AnimeNation was an American business that included RentAnime.com, a discussion forum, anime industry news, and a column called "Ask John". It was previously a retailer of

anime is a Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, , in Japan and in Ja ...

and

manga are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long history in earlier Japanese art. The term is used in Japan to refer to both comics ...

products until 2014 and an anime licensing and distribution company under the name AN Entertainment.

AnimeNation

AnimeNation was founded in 1995 by Gene Field in

Clearwater, Florida Clearwater is a city and the county seat of Pinellas County, Florida, United States, west of Tampa, Florida, Tampa and north of St. Petersburg, Florida, St. Petersburg. To the west of Clearwater lies the Gulf of Mexico and to the southeast lies T ...

. After the company's initial success, they opened a retail location. They considered licensing shows in 1998 including '' Berserk'' and '' Cyber Team in Akihabara'', but did not move forward until the company's stability improved. In 1999, the company built a 15,000-square-foot facility in the Lynmar Commerce Park,

Tampa, Florida Tampa ( ) is a city on the Gulf Coast of the United States, Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. Tampa's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and t ...

. As of 2004, AnimeNation was one of the top two online anime specialty retailers in the United States. The site also features a regular column, "Ask John", where AN employee John Oppliger answers reader questions about anime. As of 2005, Oppliger had written over 1,070 articles. The AnimeNation online store closed in 2014, though the "Ask John" blog and forums continue to operate as of July 5, 2023.

AN Entertainment

In 2002, AnimeNation entered the anime market due to increased licensing and retail competition. The name AN Entertainment comes from AnimeNation (AN), and Entertainment was chosen to possibly allow other shows (including live action) to be licensed. They chose to finish one title before licensing another in order to produce the highest quality product. Small staffing numbers also influenced the decision. The first title the company licensed was '' Risky Safety'' with Bang Zoom! Entertainment producing the dub and ADV Films distributing the release. AN Entertainment used a script created by fansub group Sachigumi with modifications for its ''Risky Safety'' release and also acquired the TV broadcast rights. AN Entertainment acquired '' Miami Guns'', but not TV broadcast rights, and the dub was produced by Phoenix Post Sound ( Coastal Studios). '' Haré+Guu'' was licensed by AN Entertainment (including TV broadcast rights), and co-produced with Bang Zoom! Entertainment. Bang Zoom! produced the dub and

Funimation Funimation was an American Video on demand#Subscription models, subscription video on-demand Over-the-top media service, over-the-top Streaming media, streaming service. Launched in 2016, the service was one of the leading distributors of anime ...

distributed ''Haré+Guu''. They also licensed ''Haré+Guu Deluxe'', but did not license ''Haré+Guu FINAL''. The original ending for the ''Haré+Guu'' TV show could not be used due to a licensing problem involving Bandai. ''Haré+Guu'' was the first show aired on the Funimation Channel that was not a property of Funimation. AN Entertainment's license for ''Risky Safety'' expired in Fall 2007.

RentAnime.com

AnimeNation also ran RentAnime.com, a DVD-by-mail service similar to

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

, that specialized in anime. The service suffered from mailing issues with the Tampa

United States Postal Service The United States Postal Service (USPS), also known as the Post Office, U.S. Mail, or simply the Postal Service, is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the executive branch of the federal governmen ...

, but they were later resolved. RentAnime.com continued to operate despite the closure of AnimeNation's online store, until it closed at the end of 2015.

References

External links

* {{Official website, http://www.animenation.com—Redirects to Forums
AnimeNation Anime News Blog (maintained by John Oppliger)

RentAnime.com
(Archive)
AN Entertainment
(Archive) 1995 establishments in Florida 2015 disestablishments in Florida Anime companies Companies based in Tampa, Florida Companies established in 1995 Defunct companies based in Florida Defunct mass media companies of the United States

AnimeNation

AN Entertainment

RentAnime.com

See also

References

External links