|
 |
From the manufacturer's website: ...
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. |
URBAN VISION ENTERTAINMENT
|
|
