Media Blasters


Media Blasters is an American entertainment corporation founded by John Sirabella and Sam Liebowitz, based in New York City. It is in the business of licensing, translating, and releasing to the North American market manga and anime compilations, Asian films and television series, adult anime, monster movies, concert films, independent films, horror films and exploitation flms.
The company has been releasing translated anime and concert films since May 1997. The company first released adult anime. In 2004, Media Blasters began publishing manga. The company first published shōnen manga titles for older readers, and later so it increased its yaoi manga line.
In early 2012, not long after Bandai Entertainment announced its restructuring plans, Media Blasters' John Sirabella announced the laying off of approximately ten employees, which reduced its workforce by about sixty percent. Sirabella has said that this will not affect production rates. Digital distribution for Media Blasters' titles are available on PlayStation Network, Xbox, Netflix, Vudu and Amazon Video, some titles through the add-on subscription of Toku, Shudder, Comic-Con HQ or other channels.

History

Founded in 1997, Media Blasters is a New York-based-company that has several divisions that target different aspects of the video market. Media Blasters licenses works for release and is involved in the production, localizing, and distribution of works. The Animeworks division was created in 1997, and focuses on localization and distribution of anime titles, but has also licensed non-anime works such as Invader Zim. The adult label Kitty Media was also started in 1997 and features explicit hentai works. Created in 1998, Tokyo Shock is Media Blaster's Asian cinema division, which is responsible for American localization of works such as Zatoichi:The Blind Swordsman of the Zatoichi franchise. Another division, Shriek Show, was founded in 2001 to focus on re-mastering horror titles for DVD release.
At the height of its success, Media Blasters released around five titles a month and had about 50 employees, but as the market decreased so did the company. As of April 2012, the company was listed as dissolved by the New York Department of State.

Toku broadcasts

In January 2016, the television network TOKU was launched, premiering for the first time on television many anime and live action titles from the Media Blasters catalog, currently broadcasting 16 anime titles of the company, including Kite and Ladies versus Butlers!, it is the main anime provider of the network.
The most recent anime of Media Blasters premiered in the network has been Queen's Blade: Wandering Warrior, on June 5, 2017.

Divisions

Anime Works

Anime Works is the label used for the bulk of anime titles. It also released the informative show Cosplay Encyclopedia in 1999, which showcased the world of cosplay for North American audiences. The Anime Works label is best known for licensing the Kite film series for home video release.

Kitty Media specializes in adult anime and pornographic films. Kitty Media also specializes in films and anime series that contain scenes of rape and graphic sexuality as well as licensing the director's cut versions of Kite and Mezzo Forte. Its first release, and the first release by Media Blasters as a whole, was Rei-Lan: Orchid Emblem. Recently, the division began releasing some H-anime titles previously licensed by NuTech Digital, which lost the licenses because of royalty litigation as well as the Lady Ninja Kasumi series. Media Blasters also publishes both hentai and yaoi manga under the Kitty Media imprint. Kitty will continue to distribute releases online. It has also released several titles formerly released by Central Park Media's Anime 18 imprint.
In 2011, Kitty Media entered a licensing partnership with Fakku to stream select titles, starting with Immoral Sisters. In 2017, Kitty Media was acquired by Fakku for digital distribution, while physical distribution will still be maintained by Media Blasters.
The Tokyo Shock label covers live action movies and television series from Japan and other Asian markets, such as several notable films from Toho Co. Ltd and the renowned Shaw Brothers Ltd including but not limited to the following:
The Shriek Show label handles obscure horror and exploitation films such as ', 2019: After the Fall of New York, All the Colors of the Dark, Amok Train, Anthropophagus: The Grim Reaper, The Being, Beyond the Darkness, Black Demons, Burial Ground: The Nights of Terror, The Comeback, The Confessional: House of Mortal Sin, Cop Killers, The Dark, Delirium, Demonia, Demons III: The Ogre, Grizzly, Day of the Animals, ', Die Screaming, Marianne, Dracula vs. Frankenstein, Eaten Alive!, The Flesh and Blood Show, Flesh Eater, Frankenstein's Bloody Terror, Frightmare, The House of Clocks, House of Whipcord, The House on the Edge of the Park, Jungle Holocaust, Just Before Dawn, A Lizard in a Woman's Skin, Man from Deep River, Massacre in Dinosaur Valley, Murder Rock, The New Barbarians, The Other Hell, Scream: The Outing, The Sweet House of Horrors, Syndicate Sadists, Touch of Death, Zombi 3, Zombie 4: After Death and Zombie 5: Killing Birds.

Fever Dreams LLC

Fever Dreams specializes in original films such as: