MVM Entertainment, also known as MVM and MVM Films, is a British licensor and distributor of Japanese animation. The company also sub-licenses anime titles from US anime companies such as Media Blasters, Geneon, Nozomi Entertainment, Urban Vision, AnimEigo and

US Manga Corps Central Park Media, often abbreviated as CPM, was an American multimedia entertainment company based in New York City, New York and was headquartered in the 250 West 57th Street building in Midtown Manhattan (on the corner of Central Park, hence ...

, which do not have a UK presence, and releases them on Region 2 DVD. It is part of the MVM Group, which also has

wholesale Wholesaling or distributing is the sale of goods or merchandise to retailers; to industrial, commercial, institutional or other professional business users; or to other wholesalers (wholesale businesses) and related subordinated services. I ...

and

retail Retail is the sale of goods and services to consumers, in contrast to wholesaling, which is sale to business or institutional customers. A retailer purchases goods in large quantities from manufacturers, directly or through a wholesaler, and th ...

arms, and specialises in anime,

manga Manga ( Japanese: 漫画 ) 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 prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is use ...

and related merchandise. It is headquartered in

Chepstow Chepstow ( cy, Cas-gwent) is a town and community in Monmouthshire, Wales, adjoining the border with Gloucestershire, England. It is located on the tidal River Wye, about above its confluence with the River Severn, and adjoining the wester ...

, Monmouthshire,

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

History

MVM Entertainment came into existence in 1990 as a mail order and retail shop that specialised in niche market items. It grew as did the demand for anime and manga products into the nineties, allowing the company to start licensing anime series for the United Kingdom market in 1998. MVM currently have over 250 titles listed on their official website. The company continues to license TV series and films from major Japanese productions such as the ''Monogatari'' series, the '' Fate'' franchise, ''

Girls und Panzer , abbreviated as ''GuP'' or ''Garupan'' , is a Japanese anime franchise created by Actas which depicts a competition between girls' high schools practicing tank warfare as a sport. The series was directed by Tsuto ...

'', as well as popular titles that include ''Berserk'', ''

Samurai Champloo is a 2004 Japanese historical adventure anime television series. The debut television production of studio Manglobe, the 26-episode series aired from May 2004 to March 2005. It was first partially broadcast on Fuji TV, then had a complete ...

'', '' Tenchi Muyo!'', '' No Game No Life'', ''

Land of the Lustrous is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Haruko Ichikawa. It is published by Kodansha in '' Monthly Afternoon'' magazine since October 2012, with its chapters collected in eleven '' tankōbon'' volumes as of July 2020. Set in a ...

'', ''

Flip Flappers is a Japanese anime television series produced by Studio 3Hz, directed by Kiyotaka Oshiyama, written by Yuniko Ayana, featuring concept art by tanu, character designs by Takashi Kojima, and music composed by To-Mas. It was first announced on M ...

'', '' Toradora!'', '' The Garden of Sinners'' and '' Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai''. Many of their releases have been jointly mastered with Australian distributors, including

Madman Entertainment Madman Entertainment Pty. Ltd., also known as Madman Films, is an Australian distribution and rights management company headquartered in East Melbourne, Victoria, specialising in feature films, documentaries and television series across theatr ...

and Hanabee to save costs, and are therefore dual-region (Region 2 and Region 4). The company also won the ''Best Anime distributor'' award in the 2006 ''Neo'' Magazine Awards. MVM Entertainment had also managed to win the 2009 ''Best Anime Distributor'' award in ''Neo'' magazine amid stiff opposition from the likes of Beez and Manga Entertainment UK. On 5 July 2018, owner Tony Allen gave an interview to The Anime Independent where he announced that MVM would begin to remove DVD from their new acquisitions in line with their partners at Sentai Filmworks and

. He states:

We all suffer the same problem of minimum print runs on two formats where sales are then split across those formats and often leaving us large quantities of stock. Recent increases in costs of warehousing unsold and slow moving stock has made it all the more important to consider the hard economics of servicing two formats. It's just a repeat of the old VHS / DVD position.

The official dropping of DVD began in Q4 2018.

Funimation Crunchyroll, LLC, previously known as Funimation from 1994 to 2022, is an American entertainment company owned by Japanese conglomerate Sony as a joint venture between Sony Pictures and Sony Music Entertainment Japan's Aniplex that specializ ...

Up until November 2006,

Funimation Crunchyroll, LLC, previously known as Funimation from 1994 to 2022, is an American entertainment company owned by Japanese conglomerate Sony as a joint venture between Sony Pictures and Sony Music Entertainment Japan's Aniplex that specializ ...

distributed their titles in the United Kingdom through MVM. However, in a surprise announcement, Funimation switched their British distributor to Revelation Films, starting in early 2007. This move has been credited to Funimation's takeover by the Navarre Corporation, which already distributed titles via Revelation in the UK. MVM retained their licences for some series animated by studio GONZO and licensed by Funimation in North America, such as '' Samurai 7'' and '' Burst Angel'', since they were licensed directly from GONZO. Nevertheless, MVM's market share was damaged, and the publisher lost some of their most popular titles, including ''

Fruits Basket , sometimes abbreviated , is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Natsuki Takaya. It was serialized in the semi-monthly Japanese manga magazine , published by Hakusensha, from 1998 to 2006. The series' title comes from ...

'' (although re-licensed by MVM in late 2011) and ''

Fullmetal Alchemist is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Hiromu Arakawa. It was serialized in Square Enix's ''shōnen'' manga anthology magazine ''Monthly Shōnen Gangan'' between July 2001 and June 2010; the publisher later collected the ...

''. They later lost access to '' Chobits'' when the US rights passed from

Geneon USA (abbreviated as NBCUEJ) is a Japanese music, anime, and home entertainment production and distribution enterprise headquartered in Akasaka, Minato, Tokyo. It is primarily involved in the production and distribution of anime within Japan. Th ...

to Funimation; however, they succeeded in re-licensing it in late 2010, followed by ''Fruits Basket'' and ''Kiddy Grade'' in late 2011. MVM's most recent releases of Funimation-licensed titles (who have had an exclusive distribution agreement with Manga Entertainment since October 2008) are '' Aquarion'', '' .hack//Quantum'', '' Shakugan no Shana'', '' Ga-Rei: Zero'', '' Sankarea'', '' Is This a Zombie?'' and '' – Control''. On 2 January 2014, MVM had acquired Accel World, We Without Wings, Chrome Shelled Regios anime with Accel World releasing in June 2014.

References

External links

MVM FilmsMVM Group
(Archive) {{DEFAULTSORT:Mvm Films Entertainment companies of the United Kingdom Anime companies Companies of Wales Entertainment companies established in 1990 Mass media companies established in 1990 1990 establishments in the United Kingdom