Toei Animation Inc.

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Toei Animation Inc. (abbreviated as TAI, or sometimes just Toei Animation USA or Toei Animation LATAM depending on the territory) is an American licensing and distribution company that operates as an international distribution arm of the Japanese animation studio Toei Animation. Originally founded in 2004 and based in Los Angeles, the company is responsible for licensing the studio's library across North America, South America, South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand. It holds partnerships with TV channels, DVD distributors, and streaming websites.

History

Due to Toei Animation's decision to start distributing the series directly since 2003 with the establishment of Toei Animation Europe based in Paris, Toei Animation Inc. based in Los Angeles. Established in Los Angeles in March 2004 as a subsidiary of Toei Animation Co., Ltd. Alongside program licensing, the Los Angeles Office oversees consumer-product licensing for the studio's films and television properties in its territories.

In November 2004, Toei had signed a deal with Geneon USA to distribute three titles, Air Master, Interlude and Slam Dunk on DVD in North America. This announcement noted that Toei Animation's U.S. affiliate was registered as Toei Animation Inc. in Century City, California. Under this arrangement, Toei produced the DVD releases for North America, with Geneon acting as the distributor instead of licensor. In September 2006, Geneon announced that most of the Toei DVDs they distributed, including some unreleased content, were discontinued. Toei has since distributed their franchises in Latin America, including Dragon Ball and Saint Seiya.

Anime

Partnerships

Toei Animation Inc. has more than 30 partner companies. They include streaming services such as Crunchyroll, Funimation, Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, HBO Max, Tubi, Pluto TV, Hoopla, Vudu, AnimeLab, AnimeOnegai, Blim, Claro Video, Globoplay, and Looke; media and distribution companies such as Televisa, Madman Entertainment, Shout! Studios, Viz Media, and Fathom Events; and technology and consumer-products companies such as Apple, Microsoft, Sony, Bandai, and Bandai Namco.

References

External links

• Toei Animation Inc. official website
• Official Toei Animation Inc. YouTube channel
• Old Toei Animation Inc. official website (archive)
• Toei Animation Inc. at Anime News Network's encyclopedia
• Toei Animation Inc. at Anime News Network's encyclopedia