Beginnings The origin of A.D. Vision can be traced back to the early 1990s, when John Ledford, a native of Houston, Texas, started a Japanese video game and video console import business in 1990. He was introduced to anime when he watched
My Neighbor Totoro at his friend's suggestion. After consulting with Ledford, Greenfield joined him and Williams to found A.D. Vision, which officially opened for business on August 17, 1992. That December,
Devil Hunter Yohko became the first title to be released by A.D. Vision. In late 2007, ADV would start experimenting with online streaming of its catalog of anime titles when it launched its VOD streaming service
Anime Network Online in late 2007 via its Anime Network channel, which was ultimately replaced and succeeded by HIDIVE a decade later.
Partnerships and acquisitions In August 2007, a notice was sent to retailers stating that ADV Films would be taking over the distribution, marketing, and sales of
Geneon properties in the US as of October 1. In preparation, Geneon USA laid off most of its sales division; however, in September the distribution deal was canceled. Dentsu confirmed that the distribution deal was canceled through a press release on September 21, 2007 with no reasons given except that Geneon and ADV were "unable to reach a mutual agreement." In June 2006, 20% of ADV Films was acquired by the Japanese
Sojitz Corporation. This was done as a means of acquiring more titles in the Japanese market. From this point on, virtually all titles that ADV acquired were under
Sojitz's ownership. However, in January 2008, ADV mysteriously removed a large number of titles from their website. All the titles removed were titles acquired since the Sojitz acquisition including
Gurren Lagann, which had test disks sent out with dubbed episodes. As of May 2008,
Gurren Lagann was licensed by
Bandai Entertainment. ADV Films made booth appearances at the
Anime Central 2008 convention, but they canceled their planned panel. In July 2008,
Funimation Entertainment (then owned by its parent
Navarre Corporation, now owned by
Sony Pictures Television under the
Crunchyroll brand) announced the acquisition of thirty of these titles. On October 20, 2008, it was announced that ADV had entered into a licensing arrangement with new licensor Sentai Filmworks. The highlight of the new partnership was that ADV would be distributing the anime television adaptation of the popular visual novel
Clannad, also they acquired the distribution rights to
Koharu Biyori,
Mahoromatic,
Mahoromatic: Something More Beautiful (both were previously licensed by
Geneon),
Tsukihime (previously licensed by
Geneon),
Pet Shop of Horrors (previously licensed by
Urban Vision), and
Jewel BEM Hunter Lime (previously licensed by
Media Blasters). Following the May 2009 bankruptcy and liquidation of
Central Park Media, ADV Films acquired the North American rights of
Grave of the Fireflies and re-released it on
DVD on July 7, 2009. ADV Films also acquired the licenses of multiple other Central Park Media titles as well. including intellectual properties, its distribution arm and the
Anime Network. These assets would be transferred to four companies:
Seraphim Studios, AEsir Holdings LLC,
Valkyrie Media Partners LLC and
SXION 23 LLC. The impact of this sale on the company's plans to license and release new titles, is still not fully known, but the ADV brand name and logo have been retired. Anime News Network has reported that Seraphim Studios, Valkyrie Media Partners and SXION 23 are all corporations registered (initially filed) by Griffin D. Vance IV, who was ADV's senior vice president of business and legal affairs. The following companies all acquired assets from A.D. Vision: •
Sentai Filmworks took over distribution of new titles for the North American market. •
AEsir Holdings acquired the rights to most of ADV Films' former library of titles (some titles were licensed directly by Sentai Filmworks). •
Seraphim Studios acquired Amusement Park Media, ADV's production studio, and renamed it Seraphim Digital Studios. •
Valkyrie Media Partners acquired the
Anime Network. The network continued to operate as before the sale. •
Section23 Films operates Switchblade Pictures, Sentai Filmworks, Maiden Japan and AEsir Holdings. That day, major retail website ''Robert's Corner Anime Blog'' contacted Mike Bailiff, formerly of ADV Films and later the head of Sales and Marketing at Section 23 Films. Bailiff revealed that "Section 23 has acquired all of ADV's former licenses and most of the staff" including "everyone at ADV that mattered." On September 18, 2009, the anime review site iSugoi.com posted a full podcast devoted to the shutdown of ADV, analyzing that ADV had not shut down and the new companies such as Section 23 were ADV selling itself to itself: that it was not a shutdown but a drastic rebranding and restructuring. The report went on to say that Section 23 was, for all intents and purposes, the direct successor-organization to the old ADV company name, and that ADV split its assets such as the Anime Network into the other three companies to take advantage of several legal loopholes. The podcast report concluded with the assertion that Section 23, and the umbrella of associated companies ADV split into, could effectively be thought of as Neo-ADV (referencing how in
Mobile Suit Gundam, when the Principality of Zeon was defeated, its remnants reorganized into
Neo Zeon). On October 15, 2009, rival distribution company
Funimation posted an online Q&A video panel hosted by events manager Adam Sheehan. When asked about ADV going out of business, Sheehan's response was the following: Ken Hoinsky, Managing Founder of MX Media LLC, a translation and localization company contracting with most major anime distribution companies (Funimation, Viz Media, Bandai), appeared on the October 29, 2009,
Anime News Network podcast: in it he said that his company also contracts with Section 23, but that he also collectively refers to the allied companies that ADV split into as Neo-ADV. == Divisions ==