company industry multimedia entertainment genre anime predecessor adv films founded 2008 ; 8 years ago 2008 founder john ledford headquarters houston texas united states area served united states canada owner aesir media website sentaifilmworks.com sentai filmworks is an american anime licensing company based in houston texas specializing in japanese animation and film . the company was formed in 2008 by john ledford formerly of a.d. vision . some of sentai s notable licensed anime series include clannad highschool of the dead angel beats the pet girl of sakurasou watamote diabolik lovers akame ga kill azumanga daioh and parasyte the maxim as well as the films grave of the fireflies short peace the garden of words appleseed and children who chase lost voices . contents 1 name 2 history 2.1 sunrise & tatsunoko deals 2.2 localization and dubbing 2.3 toonami broadcasts 3 foreign distribution 4 see also 5 references 6 external links name edit when asked by a fan on facebook what the reason was for calling the company sentai chief executive officer matt greenfield responded it s a multi layered pun mostly for the benefit of the japanese . although sentai can be translated as squadron regiment or flotilla it basically means a team or group assembled with specific training and equipment for a specific purpose . plus sentai was formed to help keep the anime industry alive in the u.s. so the superhero aspect is a double play on that that americans can get . history edit beginning in 2008 sentai had started releasing their first titles which included clannad princess resurrection indian summer and mahoromatic formerly licensed by geneon . 1 their titles were initially distributed by adv films . 2 on september 1 2009 a.d. vision had closed their doors and sold off their assets which included transferring distribution rights to section23 films . 3 sunrise & tatsunoko deals edit on july 4 2013 during their industry panel at anime expo sentai filmworks announced their plans to release a number of classic titles from tatsunoko production . 4 the current list of released titles from the partnership include the original gatchaman series time bokan royal revival casshan and science ninja team gatchaman the movie with more titles to follow . sunrise announced a licensing deal with sentai filmworks that included a number of titles from sunrise s library that were formerly licensed by bandai entertainment during their otakon panel on august 8 2013 . 5 localization and dubbing edit sentai s anime titles were initially localized and produced by seraphim digital . certain titles such as queen s blade rebellion and persona 4 the animation were produced by nyav post and bang zoom entertainment respectively . in 2014 sentai filmworks had opened their in house localization and recording facility sentai studios . 6 toonami broadcasts edit on june 1 2015 sentai made an announcement on their website that akame ga kill has been picked up by adult swim and will air during its toonami block almost one week after its announcement at momocon 2015 . 7 8 the show began airing on august 8 2015 and set a new record for having the highest audience count for a toonami premiere . 9 since then sentai licensed show parasyte the maxim has begun airing on toonami as well 10 and sentai has promoted the time that the two shows air as sentaihour on social media . foreign distribution edit sentai filmworks does not directly release its properties in non north american english speaking markets as opposed to its predecessor a.d. vision . instead it sub licenses to other companies such as manga entertainment mvm entertainment anime limited and animatsu entertainment in the united kingdom and siren visual madman entertainment and hanabee in australia and new zealand . in 2011 mvm licensed mahoromatic something more beautiful after sentai s re release of the series and has done the same to broken blade 11 dream eater merry rozen maiden and bodacious space pirates for release in the uk . see also edit houston portal companies portal anime and manga portal category sentai filmworks references edit half season princess resurrection clannad sets slated . anime news network . adv films to distribute anime for sentai filmworks . anime news network . october 20 2008 . retrieved september 9 2015 . adv films shuts down parent transfers assets to other companies . anime news network . september 1 2009 . sentai filmworks signs deal with tatsunoko production . anime news network . july 4 2013 . sentai filmworks adds sacred seven big o kurokami more . anime news network . august 8 2013 . sentai filmworks 3 september 2015 . ask sentai 18 nozaki kun box sets and sentai studios . sentaifilmworks.com . sentai filmworks . retrieved 31 january 2016 . sentai filmworks 1 june 2015 . akame ga kill infiltrates toonami . sentaifilmworks.com . sentai filmworks . retrieved 31 january 2016 . adult swim s toonami to run akame ga kill michiko & hatchin . sentai filmworks 13 august 2015 . akame ga kill becomes most watched series premiere in toonami history . sentaifilmworks.com . sentai filmworks . retrieved 31 january 2015 . sentai filmworks 11 july 2015 . anime expo 2015 announcements rundown . sentaifilmworks.com . sentai filmworks . retrieved 31 january 2016 . mvm licenses broken blade . anime news network . external links edit official website sentai filmworks at anime news network s encyclopedia retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title sentai filmworks & oldid 743466023 categories sentai filmworks2008 establishments in texasanime companiescompanies based in houstoncompanies established in 2008dubbing filmmaking entertainment companies of the united stateshome video companies of the united stateshome video distributorsvideo production companies navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent 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