Illumitoon Entertainment

Illumitoon Entertainment
Company typePrivate[1]
GenreAnime[1]
Founded2006[2]
FounderStephanie Giotes, Richard Ray, and Barry Watson[1]
Defunct2007; 17 years ago (2007)
FateDefunct
Headquarters,
United States[1]
Key people
Barry Watson President/CEO[1]

Illumitoon Entertainment was a production company based in Fort Worth, Texas that specialized in anime. It was founded in January 2006 by former Funimation executives Stephanie Giotes, Richard Ray, and Barry Watson.[1][2] Illumitoon's goal was to have its shows aired on television and offer unedited dual language DVDs.[3][4]

History

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Illumitoon shared facilities with CRM Productions in Fort Worth, Texas and Westlake Entertainment was used for distribution.[1][5] The company's first anime license was Beet the Vandel Buster and Beet the Vandel Buster Excellion.[6] They also licensed AM Driver, B't X, and BT'X Neo.[7][8] Illumitoon joined with Westlake for the licensing of Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo.[9][10] Several Illumitoon releases had production issues including music being changed, the use of dubtitles (subtitles created from the dub script), and inoperable discs.[3][4][11][12][13] Replacements with translated subtitles were offered for the first DVDs of Beet, Bobo, and B't X that were later found to be DVD-Rs.[4][14][15] AM Driver and B't X were licensed by The Anime Network for VOD, but only 14 episodes of each series had a complete dub.[4][16][17] After Westlake ceased distribution of their titles, future releases from Illumitoon were cancelled in late 2007.[4][18]

Post Illumitoon

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AM Driver was never released on DVD and all series remained incomplete until S'more Entertainment relicensed Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo.[4][19] This release also experienced issues due to the lack of subtitles.[3][4] B't X was relicensed in 2016 by Anime Midstream.[20][21]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g Ball, Ryan (July 11, 2006). "Ex-FUNimation Execs Form Illumitoon". Animation Magazine. Retrieved March 14, 2015.
  2. ^ a b "Beet the Vandel Buster Coming to US". Anime News Network. July 12, 2006. Retrieved March 12, 2015.
  3. ^ a b c Toole, Michael (August 12, 2012). "The Mike Toole Show - Getting It Wrong". Anime News Network. Retrieved March 14, 2015.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g Hanson, Brian (February 22, 2013). "Hey, Answerman! - Translation Mitigation". Anime News Network. Retrieved March 14, 2015.
  5. ^ "Illumitoon Partners with Westlake". Anime News Network. September 7, 2006. Retrieved March 12, 2015.
  6. ^ "Illumitoon Lights Up With Beet the Vandel Buster". Anime News Network. July 12, 2006. Retrieved March 12, 2015.
  7. ^ "Illumitoon Picks up AM Driver". Anime News Network. August 23, 2006. Retrieved March 12, 2015.
  8. ^ "BT'X Set for US". Anime News Network. September 19, 2006. Retrieved March 12, 2015.
  9. ^ "Illumitoon & Westlake Acquire Bobobo-Bo Bo-Bobo". Anime News Network. November 2, 2006. Retrieved March 12, 2015.
  10. ^ Ball, Ryan (November 9, 2006). "Illumitoon, Westlake Pick Up Bobobo". Animation Magazine. Retrieved March 14, 2015.
  11. ^ Dong, Bamboo (February 12, 2007). "Shelf Life - Hairy Situations". Anime News Network. Retrieved March 13, 2015.
  12. ^ Kimlinger, Carl (March 24, 2007). "Beet the Vandel Buster DVD 1". Anime News Network. Retrieved March 13, 2015.
  13. ^ Dong, Bamboo (December 31, 2007). "Shelf Life - Year in Reviews". Anime News Network. Retrieved March 14, 2015.
  14. ^ "Illumitoons DVD Replacement Offer". Anime News Network. April 2, 2007. Retrieved March 13, 2015.
  15. ^ "Illumitoon Announces Disc Replacement Offer". AnimeNation. March 30, 2007. Retrieved March 13, 2015.
  16. ^ "The Anime Network Adds Illumitoon Titles". ICv2. August 16, 2007. Retrieved March 14, 2015.
  17. ^ "Anime Network Licenses New Television Programming from Illumitoon Entertainment". Anime News Network. August 15, 2007. Retrieved March 13, 2015.
  18. ^ "Illumitoon's B'tX, Beet, BoBoBo-Bo DVDs Discontinued (Updated)". Anime News Network. October 26, 2007. Retrieved March 14, 2015.
  19. ^ "S'more Entertainment Adds Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo on U.S. DVD". Anime News Network. January 16, 2012. Retrieved March 13, 2015.
  20. ^ "Anime Midstream Licenses B't X TV Anime Series". Anime News Network. August 19, 2016. Retrieved October 12, 2016.
  21. ^ Beveridge, Chris (August 19, 2016). "Anime Midstream Acquires 'B't X' Anime License". The Fandom Post. Retrieved October 12, 2016.

Further reading

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  • Newtype USA January 2007 - Vol. 6 No. 1 "Bobobo-bo on DVD". p. 21
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