Fan-Favorite TV Series Launches in August, Movie to Follow
HOUSTON, April 27, 2007 — Today ADV Films co-founder Matt Greenfield announced that ADV has acquired exclusive home video and broadcast rights in North America for the anime series Air and the 85-minute Air Movie. Greenfield made the announcement during a panel at Anime Matsuri, South Texas’ largest anime convention. Volume one of the four-disc Air series will hit store shelves August 14, and the Air Movie is slated for release in late 2007.
Air is a fan-favorite series in Japan, having placed #32 in TV Asahi’s all time Top 100 Anime list (2006). A product of the famous production studio Kyoto Animation (Full Metal Panic! The Second Raid, Inuyasha) and director Tatsuya Ishihara (The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, Kanon), Air is easily one of the most-anticipated series to reach our shores this year. The standalone Air Movie, which was produced by Toei (Air Gear, Kanon) and directed by Osamu Dezaki (Black Jack The Movie), is a fitting finale to the Air mania sweeping North America.
[ad#longpost]In announcing these acquisitions, Greenfield said “as anime fans ourselves, we’re very excited to announce that ADV will be releasing Air, as it’s already being ranked as one of the most popular anime titles of all time in Japan, and the fans who have seen it here the States are equally enthusiastic in their praise.”
Greenfield continued, “we’re also pleased to say that, while negotiating a title that’s split between two different licensors can be tricky, we have indeed secured the rights for both the TV series and the movie, thereby insuring total continuity between the English language versions.”
Synopsis: Yukito Kunisaki is a wandering puppeteer on a jouney to find “the girl in the sky,” a tradition his family has held for generations. Upon arriving in a new town, he is befriended by a lonely young girl named Misuzu, who offers him a place to stay. Yukito soon begins to suspect that Misuzu has ties with “the girl in the sky” when she begins to speak of dreams of flying, but before his suspicions are confirmed, Yukito meets two more mysterious girls. Now Follow Yukito as he pieces together the lives of three different girls to discover the truth of “the girl in the sky.”
About ADV Films:
In the 14 years since its inception, ADV Films has become the #1 producer-distributor of Japanese animation (“anime”) outside of Japan and has the largest English-language anime library in the world. With best-selling titles such as Neon Genesis Evangelion, RahXephon, Robotech, Full Metal Panic, Hello Kitty and Azumanga Daioh, ADV Films’ extensive catalog is fueling the popularity of anime around the globe. Always on the forefront, ADV is introducing North America to bold new anime franchises such as Gantz, Elfen Lied, Chrono Crusade, Peacemaker and DNAngel. ADV Films’ library also includes popular live-action science fiction programs such as The Jim Henson Company’s Farscape, the nationally syndicated Gene Roddenberry’s Andromeda and the Saturn Award-nominated Mutant X. In 2005 ADV Films was voted “Best Anime Company” in the SPJA awards, presented at Anime Expo, North America’s largest anime convention. The readers of Anime News Network designated ADV Films “Overall Favorite Anime Company” in both 2004 and 2005.
Parent company, A.D. Vision, Inc., encompasses a multitude of complementary media divisions, spanning publishing, television, licensing and merchandising and continues to expand into new areas. Its Anime Networkâ„¢ is “America’s #1 Anime Channel” reaching more than 40 million households. It is the nation’s top video-on-demand (VOD) offering as well as a 24/7 linear cable channel and is the first television network dedicated to bringing anime and anime-related programming to consumers nationwide. The company has two publishing arms: Newtype USA, the premier anime and manga monthly magazine, and ADV Mangaâ„¢, dedicated to publishing graphic novels. Headquartered in Houston, the company has offices in Europe and Japan. For more information, visit www.advfilms.com.
