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. Although a handful titles were translated before 1970, such as Speed Racer and Eight Man anime wouldn't regrow into popularity in the US until 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 animation television and film director, best known for directing the critically acclaimed and commercially successful animated 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.
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.
One Piece is a Japanese anime television series produced by Toei Animation that premiered on Fuji Television in October 1999. It is based on Eiichiro Oda's manga series of the same name. The story follows the adventures of Monkey D. Luffy, a boy whose body gained the properties of rubber after unintentionally eating a Devil Fruit. With his crew, named the Straw Hat Pirates, Luffy explores the Grand Line in search of the world's ultimate treasure known as the "One Piece" in order to become the next King of the Pirates.
Hunter × Hunter is an anime television series that aired from 2011 to 2014 based on Yoshihiro Togashi's manga series Hunter × Hunter. The story begins with a young boy named Gon Freecss, who one day discovers that the father who he thought was dead, is in fact alive and well. He learns that his father, Ging, is a legendary "Hunter", an individual who has proven themselves an elite member of humanity. Despite the fact that Ging left his son with his relatives in order to pursue his own dreams, Gon becomes determined to follow in his father's footsteps, pass the rigorous "Hunter Examination", and eventually find his father to become a Hunter in his own right.
Adult Swim is a Canadian English language discretionary specialty channel owned by Showcase Television, Inc., a subsidiary of Corus Entertainment. The channel primarily airs animated and live-action comedies targeting a teenage and young adult audience. Its branding is licensed from the Adult Swim programming block broadcast by Warner Bros. Discovery's Cartoon Network; it is the first full-time television channel to use the "Adult Swim" brand.
Richard Daniel "Rick" Sanchez is one of the two eponymous characters from the Adult Swim animated television series Rick and Morty and resulting multimedia franchise. Created by Justin Roiland and Dan Harmon, he is voiced by the former during the first six seasons of the series, then by Ian Cardoni beginning with the seventh season, and Yōhei Tadano in Rick and Morty: The Anime, after voicing the character in the Japanese dub of the series and various promotional short films. Rick is a misanthropic, alcoholic mad scientist inspired by Christopher Lloyd's Dr. Emmett "Doc" Brown from Back to the Future and Reed Richards / Mr. Fantastic from Marvel Comics. In September 2021, Lloyd portrayed Rick himself in a series of promotional interstitials for the series.
SSSS.Gridman is a Japanese anime television series jointly produced by Tsuburaya Productions and Trigger. It is the first installment in the shared Gridman Universe media and an adaptation of the 1993–1994 tokusatsu series Denkou Choujin Gridman. It was broadcast for 12 episodes from October to December 2018. A sequel, titled SSSS.Dynazenon, was broadcast from April to June 2021.
Yōhei Tadano is a Japanese actor and voice actor from Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan.
Fena: Pirate Princess is a Japanese anime television series created and produced by Production I.G. A co-production between Crunchyroll and Adult Swim, the series aired from August to October 2021. A Japanese broadcast followed from October to December 2021.
Shenmue: The Animation, also known simply as Shenmue, is a Japanese animated television series based on the Shenmue video game series by Yu Suzuki and published by Sega. A co-production between Crunchyroll and Adult Swim, the series aired from February to May 2022. A Japanese streaming release followed in April 2022. Shortly after its streaming debut in Japan, it was decided that a televised broadcast of the series would commence a month later on Tokyo MX in May 2022. The animated series adapts the storyline of the first two games, Shenmue (1999) and Shenmue II (2001).
Sola Digital Arts Inc. is a Japanese animation studio founded in 2009. The studio specializes in CGI. The studio became an animation division of the newly formed Sola Entertainment production management company in 2017.
Rick and Morty is an American animated science-fiction comedy franchise, whose eponymous duo consists of Rick Sanchez and Morty Smith. Rick and Morty were created by cartoonist Justin Roiland for a 2006 parody film of Back to the Future for Channel 101, a short film festival co-founded by Dan Harmon. After six years, the sketch was developed into Rick and Morty, a half-hour prime time show that was a hit for Adult Swim, receiving universal acclaim across all seasons. Alongside the original television series, the characters of the show have been featured in a variety of media, including spin-offs, comic books, musical releases and video games. The show has earned hundreds of millions of dollars in income across their merchandising and media franchise.
Ninja Kamui is an Japanese original animation television series produced by E&H Production and Sola Entertainment with executive production by Williams Street. The series aired from February to May 2024 in the United States on Adult Swim's Toonami programming block and in Canada on Adult Swim Canada. A Japanese broadcast of the series followed on Tokyo MX from July to September 2024.
Rick and Morty: The Great Yokai Battle of Akihabara, or simply The Great Yokai Battle of Akihabara, known in Japan as Akihabara Showdown, is a Japanese CGI-anime short film based on the American television series/franchise Rick and Morty, and parodying Pacific Rim, produced by Sola Entertainment and Telecom Animation Film, released unannounced to Adult Swim's YouTube channel on October 11, 2021 as a Halloween special. Written by Naohiro Fukushima and directed by Masaru Matsumoto and Morihito Abe, the film received positive reviews from critics.
Rick and Morty: ~SUMMER meets GOD~ (Rick meets Evil), also known simply as Summer Meets God (Rick Meets Evil), Summer Meets God, and Rick Meets Evil, is a Japanese anime short film based on the American television series/franchise Rick and Morty, and parodying Neon Genesis Evangelion, produced by Sola Entertainment and Telecom Animation Film, and released unannounced to Adult Swim's YouTube channel on August 2, 2021, as a continuation of the fifth season episode "Gotron Jerrysis Rickvangelion", which first aired the previous day. Written and directed by Takashi Sano, set in its own continuity, the film received positive reviews from critics, leading to the production of a 10-episode spin-off series from Sano, Rick and Morty: The Anime, in 2024.
