Even more surprising, the stories came not from anonymous teams of screenwriters, but were based on long-running stories by widely read comics (manga) artists revered as masters (sensei). The western cultural bias that comics are for children and those too stupid to read "real" books did not exist. On the contrary, manga occupied significant shelf space in every major bookstore and accounted for 27% of all books and magazines sold. One thing that appealed to Island Visual staffers was the auteur aspect of the enterprise. They were struck by the difference between these 600-page epics, usually created by one artist or small dedicated teams and the comic books they were used to--slender booklets on cheap paper produced by an army of hired hands. In Japan, being a comics artist wasn't an anonymous profession, but an avenue for rags to riches success like being a sports star or a rock singer.

While dazzled by these riches of the East, they were not entirely certain how to market them in the West. Serials and features ranged in subject matter from martial arts to mahjong. To break into the British market, sci-fi action adventure seemed like the category to concentrate on, so Island purchased a handful of epics they felt would appeal to the same audience as Akira. While limiting themselves genre-wise, they decided, whenever possible, to seek out the sensei--to try to get distribution rights for the work of manga and anime stars--artists like Masamune Shirow and directors like Mamoru Oshii.

A Music-Industry Strategy
Their first innovation was to use music-industry strategy in the video market. In the past, Island Records had spun off separate labels for soul, blues and R&B. Island Visual decided to do the same thing for Japanese animation. Once again, they were taken by surprise when the offshoot quickly outgrew the tree. In 1993, Manga Entertainment, a separate company devoted solely to anime, was formed, with Guiness as Director of Acquisition and Production.

Mad Bull. © Manga Entertaiment

To defray the massive costs of translation and dubbing, Manga went looking for an American partner, but none of the US companies had good distribution. They were essentially mail order businesses serving a small devoted group of dedicated fans. Manga then got the idea of making a distribution arrangement with a major record company. They approached Marvin Gleicher, head of Island's alternative rock subsidiary, Smash Records, in Chicago, and asked him to set up the deal. Would he leave behind 20 years in the music business to take the video plunge?

A year earlier, just by chance, Gleicher had caught Masamune Shirow's Appleseed on the Sci-Fi Channel. This feature about a cop and her cyborg partner in computer-controlled, inhumanly perfect post-World War III society inspired him to go looking for more Japanese animation. He brought home Robotech and the first Giant Robo and soon he was hooked. "My wife would hear these strange sounds emanating from the next room--the original Japanese dialogue--and ask, "What are you listening to?" It took less than a day for Gleicher to take up the offer and open Manga US. Does he miss the music business? Not for a minute. "I worked with good bands, but there were plenty of jerks. There are a lot of scumbags in film," he points out, "but at least they're better dressed."

Manga cut a distribution deal with Polygram. Their game plan: to run the campaign through a major distributor accustomed to selling big hits, yet employ the marketing style of an indie record label ... "We'd simply expose the public to the genre so they'd fall in love with it as we had," Gleicher explained. "We set up 150 university animation society screenings for free or for charity. We licensed stuff to MTV, and also promoted ourselves on the Sci-Fi Channel and [the video music channel] The Box."