The history of anime in the United States began in 1961, when Magic Boy and The White Snake Enchantress, both produced by Toei Animation, became the first and second anime films to receive documented releases in the country. Anime has since found success with a growing audience in the region, with Astro Boy often being noted as the first anime to receive widespread syndication, especially in the United States. Additionally, anime's growth in popularity in the US during the 1990s, commonly referred to as the "anime boom," is credited with much of anime's enduring relevance to popular culture outside Japan.
Shinichirō Watanabe is a Japanese anime television and film director, best known for directing the critically acclaimed and commercially successful anime series Cowboy Bebop, Samurai Champloo, and Space Dandy. Considered an auteur of Japanese animation by film and television critics, Watanabe's work is characterized by evocative uses of music, mature themes, and the incorporation of multiple genres.
Cowboy Bebop: The Movie, known in Japan as Cowboy Bebop: Knockin' on Heaven's Door, is a 2001 Japanese anime science fiction action film based on the 1998 anime series Cowboy Bebop created by Hajime Yatate. Several staff from the original series worked on the film, including director Shinichirō Watanabe, writer Keiko Nobumoto, character designer/animation director Toshihiro Kawamoto, and composer Yoko Kanno. The Japanese and English voice casts also reprised their roles.
Toonami is an American late-night television programming block that broadcasts Japanese anime and American action animation. It was created by Sean Akins and Jason DeMarco and produced by Williams Street, a division of Warner Bros. Television Studios, and owned by The Cartoon Network, Inc. subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. The name is a portmanteau of the words "cartoon" and "tsunami". It currently broadcasts every Saturday night from 12 a.m. to 3:30 a.m. ET/PT.
Melissa Fahn is an American actress and singer, best known as the voice of Gaz Membrane in the Nickelodeon animated series Invader Zim, Dendy in the Cartoon Network animated series OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes, Hello Kitty in Hello Kitty's Paradise, as well as voicing many anime and video game characters like Edward from Cowboy Bebop, Neptune from Hyperdimension Neptunia and Rider and her various other incarnations in the Fate stay/night franchise. She starred in the Broadway performance of Wicked and various theatre projects in Los Angeles.
Doug Stone is a voice actor who is best known for providing the English voice of Psycho Mantis from the popular video game Metal Gear Solid, as well as the voice of Matt Trakker and several other characters in M.A.S.K., and Dragonborg in Beetleborgs Metallix.
Barbara Goodson is an American voice actress who has done voice-over work in cartoons and shows. Her best-known role was providing the English dub voice of the main villain Empress Rita Repulsa in the Power Rangers franchise, starting with Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, and including Power Rangers Zeo, Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie, and Power Rangers in Space.
Mona Marshall is an American voice actress, known for her work in a number of cartoons, anime shows, films and video games. Her major credits include South Park, where she voices many of the female characters on the show; Fraggle Rock: The Animated Series, CBS Storybreak, and Digimon. She has also appeared on-stage for television shows such as Cheers and Who's the Boss?
Michael John Sorich is an American actor, writer and director.
Steve Kramer is an American actor who has provided voices for English language versions of Japanese anime films, television series and video games. He has also done voice acting for various Power Rangers series in the past, with the best-known of those roles being the voice of Darkonda in Power Rangers in Space. His wife, Melora Harte, is a voice actress. Kramer has also been credited as Steve Kraemer, Steven Kramer, Drew Levi Thomas, Drew Lexi Thomas, and Drew Thomas. Kramer is usually cast in the role of wise old men. He is also a voice director and script writer, adapting many anime and video games.
Michael Lindsay was an American voice actor who worked largely in anime, credited often as Dylan Tully.
Thomas Fahn is an American voice actor. He is known for his portrayals as Sho Fukamachi in Guyver and Agumon in the Digimon franchise.
An anime composer is a composer who mainly composes music for anime productions.
Melora Harte is an American voice actress. In addition to voice acting in anime, she also adapted and directed several anime dubs. Her husband, Steve Kramer, is also a voice actor.
Spike Spiegel is a fictional character introduced as the protagonist of the 1998 anime series Cowboy Bebop. Spike is a former member of the criminal Red Dragon Syndicate, who left by faking his death after falling in love with a woman named Julia. He is first introduced as the partner of Jet Black, captain of the spaceship Bebop: the two are legalized bounty hunters pursuing criminals across the populated planets and moons of the Solar System. During his adventures on board the Bebop, he is drawn back into a bitter feud with Vicious, a rival from the Syndicate who seeks to kill him.
The American Anime Awards were a series of awards designed to recognize excellence in the release of anime and manga in North America.
Studiopolis, Inc. is an American post-production studio located in Studio City, Los Angeles. It specializes in voiceover recording and dubbing for cartoon, anime, and video game projects. They were formerly known as Screenmusic Studios and then Studio E Productions until 2005. The studio is owned by Jamie Simone. It has another studio located in Burbank, California.
Eagle Riders is an animated television adaptation of the Japanese anime series Gatchaman II and Gatchaman Fighter, which have been combined. It was produced by Saban Entertainment. 65 episodes aired in Australia on Network Ten from August 14, 1997, to December 4, 1997. In the United States, 13 episodes had previously aired in first-run syndication during the fall of 1996 and 1997.
Peter Eugene Keefe was an American television producer best known for creating the popular series Voltron, an English dubbed combination of Beast King GoLion, and Armored Fleet Dairugger XV, two similar, but unrelated “mecha” anime series originally created and produced by Toei Animation. Keefe's work on the series is credited with introducing American audiences to Japanese animation and influenced later children's programs like the Dragon Ball, Pokémon, and Power Rangers franchises., although Japanese programs, including such programs as Astro Boy, and Ultraman, had aired on American television prior to the premiere of Voltron.
