
Discotek Media (also known as Eastern Star) is an entertainment corporation in the business of licensing, translating, and releasing Japanese anime and live-action movies, adult anime, independent movies, and television series to home-video in the North American market. Despite being formed in 2005, they didn't become active in the anime business until around 2008 (their early output consisted mostly of samurai films with a couple of old Toei anime movies thrown into the mix). The crash of the North American anime industry in the late 2000'snote probably aided the rise of Discotek with other major distributors going out of business, drastically cutting back, or at least not renewing obscure vintage titles, this left the small startup Discotek free to carve out its own niche.
Since then, they have become quite well known for licensing a lot of vintage anime from the 1970s to the 1990s, along with re-releasing titles whose original licenses have lapsed, and also occasionally licensing more recent series. They are also known for being the current champions of the Lupin III franchise in North America.
Since they're a small company without a lot of resources, their policy originally was to never commission English dubs themselves, though they'll gladly use a preexisting dub if one exists and they can get it. Fans don't seem to care too much since their other policy is to release their titles completely uncutnote and to use the highest-quality materials they can get their hands on. Basically, any announcement they make will cause underserved parts of the anime fandom to rejoice. In 2015, Discotek commissioned their first English dub; the Lupin III film, Gravestone of Daisuke Jigen.
They also announced a partnership with streaming site Crunchyroll to release a few select titles from Crunchyroll's catalogue for home video. In return, some titles from Discotek's catalogue became available on Crunchyroll for streaming.
They have a YouTube channel where they upload trailers for their upcoming releases.
Compare The Criterion Collection, which fills a similar niche in film distribution, complete with noticeably high but still reasonable price tags, Shout! Factory, who is also known for rescuing obscure television shows (though Discotek focuses more on anime), and Rhino, which fills a similar niche in music.
Titles licensed by this company include:
- 07-Ghost
- 5 Centimeters per Second note
- 8th Man After
- A Journey Through Fairyland
- A Thousand & One Nights
- Actually, I Am...
- Aho Girl
- All-Purpose Cultural Cat Girl Nuku Nuku
- Amazing Nuts!
- Animal Treasure Islandnote
- Angel Copnote
- Angel's 3Piece!
- Appleseed (OVA)
- Area 88
- Arion
- Arpeggio of Blue Steel
- As Miss Beelzebub Likes
- Astro Boy ('80s TV series)
- Ayakashi: Samurai Horror Tales
- Babel II (OVA)
- Bakuten Shoot Beyblade (all three seasons)
- Bananya (2nd original English dub)
- Barefoot Gen
- Battery
- Battle Athletes
- Beast Fighter: The Apocalypse
- Beelzebub
- Black★Rock Shooter (TV series only. No word on the OVAs)
- Bludgeoning Angel Dokurochan
- Blue Submarine No. 6
- Blue Seed
- Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo
- Bokurano
- Boys Before Flowers
- Braiger
- Galactic Gale Baxingar
- Galactic Whirlwind Sasuraiger
- Captain Harlock (70's TV series)
- Arcadia of My Youth (movie)
- Arcadia of My Youth: Endless Orbit SSX (TV series)
- Cardcaptor Sakura: The Movie
- Cardcaptor Sakura: The Movie 2
- Case Closed (so far the two movies and the Episode One specials that TMS dubbed with Bang Zoom! Entertainment)note
- Casshan: Robot Hunter
- Cat's Eye
- Ceres, Celestial Legend
- Chargeman Ken!note
- Chi's Sweet Home
- Cinderella Boy
- City Hunter (all four TV series, as well as its OVAs and movies, including the newest Shinjuku Private Eyes film)
- Cleopatra
- Combattler V
- Comic Party
- Cromartie High School
- Crusher Joe
- Crying Freemannote
- Cutey Honey
- New Cutey Honey
- Cutie Honey: THE LIVE
- Cyber City Oedo 808
- Cyborg 009 (2001 series)
- Cybersix
- Dai-Guard
- Daimos
- Dancouga
- Dallos
- Dear Brother
- DearS
- Demon City Shinjuku
- Demon Lord Dante
- Descendants of Darkness
- Episode One (TV special)
- The Crimson Love Letter (movie 21)
- Zero The Enforcer (movie 22)
- Devilman (both the 70's anime and the 80's OVA)
- Digimon Adventurenote
- Dinosaur King
- DNA²
- D.N.Angelnote
- Doctor Slump (movies 1-5)
- Dororo (1969 anime)
- Double Dragon
- Dragon Half
- Earl and Fairy
- Eat-Man
- Eat-Man '98
- Elemental Gelade
- Fair, then Partly Piggy (movie)
- Fatal Fury: Legend of the Hungry Wolf
- Fighting Foodons
- Fist of the North Star (both the TV series and the movie)
- Flame of Recca
- The Flying Phantom Ship
- Free!: Iwatobi Swim Club (initially)
- Fusé: Memoirs of a Huntress
- Fushigi Yuugi (streaming rights only; Media Blasters has the home video rights)
- Galaxy Express 999 (the movies and series)note
- Gaiking (TV series)
- Galilei Donna
- Genocyber
- Getter Robo:
- Getter Robo Armageddon
- Shin Getter Robo Vs. Neo Getter Robo
- New Getter Robo
- Ghost Stories
- Giant Gorg
- Giant Robo
- Gin Rei
- Girly Air Force
- God Mars
- Goku: Midnight Eye
- Gokudo
- Go Nagai World
- Golden Boy
- Go Shogun
- Golgo 13: The Professional
- The Great Passage
- Great Teacher Onizuka
- Grimm's Fairy Tale Classics
- GunBuster
- DieBuster (released under the title Gunbuster 2)
- Hajime no Ippo (first series)
- Haruka Nogizaka's Secret
- Hell's Angels (the movie, 3rd original English dub and a collaboration with Team Four Star)
- Hi-sCoool! SeHa Girls
- Honey and Clover
- Horus: Prince of the Sun
- IGPX: Immortal Grand Prix
- Inukami!
- ItaKiss
- IRIA: Zeiram the Animation
- Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade
- Kaiba
- Karate Master
- Kekkaishi
- Kemono Friends (fourth original English dub and the first English dub done with Sound Cadence Studios).
- Kenichi: The Mightiest Disciple (rescued from Funimation)
- Key the Metal Idol
- Kimba the White Lion (1997 movie only; TV series licensed by Nozomi Entertainment)
- Kimagure Orange Road
- Kiss x Sis OVA
- Kodocha (and this time we have the whole thing note , and to further sweeten the deal, all the music rights have been cleared, thus freeing it from the issues that plagued Funimation's release)
- Koi Koi 7
- KonoSuba
- Kyo Kara Maoh!
- Kyousogiga
- Kyojuu Tokusou Juspion
- The Law of Ueki
- The Legend of Black Heaven
- Library War
- Like the Clouds, Like the Wind
- Lily C.A.T.
- The Little Mermaid
- Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland
- Locke the Superman (license expired, now licensed by Sentai Filmworks)
- Love Hina Again
- Lovely Complex
- Lupin III
- Lupin III: Part 1
- Lupin III Pilot Filmnote
- Strange Psychokinetic Strategy (live-action)
- The Mystery of Mamo (with all four English dubs!)
- The Castle of Cagliostro note
- The Fuma Conspiracynote
- Legend of the Gold of Babylonnote
- Lupin III: Episode 0: First Contact
- Lupin III: Bye-Bye Liberty Crisis!
- Green vs. Red
- Lupin III: Mystery of the Hemingway Papers
- Lupin III: Steal Napoleon's Dictionary
- Lupin III: From Siberia With Love
- Gravestone of Daisuke Jigen note
- Goemon Ishikawa's Spray of Blood
- Fujiko Mine's Lie
- Lupin III vs. Detective Conan
- Lupin III vs. Detective Conan: The Movie
- Lupin III: Part II note
- Lupin III: Voyage to Danger
- Lupin III: Alcatraz Connection
- Lupin III: Island of Assassins
- Lupin III: Blood Seal ~Eternal Mermaid~
- Lupin III: The Italian Adventure
- Lupin III: Part 5
- Lupin III: Dragon of Doom
- Lupin III: The Pursuit of Harimao's Treasure
- Lupin III: The Secret of Twilight Gemini
- Lupin III: Part III
- Lupin III: The Woman Called Fujiko Mine
- Lupin III: Prison of the Past
- Lupin III: Dead or Alive
- Machine Robo (TV series and both OVA)
- Mad Bull 34 note
- Magic Knight Rayearth
- Mahoraba
- Makyou Densetsu Acrobunch
- Manabi Straight!
- Marmalade Boy (both the TV series & the movie)
- Mazinger Z
- Medabots
- Mega Man (Ruby-Spears)
- Memories
- Mighty Space Miners
- Miss Koizumi Loves Ramen Noodles
- Miss Machiko
- Mitchiri Neko
- Mon Colle Knights note
- Monster Rancher
- Mrs Pepperpot
- Ms. Vampire Who Lives in My Neighborhood
- Nagasarete Airantou
- New Hurricane Polymar
- NG Knight Lamune & 40
- NG Knight Lamune & 40 EX
- NG Knight Lamune & 40 DX
- VS Knight Lamune & 40 FIRE
- VS Knight Lamune & 40 FRESH
- Night on the Galactic Railroad
- Night Warriors: Darkstalker's Revenge
- Ninja Senshi Tobikage
- Nutcracker Fantasy
- Nyanbo!
- Osomatsu-kun (1988 series)
- Panda! Go Panda! note
- Photon
- Pilot Candidate
- Planet With
- Project A-ko
- Project ARMS
- Reborn! (2004)
- Recently, My Sister Is Unusual
- Requiem from the Darkness
- Ringing Bell
- Robot Carnival
- Ronin Warriors
- The Rose of Versailles note
- Rumiko Takahashi Anthology
- Saint Seiya (movies only, TV series streaming on Netflix with a dub by Sentai Filmworks)
- Saint Seiya: Evil Goddess Iris
- Saint Seiya: The Heated Battle of the Gods
- Saint Seiya: Legend of Crimson Youth
- Saint Seiya: Warriors of the Final Holy Battle
- Saint Seiya: The Lost Canvas
- Samurai Pizza Cats note
- School Days
- Scryed
- The Sea Prince and the Fire Child
- Sgt. Frog note
- Shaman King note
- Sherlock Hound
- Shin Mazinger note
- Shining Tears X Wind
- Sister Princess
- Sonic the Hedgehog
- Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog
- Sonic Origins note
- Sonic X note
- Soul Hunter
- Sorcerer Hunters
- Space Adventure Cobra (1982 animated film, later rescue licensed the TV series after Nozomi Entertainment's license expired)
- Space Warrior Baldios
- Star Fleet
- Stellvia of the Universe
- Street Fighternote
- Street Sharks
- Strike the Blood
- Submarine Super 99
- Super Dimension Century Orguss
- Swan Lake
- Symphogear
- Taro the Dragon Boynote
- Tekkaman Blade II
- Tenjho Tenge
- Tetsujin 28 (both the 1980 & 2004 versions as well as the 2007 movie)
- Thermae Romae
- Tokyo Underground
- Tomorrow's Joe (compilation movie)
- Tomorrow's Joe 2 (compilation movie)
- Toriko the Movie: Secret Recipe of Gourmet God (first half of the TV series licensed by Funimation)
- True Tears
- Twilight of the Cockroaches
- The Twelve Kingdoms
- Ultra Maniac
- Unico
- Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust
- Venus Wars (license expired, now licensed by Sentai Filmworks)
- Violence Jack
- Virtua Fighter (complete series, first 24 episodes previously licensed by Media Blasters)
- Voltes V
- Wicked City
- Wild 7: Another
- A Wind Named Amnesia
- The Wonderful Adventures of Nils
- The Wonderful World of Puss 'n Bootsnote
- You Are Umasou
- Yowamushi Pedal
- Zatch Bell! (distributed the movies; the series was formerly licensed by Viz Media, well until things happened anywaynote and the short lived dub of the series was later released on DVD by Cinedigm in 2013, but Cinedigm's DVD release is now out of print)
- Zombie Loan
- ZX Ignition
Tropes relating to Discotek Media:
- Bowdlerization:
- Invoked with their release of The Castle of Cagliostro, which includes a "Family Friendly" version of the Manga dub that removes all of the Obligatory Swearing present in the original Manga dub. This dub was created specifically for this release, and according to Reed Nelson, it's intended to bring the movie closer in tone to the original Japanese script and the Miyazaki movies released by Disney. However, the "fifteened" version is still there too.
- An example that was apparently unavoidable is their DVD release of Violence Jack. As pointed out on their website
, the release is uncut for the most part, but contains mosaic censoring over certain scenes in the second episode.
- Subverted with the upcoming (As of the time of writing) 2022 Blu-Ray release where it's been confirmed the series will be fully uncensored, sans the mosaic censoring, for the first time ever.
- An unintentional example. When they released Blue Submarine No. 6, unbeknownst to them, the English dub they included was the censored version used when the series aired on Toonami. Fortunately, they've re-released it with the uncensored dub in 2016.
- Subverted by their release of Angel Cop, which will be the first release to include uncensored English subtitles (along with the original censored subtitles by Manga Entertainment).
- Played straight with their home release of Fighting Foodons, in which only the dubbed version was released. The company that originally dubbed it, 4Kids Entertainment, is rather infamous for applying this trope to the many anime they dubbed. There is no word on when or if an uncut subtitled version of the original version, Kakutō Ryōri Densetsu Bistro Recipe note , will ever be released. (Keep in mind that the anime still has no available unofficial fansubs or even raws ripped from the Japanese VHSes either).
- Pastiche: The box art
◊ for their DVD releases of the Fatal Fury TV specials and movie recreates the style of the package design
for the Neo-Geo home cartridges. Similarly, the box art
◊ for their release of the Mega Man cartoon imitates the style of the box art for the NES games
◊ (though without Bad Box Art Mega Man, for better or worse).
- Take That!: When asked if PDF files for Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo's subtitles would still need downloading, like in a previous release of the series, Discotek responded "We would never freaking do that."
- Up to Eleven: When licensing older shows, Discotek usually goes for series from the 70's and 80's. The anime adaptation of Dororo is their first foray into anything from the 60's.
- Their release of The Mystery of Mamo, with four English dubs (two of which were thought to be lost).
- Vanilla Edition: Usually averted, as their releases tend to include at least one extra. The only time this was played straight was with their second release of Lupin III (Green Jacket), which was cheaper than the previous release, but included none of the rather extensive special features.