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Company Index: ADV Films

Reviewed Titles

About ADV Films

ADV's Website

Company info last updated 2006-09-15

Overview

ADV Films (or A.D. Vision; they can't quite seem to make up their mind, nor does it stand for anything) sort of popped up out of nowhere several years back and has grown into the 800 pound gorilla of the US anime industry, with prolific and popular titles galore. They have also begun to take a very active role in the production of anime, financing and co-producing movies like SiN: The Motion Picture. They also have branched out into a variety of live-action videos, both Japanese and domestic.

Catalog

ADV was originally known for fun but generally a bit lowbrow titles--a definite focus on action with early releases like Sol Bianca, Devil Hunter Yohko, New Cutey Honey, and Burn Up. Their catalog has broadened drastically since those early days, and the pinnacle of it is probably the ever-popular Neon Genesis Evangelion, which has seen multiple re-releases an a number of formats though the years. They now have the rights to a huge number of shows, both old and new. There was also a brief stint with a division they rather inaccurately called "fansubs," that put out quick-and-dirty subtitled-only releases of somewhat obscure TV series with a fan following but not a lot of market potential.

Releases

ADV has, with a couple of rare exceptions, always released subtitled versions even back in the VHS days, and depending on the market some longer TV series are subtitled only even on DVD. Their translations tend to add a lot of profanity and one-liners in the subtitles, and some of their dubs are known for taking significant liberties with the story.

Even before DVDs, they were good about throwing in extras; in the early days they usually included production art after the program, and the tradition continues. They are also very good about subtitling songs; their newer releases often include both the Japanese sing-along and English translated lyrics in the subtitles.

In the days of LaserDisc, ADV usually released bilingual sets when the demand was high enough. They were quite slow in adopting DVD and their first discs were rough, but as with all anime companies they are DVD only now and the quality has stabilized.

Their standard pattern with DVD releases of TV series has been somewhat annoying for purchasers, however. They first release the series one disc at a time on decent single volumes. Once the series is complete, they quickly release a box set at a drastically reduced price, sometimes with additional extras or in packaging that takes up less shelf space. The sets are great value for the money, but aren't a very good encouragement to buy individual volumes as they're released. They also have a tendency to re-release titles with additional special features periodically, most notably the three separate Evangelion DVD releases, each with some addition or improvement from the last.

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