×
  • remind me tomorrow
  • remind me next week
  • never remind me
Subscribe to the ANN Newsletter • Wake up every Sunday to a curated list of ANN's most interesting posts of the week. read more

Forum - View topic
Favourite North American anime company


Goto page Previous  1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Anime News Network Forum Index -> General -> Polls
View previous topic :: View next topic  

Which North American anime company is your favourite?
Bandai Entertainment
7%
 7%  [ 12 ]
Funimation Entertainment
49%
 49%  [ 78 ]
Media Blasters
1%
 1%  [ 3 ]
NIS America
5%
 5%  [ 8 ]
Nozomi Entertainment (Right Stuf)
12%
 12%  [ 20 ]
Section 23(ADV)
10%
 10%  [ 17 ]
Viz Media
3%
 3%  [ 6 ]
Other
8%
 8%  [ 14 ]
Total Votes : 158

Author Message
Tenbyakugon



Joined: 11 Jan 2012
Posts: 788
Location: Ohio, United States
PostPosted: Sat Jul 28, 2012 1:05 am Reply with quote
Sailor S wrote:
Tenbyakugon wrote:
Tisk, tisk, I'm too tired to.


That's fine, I'll still laugh at you anyways. Your loss that you don't wish to laugh back.


I appreciate you caring so much.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message My Anime My Manga
Ggultra2764
Subscriber



Joined: 21 Jan 2004
Posts: 3863
Location: New York state.
PostPosted: Sat Jul 28, 2012 6:39 am Reply with quote
Pillaging through the choices, let's see:

-Bandai- Have rights to a good number of popular titles like Cowboy Bebop, the Gundam franchise and Code Geass. Their Anime Legends sets are perhaps the best re-release sets I've come across from a distributor as the cases used to store the discs are quite sturdy and they retain all the special features from the original releases of said titles unlike Funimation's cutting back of features for many of the titles for their SAVE, Viridian Collection and Anime Classics lines. Only issue I have with Bandai is that some of their earlier DVD releases have issues playing on certain models of DVD players.

-Funimation- The big boy of the American anime industry has a good load of popular titles on hand that they've had for years and even license-rescued from Geneon and ADV. In many instances, they are very good at offering the goods so to speak with extra features and limited edition sets as they are known for retaining the honorifics to English subtitles used for the Japanese audio tracks of their titles, used to offer the option to switch the video between Japanese and English versions of the anime and probably the only distributor I'm aware of offering DVD/ Blu-Ray combo sets of their recent releases. As discussed above though, Funi is notorious for quite often cutting back on the special features of their re-released titles and I don't see them take on licensing niche titles too often.

-Media Blasters- They offer a decent mix of popular, older and niche titles. Major problem I have with them though is that I hate the way they release series sets in liteboxes as it is a bit cumbersome taking discs out of them.

-NIS America- Don't have very much experience with them as my only acquisition from them right now is Zakuro. Like the idea they offer goodies with their titles, but my Zakuro set takes up way more width on my shelf than any individual volume or box set I've gotten in the past and to my knowledge, they only offer subbed versions of their anime.

-Right Stuf- The popular choice for getting niche and older anime titles considering they have stuff like Utena, Maria Watches Over Us, Kare Kano and Aoi Hana on them. They're quite good at delivering with their releases having the occasional goodies with their box sets like picture booklets and jewelry, as well as offering translation notes in many of the titles they release for anime fans unfamiliar with aspects of Japanese culture. Only issue that could come up is that many of their niche titles are subbed-only which could alienate fans who prefer listening to their anime English dubbed.

-Section23/ Sentai- Came a long way since reforming after ADV's collapse. They offer a nice mix of popular and niche titles and allowed fans to see the later stuff of some anime franchises not picked up by other distributors (Rozen Maiden, You're Under Arrest, Hell Girl, K-ON). Some of their titles are subbed-only, but this appears to only occur with many of the company's niche titles.

-Viz Media- Not the biggest fan of Viz. They are quite notorious for leaving a number of their older titles out of print for years and still holding on their licenses, as well as abruptly halting future releases of titles during the middle of their release (Hikaru no Go, Full Moon wo Sagashite, Monster). If you're a big fan of their popular shounen franchises, then they are the perfect company to mooch off of considering they have Naruto, Bleach, Inuyasha and Death Note on them.

I'm gonna dodge past the current distributors and stick with an old pal from the past in the form of Geneon/ Pioneer as my favorite anime distributor. The distributor had quite the offering of popular and niche anime titles with nearly all their titles being offered subbed and dubbed. Some of my all-time favorite anime dubs like Koi Kaze and R.O.D. The TV were done by the company and there weren't very many titles I regret buying that were distributed from them when they were still around as the offerings I seen from them ranged from decent to excellent work. To this day, I still miss the hell out of them! Crying or Very sad
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website My Anime My Manga
Animegomaniac



Joined: 16 Feb 2012
Posts: 4070
PostPosted: Fri Aug 03, 2012 10:07 am Reply with quote
Ggultra2764 wrote:
-Funimation- The big boy of the American anime industry has a good load of popular titles on hand that they've had for years and even license-rescued from Geneon and ADV. In many instances, they are very good at offering the goods so to speak with extra features and limited edition sets as they are known for retaining the honorifics to English subtitles used for the Japanese audio tracks of their titles, used to offer the option to switch the video between Japanese and English versions of the anime and probably the only distributor I'm aware of offering DVD/ Blu-Ray combo sets of their recent releases. As discussed above though, Funi is notorious for quite often cutting back on the special features of their re-released titles and I don't see them take on licensing niche titles too often.


You're comparing the SAVE license rescues with their own rereleases; I'm impressed they get the rights to dubs made and paid for by competitors but usually special features, especially ones made by American distributors, are a bit more complicated. My School Rumble SAVE release has all the Japanese interviews from Funimations single DVDs and my Negima SAVE has all the special features from their double DVD set releases. The rest of them didn't have special features in the first place. That's a bit more common for Funimation as usually they just have actor commentaries if they have anything.

Now, the ADV thinpacks released when they were going down, those were stripped down for zero reason.

My favorite Anime company is Funimation, pretty much by default. It's the only company that changed with the times. Even ahead of the curve at times, or they set the market, it's hard to tell. And I love their BD/DVD combos; A BD I can play on my TV and a DVD I can play on my computer at no extra charge, it's good.

I like Bandai as well even if their choices for which titles of theirs are worth owning vastly differs from my own. And I never understood how they had the nerve to call their budget line "Anime Legends". Mars Daybreak, a show that has to stretch itself to surpass mediocre, is an Anime Legend. Also, I'm not into Gundam so there's that. Please Teacher, Please twins, the Himes, Haruhi and Lucky Star, Galaxy Angel, all good stuff done well in my mind.

Third would be Pioneer/Geneon. From the ones on my shelf to the ones I got from Netflix, this was a label I always liked to see. They had great taste in shows but the dubs, while done by the same people as Bandai, weren't as polished.

ADV... I've gotten to the point that I liked their Monster Island dubbing studio more than their main one which has come back with a vengeance thanks to Sentai/Section 23. Anyone who says Funimation raided their talent pool has no idea what "talent" actually is. And as I said earlier, I have to really research ADV releases to make sure I get the best ones; I have Excel Saga and Madlax singles so there are no problems there but I have the Nerima Daikon Brothers ADV thinpack with none of the fun extras; I have Princess Tutu with the extras but on a spindle; I have Chrono Crusade with the extras and in a good case; Too bad I don't like that show as much.

I just can't win with these guys.

Media Blasters; It's not that I hate them, I just like their Tokyo Shock label more than Anime Works.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
manicli



Joined: 16 Jun 2012
Posts: 186
Location: Toronto, Canada
PostPosted: Sat Aug 11, 2012 12:40 pm Reply with quote
Funimation because most of their releases are well packaged and I've never bought a title that came with ridiculous DVD packaging such as the dreaded Spindle!
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Newshawk



Joined: 04 May 2009
Posts: 24
PostPosted: Mon Sep 17, 2012 1:01 am Reply with quote
OK, I know this is resurrecting a zombie thread but it is an interesting one. Here's my take on the choices offered.

Bandai: I'm sorry to see them withdrawing from the R1 market, but I think it's just proof once more that a Japanese style of distribution will not work in North America. However, Bandai will always have a soft spot in my heart for bringing to us Please Teacher!, which brought me back into anime and is still in my personal top 10 anime list.

Funimation: The 800 lb. gorilla of R1 anime distributors. That alone makes me tend to treat them coolly. They have some series I enjoy, such as Eden of the East, Gunslinger Girl and Speed Grapher, but most of the Funi titles I have were picked up in the $3 closeout bin at the local Big Lots! store. Also, they seem to rely heavily on series I find anathema (such as DBZ, Yugh-i-oh and One Piece). What really makes me dislike Funi is their complicity in the Sojitz "hit" on ADV and their subsequent lawsuit against anyone they perceive to have any connection to ADV.

Media Blasters: I can't really say I have any of their series, so I don't know too much about them.

NISA: Same as with Media Blasters.

Nozomi: I have enjoyed some of their series (Aria and Alice Academy come to mind) but I don't find myself motivated to actually buy the series. Even Revolutionary Girl Utena isn't a draw for me.

Section23: If anything, I could be called an ADV/Sentai/Section 23 fanboy (or is that fangramps?) I've had the most exposure to their series, thanks to Anime Network On Demand being included in DirecTV On Demand. I like a lot of what they do, and I also find it funny that some of the series others have cited in their praise of Funi were actually produced by ADV and picked up by Funi only after Sojitz screwed ADV over.

Viz Media: All I can say about Viz Media is they're a hell of a manga company...

Other: I can't think of too many titles I know of that were Geneon titles, but one of my personal favorites, Spaceship Operators, is a Geneon release. As for AnimEgo, all I really know of them is their setting the standard for subtitling (yellow with purple surround edge), their wacky sense of humor (as sen in many of their liner notes) and their gracing the R1 world with You're Under Arrest!, for which I am eternally grateful.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Ambimunch



Joined: 30 Aug 2012
Posts: 2012
PostPosted: Tue Mar 26, 2013 3:23 am Reply with quote
Sentai (section23) because they get the anime that Funi or Viz wouldn't dare to pick up + I like their VA better than all funimation VA. But in second place would be Bandai (RIP). Those great people had the cheapest packaging but the best shows (the next company to license Gundam and Haruhi after Bandai will be my favorite)
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
kookykonata



Joined: 07 May 2013
Posts: 31
PostPosted: Thu May 30, 2013 12:18 pm Reply with quote
Bandai used to be my favorite before they closed their U.S. branch, with titles such as Haruhi Suzumiya, K-On!, Lucky Star, and so on. The dubbing for each one was almost spot on, too!

Now I would probably say that Sentai Filmworks would have to be my current favorite. Their dub of Angel Beats was fantastic!
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
saodestinyxxx



Joined: 18 Sep 2013
Posts: 1
PostPosted: Wed Sep 18, 2013 3:46 am Reply with quote
I like Funimation because of two words: Vic Mignogna. Very Happy
Although Bandai does some good Anime too...
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Angel M Cazares



Joined: 23 Sep 2010
Posts: 5407
Location: Iscandar
PostPosted: Fri Sep 20, 2013 11:44 pm Reply with quote
1. Sentai - I know that they can be prone to technical issues, but they have more titles that I like than any other North American distributor.

2. RightStuf/Nozomi - They release few anime that I like, but they seem to care deeply about what they release.

3. Aniplex USA - Their BD's and packaging are of high quality. Their prices do not bother me.

4. Funimation - They are probably the best run North American distributor, but they seem more interested in releasing echhi, mindless crap than story and character driven series.

5. NIS America - I like their high quality BD's but hate their packaging.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message My Anime
yuna49



Joined: 27 Aug 2008
Posts: 3804
PostPosted: Mon Sep 23, 2013 11:00 am Reply with quote
Too bad Crunchyroll isn't on the list, as that would get my vote.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Shiratori1



Joined: 10 Jan 2013
Posts: 300
Location: Los Angeles
PostPosted: Sun Oct 27, 2013 6:08 am Reply with quote
1. NIS America (my favorite):

+ High quality releases
+ Good packaging
+ Nice extras included with special edition versions
+ Tends to pick up shows that I am interested in
+ Don't waste money on dubs (which equates to lower priced/more sustainable releases)

2. Aniplex USA:

+ High quality releases
+ Good packaging
+ Import Releases
+ Nice Extras
+ Sub-only releases

3. Sentai Filmworks:

+Tends to pick up many of the shows that I am interested in
+ Sub-only releases (sometimes)
- Quality of releases waffle on occasion
- Don't really do extras, digital or physical (you get the show, and that's it)

4. Media Blasters:

+ Tends to pick up shows that I am interested in
+ Sub-only releases (sometimes)
- Physical and digital quality of releases sometimes leave much to be desired

5. Right/Stuf Nozomi:

+ High quality releases
- Don't tend to release series that I am interested in

6. Funimation:

- Don't tend to release series that I am interested in (too many shonen action shows (they seem to be rectifying this as of late))
- "Dub Everything" Policy (unnecessary and unsustainable)
- Appearance of "S.A.V.E." releases (prices are good, but the bright green covers are horrible)
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Display posts from previous:   
Reply to topic    Anime News Network Forum Index -> General -> Polls All times are GMT - 5 Hours
Goto page Previous  1, 2, 3, 4, 5
Page 5 of 5

 


Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group