Enoki Films
Enoki Films Co., Ltd. (エノキフイルム株式会社, Enokifuirumu Kabushiki Kaisha) was a Japanese studio based in the Enoki Building in Shinjuku, Tokyo.[1][2]
Industry
Film, Anime
1975
1980 (London, England)
1986 (Enoki Films USA)
2010 (Enoki Films USA)
Zen & Yoshi Enoki
Enoki Films also had a North American division, established in 1986,[3] headquartered in the Encino area of Los Angeles, California, United States called Enoki Films USA, Inc.[4] Enoki Films USA acted as a middle-man between Japanese companies and American licensees such as 4Kids Entertainment and Saban. In May 2007 their content was provided as video on demand by Internet startup ReelTime.com (worldwide except Japan).[3]
As of 2002 Enoki licensed anime but sub-licenses its licenses to various distributors instead of distributing them directly. Anime News Network wrote that "They generally only license TV shows that they hope to also license to TV broadcasters such as Cartoon Network, ABC Family and Fox Kids".[5]
Some of the anime productions that were listed on Enoki's website are under alternate names and may list characters under different names as well. In many cases, when sub-licensed to anime home video companies, the original titles and character names have been restored. Enoki's translations of episode titles and scenarios may differ from those in the official release.
If Enoki's series had a separate movie or direct-to-video production, it is usually not licensed by Enoki, and the film or direct-to-video production may be licensed to a separate company than the series (as is the case with the Slayers movies and OVAs and the Utena movie).
Enoki Films' North American division is now defunct, since it brought its operations to an end in 2010.
In addition to distributing anime, Enoki Films USA also distributed puppet shows such as Peppermint Park and Star Fleet.[6]
Some of the Enoki USA titles include:
Enoki also list many other anime series on their website that are available for sub-licensing to other companies for release on home video. As yet, the following titles remain unlicensed by any other company and thus unavailable in English: