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Creator / NBCUniversal Entertainment Japan
aka: Geneon

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https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/nbcuniversal_entertainment_japan.jpg

NBCUniversal Entertainment Japan LLC is a music, film, and television production company located in Minato, Tokyo, Japan, and is owned by NBCUniversal (itself owned by media giant Comcast) since 2008. One of the major entertainment producers and distributors, NBCUEJ's properties included not only anime but several mainstream films from around the world, including the US.

NBCUEJ was founded in 1981 by electronics manufacturer Pioneer Corporation as LaserDisc Corporation. In 1989, it was renamed Pioneer LDC, Inc. Soon after, the studio established its North American division, Pioneer LDCA, Inc. (later Pioneer Entertainment), in 1993.

During The '80s and The '90s, Pioneer distributed tapes and LaserDiscs in a variety of genres, from music to documentaries, as well as anime; 1992's Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-Ohki was their first anime release. The company also became a major DVD supplier when the format became available.

In 2003, Pioneer decided to sell off its entertainment division to the advertising firm Dentsu, who renamed it Geneon Entertainment Inc. that October. The name, a portmanteau of the English words generate and eon, was meant to signify innovation and longevity, which became bitterly ironic in light of what happened next.

Their North American division, which was renamed Geneon Entertainment (USA) Inc., began running into financial problems, despite being a popular and respected name among anime fans. According to Geneon USA executive Chad Kime, the reasons include anime series that failed (Heat Guy J cost as much as Fullmetal Alchemist (2003) but sold a fraction as much), budgeting for titles they did not own, and licensing new titles because their previous titles didn't make money. By 2007, Geneon was in trouble. After an attempted alliance with ADV Films (who were having problems of their own) quickly fell apart, the inevitable happened on September 26, 2007: Geneon USA announced that they would cease manufacturing and distributing DVDs, ending their fourteen-year run as one of the major North American anime licensors. This left several of its announced but uncompleted titles in limbo. Some of Geneon USA's former staffers, including Hiroe Tsukamoto and president Hideki "Henry" Goto, subsequently went to Aniplex USA.

In 2008, Geneon negotiated with Funimation to distribute their incomplete titles like Higurashi: When They Cry, Black Lagoon, Rozen Maiden, Shakugan no Shana, Karin, The Familiar of Zero, and others. Once that deal expired, all of Geneon's formerly licensed titles were unlicensed and out-of-print, but many have since been rescued by Funimation and other companies such as Aniplex USA, Sentai Filmworks, Media Blasters, Discotek Media, and Viz Media. That November, NBCUniversal seized control of Geneon Entertainment from Dentsu and merged it with Universal Pictures International Entertainment, renaming themselves Geneon Universal Entertainment Japan one month later. Then, after Comcast acquired General Electric's shares in NBCUniversal in 2013, the company was renamed NBCUniversal Entertainment Japan.

As of 2023, NBCUEJ handles most of the rights to Pioneer and Geneon's catalog as well as the Japanese home media distribution rights to Universal and Paramount Pictures' film catalogsnote . Their home media releases in Japan have been distributed by Warner Bros. Home Entertainment since 2020.

    open/close all folders 

    List of Pioneer LDC anime 

    List of Geneon Entertainment anime 

    List of NBCUniversal Entertainment Japan anime 

Alternative Title(s): Geneon, Geneon Universal Entertainment, Pioneer Entertainment, Pioneer LDC, Geneon Entertainment

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