s to produce, merchandise and distribute anime and other entertainment properties in the United States and international markets. On May 11 2005, FUNimation was acquired by Navarre Corporation[1] (Nasdaq: NAVR) and is now a subsidiary business unit. FUNimation is headquartered in North Richland Hills, Texas, near Fort Worth, occupying one and a half floors of a four story office building.

FUNimation's first blockbuster property

FUNimation rose to prominence by acquiring the rights to the popular anime title Dragon Ball (licensed early-mid 1990's), Dragon Ball Z (licensed in the early-mid 1990s) and Dragonball GT (licensed between 2003-2004). By 1998, they were able to get widespread television exposure via Cartoon Network and the Dragon Ball phenomenon quickly grew in the United States as it had elsewhere. (Two previous attempts by FUNimation to release Dragon Ball to network television had previously been cancelled, before the series and the company found success on Cartoon Network.)

Other properties licensed by FUNimation

*Geneon has the rights to the other Tenchi Muyo! properties, the Lupin III feature film Mystery of Mamo, and the second Lupin III TV series. FUNimation only has the rights to eight of Lupin TV movies and two of the feature films.
**FUNimation only has the rights to the Yu Yu Hakusho TV series.

Properties distributed by FUNimation

FUNimation provides distribution services for several production companies, including Alliance Atlantis, 4Kids Entertainment and Moonscoop. The following list may not be comprehensive.

FUNimaton will also be distributing a number of the TOKYOPOP anime catalog, though no anouncement has been made as of yet which series will be out.

Distribution of properties to non-U.S. markets

FUNimation does not directly release its properties in non-U.S. (English-speaking) markets, instead sublicensing to other companies such as MVM Entertainment in the United Kingdom and Madman Entertainment in Australia.

MVM Entertainment, however, has had little success in getting any of their properties (and by extension FUNimation's) on British television, one example being MVM's attempts to sell Yu Yu Hakusho to BBC and ITV for their children's programming. This deal fell through at the last minute, which led to the DVD production being halted for over a year and leading to MVM's reputation being slightly damaged as result. Production on an uncut bilingual release has resumed as of early 2005 and any damage done by MVM's failure to sell the show had started to heal and was completely undone with the UK TV premiere of Fullmetal Alchemist.

Towards the end of 2005, Fullmetal Alchemist (along with Beez Entertainment's Wolf's Rain) became one of the flagship programs on the relaunch of satellite channel Rapture TV and had only one edit, that of changing the opening to "Ready, Steady, Go!!" (the second opening), instead of the few minor edits the show received for its Adult Swim airings. Yu Yu Hakusho has also been acquired for television broadcast in the UK. However, it has not been announced who has picked it up and who the intended audience is (although present rumors suggest that Toonami UK acquired the series only to not air the show, further hurting its rather damaged relationship with its viewership).

FUNimation Channel

Main article: FUNimation Channel

FUNimation has launched the "FUNimation Channel", the second 24 hour anime digital cable network in North America (the first being ADV's The Anime Network). OlympuSAT is the exclusive distributor and the FUNimation Channel is now available to video service providers throughout the United States.

Criticisms

As with most anime localization companies, FUNimation's relationship with fansubbers is often strained. They have been (negatively) stereotyped as "the company that does DBZ," due to their heavy promotion of Dragonball Z. Though some fans contended that their treatment of Dragon Ball Z should always be remembered, and many are still critical of the controversial decisions made regarding that series, it should be noted that FUNimation have since bulit up a considerable following have become quite fan-friendly under many circumstances. This suggests they did listen to much of the criticisms leveled upon, FUNimation have produced many excellent releases in the post-Dragon Ball Z years. In spite of bitterness about the treatment of DBZ, FUNimation have done much to endear themselves to anime fans in the years following, and have given several series excellent treatment and DVD releases.

In 2005, FUNimation's legal department began to pursue a more aggressive approach toward protecting their licensed properties, and started sending "cease and desist" (C&D) letters to sites offering links to fansub torrents of anime they distributed. This move was similar to that taken by ADV Films several years before with several of the major torrent sites. Funimation has also been criticized for sending C&D letters to sites who were selling legitimate imports licensed in the country of origin (since copyright laws grant Funimation an exclusive distribution right).

FUNimation's legal department served C&D letters for series that had not yet been advertised or announced as licensed, including Tsubasa Chronicle, Black Cat, and Solty Rei, with a few known series also mentioned in the letter[2]. Since fansubbers tend to voluntarily cease distribution once a series has been announced, this move was seen as "impolite and intrusive" and has upset some in the fansub community (even by some who supported FUNimation's intellectual property rights). This is the second time in the history of US anime distribution that a license has been announced first through a C&D letter rather than through a press release or convention announcement, after ADV Films' C&D letter for Gantz in 2004. FUNimation repeated this method of "announcing license via Cease and Desist" letters on 2006-10-06 when it sent letters to torrent sites demanding that distribution of xxxHolic's TV series, Mushishi, Ragnarok the Animation and other series cease. [3]

References

  1. ^ Navarre Corporation Acquires FUNimation, and Provides Financial Update and Guidance - May 11, 2005 Navarre press release. Accessed July 8, 2006.
  2. ^ "Funimation Enforces Intellectual Property Rights (ANN)". Retrieved 2006-10-14.
  3. ^ "Funimation Sends out Cease & Desist Letters For Multiple Anime (ANN)". Retrieved 2006-10-14.
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