Siren Visual
Encyclopedia
Siren Visual is an Australian company which specialises in the distribution of Japanese anime
, documentaries and off-beat cinema in Australia
and New Zealand
.
Founder and managing director Nigel Rennard started Siren in 1987 as a music distribution company, and expanded to include VHS distribution in 1994, starting with the distribution of Anime from Manga Entertainment
's UK division. It then expanded to acquiring Anime like Astro Boy and Pokémon
. It expanded to distribution of Arthouse, Horror
and Asian Cinema
. In 1997 it was named the distributor for Madman Entertainment
, who bought the Australian licenses to all Manga UK
anime, and later on acquired licenses from ADV Films and Funimation. In 2001 Siren was no longer a home entertainment distributor and is now solely an acquisition company, after it lost its biggest client, Madman Entertainment
who established its distribution arm, The AV Channel.
In the early 2000s, Siren repositioned itself as a specialist licensing company. Distribution was outsourced to Shock Records
. At the beginning of 2007 Siren parted ways with Shock Records
, teaming up with independent sales and distribution company Gryphon Entertainment.
It is perhaps best known (as of now) as the company that has licensed & distributed the majority of titles from American anime company Sentai Filmworks (English dubbed titles; excluding license rescues from Geneon
), the successor to the now-defunct ADV Films, in Australia & New Zealand on region 4 DVD. However not all of the Sentai's titles are distributed by Siren Visual as Xam'd: Lost Memories
, Highschool of the Dead
, & Hyakka Ryōran Samurai Girls
are distributed by Madman Entertainment
and Blue Drop
, Broken Blade
, Coicent
, Demon King Daimao, ef - a tale of memories, Five Numbers!
, Golgo 13
, Guin Saga
, ICE
, Loups=Garous
, Mardock Scramble
, Night Raid 1931, & Princess Resurrection
are yet to be licensed & distributed in Australia & New Zealand.
Anime
is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....
, documentaries and off-beat cinema in Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
and New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
.
Founder and managing director Nigel Rennard started Siren in 1987 as a music distribution company, and expanded to include VHS distribution in 1994, starting with the distribution of Anime from Manga Entertainment
Manga Entertainment
Manga Entertainment is a producer, licensor and distributor of Japanese animation in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, France, Australia and New Zealand...
's UK division. It then expanded to acquiring Anime like Astro Boy and Pokémon
Pokémon
is a media franchise published and owned by the video game company Nintendo and created by Satoshi Tajiri in 1996. Originally released as a pair of interlinkable Game Boy role-playing video games developed by Game Freak, Pokémon has since become the second most successful and lucrative video...
. It expanded to distribution of Arthouse, Horror
Horror film
Horror films seek to elicit a negative emotional reaction from viewers by playing on the audience's most primal fears. They often feature scenes that startle the viewer through the means of macabre and the supernatural, thus frequently overlapping with the fantasy and science fiction genres...
and Asian Cinema
Asian cinema
Asian cinema refers to the film industries and films produced in the continent of Asia, and is also sometimes known as Eastern cinema. More commonly however, it is used to refer to the cinema of Eastern, Southeastern and Southern Asia. West Asian cinema is sometimes classified as part of Middle...
. In 1997 it was named the distributor for Madman Entertainment
Madman Entertainment
Madman Entertainment is an Australian company that distributes international films as well as Japanese anime and manga in Australia and New Zealand. The company is owned by Funtastic Limited and is one of the major entertainment companies in Australia. It employs 130 people and has an annual...
, who bought the Australian licenses to all Manga UK
Manga Entertainment
Manga Entertainment is a producer, licensor and distributor of Japanese animation in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, France, Australia and New Zealand...
anime, and later on acquired licenses from ADV Films and Funimation. In 2001 Siren was no longer a home entertainment distributor and is now solely an acquisition company, after it lost its biggest client, Madman Entertainment
Madman Entertainment
Madman Entertainment is an Australian company that distributes international films as well as Japanese anime and manga in Australia and New Zealand. The company is owned by Funtastic Limited and is one of the major entertainment companies in Australia. It employs 130 people and has an annual...
who established its distribution arm, The AV Channel.
In the early 2000s, Siren repositioned itself as a specialist licensing company. Distribution was outsourced to Shock Records
Shock Records
Shock Records is Australia's largest independent record label. It helps distribute records from overseas records labels such as Epitaph Records, and also for small record labels designed specifically for that band such as Cement Records...
. At the beginning of 2007 Siren parted ways with Shock Records
Shock Records
Shock Records is Australia's largest independent record label. It helps distribute records from overseas records labels such as Epitaph Records, and also for small record labels designed specifically for that band such as Cement Records...
, teaming up with independent sales and distribution company Gryphon Entertainment.
It is perhaps best known (as of now) as the company that has licensed & distributed the majority of titles from American anime company Sentai Filmworks (English dubbed titles; excluding license rescues from Geneon
Geneon
is a Japanese music, anime and home entertainment production and distribution enterprise headquartered in Akasaka, Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Geneon has been involved in the production and distribution of several anime in Japan...
), the successor to the now-defunct ADV Films, in Australia & New Zealand on region 4 DVD. However not all of the Sentai's titles are distributed by Siren Visual as Xam'd: Lost Memories
Xam'd: Lost Memories
Xam'd: Lost Memories, released in Japan as , is an anime series, conceptualized by Bones and co-developed by Sony Computer Entertainment, Aniplex and Bones, which made its debut on Sony's inaugural launch of the PlayStation Network video download service at E3 in the United States on July 16,...
, Highschool of the Dead
Highschool of the Dead
is a manga series written by Daisuke Satō and illustrated by Shōji Satō. The story follows a group of high school students caught in the middle of a zombie apocalypse...
, & Hyakka Ryōran Samurai Girls
Hyakka Ryōran Samurai Girls
, simply known as Samurai Girls, is a light novel series written by Akira Suzuki with illustrations by Niθ to commemorate Hobby Japan's 40th anniversary. The first volume was released by Hobby Japan on February 28, 2009, with a total of nine volumes available in Japan as of September 1, 2011 under...
are distributed by Madman Entertainment
Madman Entertainment
Madman Entertainment is an Australian company that distributes international films as well as Japanese anime and manga in Australia and New Zealand. The company is owned by Funtastic Limited and is one of the major entertainment companies in Australia. It employs 130 people and has an annual...
and Blue Drop
Blue Drop
is a Japanese science fiction yuri manga created by Akihito Yoshitomi. It comprises five chapters that were serialized in the shōnen manga magazine Dengeki Comic Gao! from June 2004 to December 2005, and later collected into a single volume...
, Broken Blade
Broken Blade
is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Yunosuke Yoshinaga. Flex Comix published the first tankōbon volume of the manga on April 10, 2007. The manga was previously licensed in North America by CMX, where three volumes were released before CMX shut down. The manga is licensed in Taiwan...
, Coicent
Coicent
is a 2011 Japanese anime original video animation release. The OVA was written and directed by Shuhei Morita and produced by Sunrise. This story takes place in 2710 when a boy named Shinichi follows a White deer and falls in love with a strange girl...
, Demon King Daimao, ef - a tale of memories, Five Numbers!
Five Numbers!
is a 2011 Japanese anime original video animation release. The OVA was directed by Hiroaki Ando, written by Dai Sato and produced by Sunrise. It is licensed in North America by Sentai Filmworks, it will be released alongside another Sunrise OVA Coicent on DVD and Blu-ray on November 22,...
, Golgo 13
Golgo 13
is a manga series written and illustrated by Takao Saito, published in Shogakukan's Big Comic magazine since January 1969. In 1976, the manga won the 21st Shogakukan Manga Award for general manga...
, Guin Saga
Guin Saga
is the title of a best-selling heroic fantasy novel series by the Japanese author Kaoru Kurimoto, in continuous publication since 1979. A record 100 volumes were originally planned, but the final total stands at 130 volumes, the last four published posthumously, with 21 side-story novels...
, ICE
ICE (anime)
is a 2007 original video animation created by Yasushi Akimoto and directed by Makoto Kobayashi. It is set in the ruins of Tokyo in the near future, after an unspecified catastrophe has led to the death of all human males and many females. The small groups of women who survive face the impending...
, Loups=Garous
Loups=Garous
is a 2010 animated science fiction film. It was directed by Junichi Fujisaku and produced by Production I.G and TransArts. The movie was released on August 28, 2010. Features music by the rock band SCANDAL, who are also featured in the film as cameos...
, Mardock Scramble
Mardock Scramble
is the name for a series of novels by Tow Ubukata, which were later adapted into a manga series and a trilogy anime film series. The story is about a girl named Rune Ballot who was taken in by a man named Shell who later killed her and left her for dead. She is saved and turned into a cyborg...
, Night Raid 1931, & Princess Resurrection
Princess Resurrection
is a supernatural, Horror, Comedy and Action manga by Yasunori Mitsunaga. The manga is serialized monthly in Monthly Shōnen Sirius magazine and published by Kodansha. An 26 episode anime series by Madhouse aired on TBS in 2007...
are yet to be licensed & distributed in Australia & New Zealand.
Notable releases
- Alejandro JodorowskyAlejandro JodorowskyAlejandro Jodorowsky Prullansky, known as Alejandro Jodorowsky, is a Chilean filmmaker, playwright, actor, author, comic book writer and spiritual guru...
's "The Holy Mountain (1973 film)","Fando y LisFando y LisFando y Lis is a film adaptation of a Fernando Arrabal play by the same name, and it is Alejandro Jodorowsky's first feature length film. Arrabal was working with Jodorowsky on performance art at the time...
" and "El TopoEl TopoEl Topo is a 1970 Spanish language allegorical, cult western movie and underground film, directed by and starring Alejandro Jodorowsky...
" - Ruggero DeodatoRuggero DeodatoRuggero Deodato is an Italian film director and screen writer, best known for directing violent and gory horror films. Deodato is infamous for his 1980 film Cannibal Holocaust.- Biography :...
's "Cannibal HolocaustCannibal HolocaustCannibal Holocaust is a 1980 Italian horror film directed by Ruggero Deodato from a screenplay by Gianfranco Clerici. Filmed in the Amazon Rainforest and dealing with indigenous tribes, it was cast mostly with United States actors and filmed in English to achieve wider distribution...
" - Peter JacksonPeter JacksonSir Peter Robert Jackson, KNZM is a New Zealand film director, producer, actor, and screenwriter, known for his The Lord of the Rings film trilogy , adapted from the novel by J. R. R...
's "Meet the FeeblesMeet the FeeblesMeet the Feebles is a 1989 black comedy film directed by Peter Jackson. It features Jim Henson-esque puppets in a perverse comic satire. Like Henson's Muppets, the Feebles are animal-figured puppets assembled together as members of a theatre troupe...
" - Studio 4°CStudio 4°Cis a Japanese animation studio founded by Eiko Tanaka in 1986. The name comes from the temperature at which water is most dense.-History:STUDIO4°C has produced numerous feature films, OVAs, and shorts. Early film titles include; Memories , Spriggan and Princess Arete...
's "Genius PartyGenius PartyGenius Party is an anthology of short animated films from Studio 4°C released on July 7, 2007. The short films are Japanese anime.A sequel called Genius Party Beyond was released on February 15, 2008, and includes most of the films which were finished but not included in the original Genius...
" and"Genius Party Beyond" - Rooster Teeth's "Red vs. BlueRed vs. BlueRed vs. Blue, often abbreviated as RvB, is a set of related comic science fiction video series created by Rooster Teeth Productions and distributed through the Internet and on DVD...
" - Most of the Sentai Filmworks (English dubbed and subbed; excluding license rescues from GeneonGeneonis a Japanese music, anime and home entertainment production and distribution enterprise headquartered in Akasaka, Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Geneon has been involved in the production and distribution of several anime in Japan...
) titles as of now (Angel Beats!Angel Beats!is a 13-episode Japanese anime television series produced by P.A. Works and Aniplex and directed by Seiji Kishi. The story was originally conceived by Jun Maeda, who also wrote the screenplay and composed the music with the group Anant-Garde Eyes, with original character design by Na-Ga; both Maeda...
, CanaanCanaan (anime)Canaan is a 13-episode anime television series, conceptualized by Type-Moon co-founders Kinoko Nasu and Takashi Takeuchi, based on the scenario that they created for the Nintendo Wii visual novel 428: Fūsa Sareta Shibuya de, which is noted for being one of the few games to be have been awarded a...
, Clannad, Clannad After Story, Clannad (film)Clannad (film)is a Japanese anime film directed by Osamu Dezaki and based on the visual novel of the same name by Key. Toei Animation announced at the Tokyo Anime Fair on March 23, 2006 that an animated film would be produced, and was released in Japanese theaters on September 15, 2007...
, Ghost HoundGhost Houndis an anime TV series, created by Production I.G and Masamune Shirow, noted for being the creator of the Ghost in the Shell series. The original concept and design was first developed by Shirow in 1987...
, Heaven's Memo Pad, Legends of the Dark King, NeedlessNeedlessis an action/comedy/science fiction manga and anime series by Kami Imai. Serialized in Shueisha's seinen magazine Ultra Jump beginning in 2004, an anime adaptation by Madhouse began airing on July 2, 2009.-Synopsis:...
, Tears to TiaraTears to TiaraTears to Tiara is a Japanese eroge tactical role-playing game developed by Leaf. It was first released for PC on April 28, 2005 in Japan. Then it was followed by 12 years old and up version released for the PlayStation 3 platform on July 17, 2008 in Japan, Hong Kong, and Taiwan in which the...
, Un-GoUn-Gois a 2011 anime television series produced by Bones which began airing on Fuji TV's noitaminA program block from October 14, 2011. Based on the noted Japanese intellectual and novelist Ango Sakaguchi's novel , the series is being directed by Seiji Mizushima and written by Shō Aikawa, who had...
).