Animation Studios in Los Angeles and Southern California
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Urban
Entertainment. "Urban Vision Entertainment Inc., a
production/distribution company based in Los Angeles, formed in July, 1996
to help introduce the alternative animation genre known as anime or
Japanimation to mainstream media. The company primarily produces/acquires
Japanese animation for direct-to-home video release and distributes to the
home video market.
The climb to anime's breakthrough has been a slow but steady process.
Early exposure with the series Battle of the Planets (predecessor to an
Urban Vision title, Gatchaman) in the 70's coupled with the Robotech
television series in the mid-80's, sustained by the theatrical release of
Akira, the resurgence of Speed Racer and current popular television series
such as Sailor Moon, Dragon Ball Z and Pokemon have the American animation
market craving more from the land of the Rising Sun. The combination of
vivid colors and mind-blowing action has placed anime years ahead of its
animation counterparts worldwide. Today, the influences on American pop
culture is unmistakable.
Urban Vision founder Mataichiro Yamamoto helped pioneer the anime genre in
the US with the computer-generated theatrical release, The Professional:
Golgo 13, in 1983. Yamamoto began his career as a television producer for
the Japanese prime time series, Sword of Vengeance and Denjin Zaborger
from 1972 to 1974 while simultaneously producing three feature films (Shurayuki
Hime, Oniwa Ban and Kandagawa) as a contracted producer for Toho Studio
between 1974 and 1976. Yamamoto became an independent film producer in
1977, lensing his first movie, Lady Oscar, in France with director Jacques
Demy and composer Michael Legrand. Chosen in 1980 for an arts program
between the Japanese Foreign Film Distribution Association and 20th
Century Fox Film Corporation to study American film making, he began
developing the feature film Mishima and produced the movie Killing of
America.
Returning to Japan in 1983, Yamamoto produced Shosetsu Yoshida Gakko, a
film about former Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Yoshida, the hit
television series The Raging Baseball and The Professional: Golgo 13. In
1984, Yamamoto completed Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters for Fox. Jointly
produced with Francis Ford Coppola and George Lucas, the film received the
"Special Award for Artistic Achievement" at Cannes. His last
accomplishment in 1992, Wind, starred Matthew Modine (Vision Quest, Cut
Throat Island, Flatliners) and Jennifer Gray (Ferris Bueller's Day Off,
Dirty Dancing) and was directed by Carroll Ballard (The Black Stallion).
Today, Yamamoto champions Japanese film and continues to strive to bring
Japanese programming to the world marketplace.
Urban Vision works closely with the world-renowned Mad House animation
studio in Tokyo, Japan (Wicked City, Ninja Scroll, Vampire Hunter D). The
company's initial release, another Mad House project, was Bio Hunter,
released on home video in July 1997. Additional Urban Vision releases
include Tekkaman Blade II, Stage I: The New Generation, Gatchaman volumes
1, 2 and 3, Twilight of the Dark Master, Dragon Slayer, Psycho Diver and
Legend of the Crystals based on Final Fantasy volumes 1 and 2.
It is Urban Vision's aim to unite the Japanese style of animation with the
American style of storytelling to create a contemporary form of animated
releases geared for a world market. Urban Vision is steadily moving
towards this goal by a) introducing a US mass market to high quality anime
and b) working in conjunction with existing American anime distributors to
expand the US anime market beyond its current "cult" status popular among
the comic book and game-playing crowd. Urban Vision also hopes that its
new products will serve to help bridge the gap between the East and West.
Since opening its doors in 1996, Urban Vision has quickly established
itself as one of the industry favorites in the anime market, known for
releasing only the highest quality productions. Urban Vision offers
English language versions as well as original Japanese language versions
with English subtitles on VHS and DVD."
Vanguard Films. "Vanguard Animation is a film production and
intellectual property development company primarily focused on the
computer generated animation feature film segment. Vanguard is primarily a
creative company: a producer of the kind of storytelling that can only be
done in CG animation and targeted to the widest possible family audience.
Vanguard intends to create brands that have a continuing life in sequel
films and are transferable across many businesses, including toys, video
games and merchandising. Through a disciplined production approach and
efficiently raised independent financing, Vanguard is able to keep costs
significantly below the industry average while still delivering the
high-quality animation and smart storytelling that audiences demand."
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