AnimEigo Announces The Anime Business Documentary
The New Series Features Interviews with North American Anime Industry Luminaries; Episode 1 is Available Now on YouTube
Introduction
Anime distributor AnimEigo and parent company MediaOCD have announced the release of The Anime Business, a first-of-its-kind documentary series featuring interviews with a variety of pioneers in the Western anime industry.
As anime has grown from modest beginnings into a multi-billion-dollar global industry, the documentary provides insights from many notable figures who played crucial roles in popularizing the genre in North America at various stages of its evolution.
Watch Episode 1 Now
Episode 1 is available now on the official AnimEigo YouTube channel:
It features an interview with John O’Donnell, former Managing Director of Central Park Media.
Upcoming Episodes
Episode 2 (March 2025)
- Featuring Robert Napton, former Director of Marketing and Producer of US Renditions at Bandai Entertainment.
Episode 3 (April 2025)
- Featuring Tim Eldred, writer and founder of OurStarBlazers.com.
All episodes will be available in English. Japanese subtitles will also be available via a special grant from the Kleckner Foundation. Additional episodes and interviews are currently in production.
Support Future Episodes
AnimEigo and MediaOCD invite fans to help support and crowdfund future episodes of The Anime Business. Donations can be made at:
About The Anime Business
The Anime Business is an ongoing documentary series that showcases the entrepreneurs and visionaries who helped pioneer and shape the North American anime industry. The series is produced and hosted by industry veteran Justin Sevakis, founder of MediaOCD and CEO of AnimEigo.
About Justin Sevakis
Justin Sevakis was the original founder of Anime News Network in 1998, contributing many of the site’s most popular columns and co-hosting ANNCast, the #1 anime podcast worldwide, from 2009–2015. He was also the first in-house video and subtitle editor at Central Park Media, working on iconic titles like Grave of the Fireflies and Project A-ko.
With his current company, MediaOCD, Sevakis has produced over 1,600 Blu-ray discs for the North American market, pioneering restoration efforts for classic anime including:
- Project A-ko
- Digimon Adventure
- Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie
- The upcoming Macross II
Sevakis acquired anime distributor AnimEigo in 2024.
About AnimEigo
AnimEigo is a division of MediaOCD and was founded in 1989 as one of the first distributors focused on anime and Japanese live-action films in the United States and Canada. Over the last 35 years, AnimEigo has consistently broadened the market for Japanese content, cultivating audiences for new film genres.
Renowned for high-quality translations, subtitles, and dubbing, AnimEigo has released a wide variety of classic anime titles.
For more information, please visit:
—Official Press Relase
