While Anime has been licensed by its Japanese owners for use outside of Japan since at least the 1960s, the practice became well-established in the United States in the late 1970s/early 1980s, when such TV series as Gatchaman and Captain Harlock were licensed from their Japanese parent companies for distribution in the US market, often with fairly dramatic changes to the original concepts and storylines. The trend towards American distribution of anime continued into the 1980s with the licensing of titles such as Voltron and the 'creation' of new series such as Robotech through use of source material from several original series. // Atom, star of the long-running science fiction series Mighty Atom (also known as Astro Boy to Western audiences). ... The 1960s decade refers to the years from 1960 to 1969, inclusive. ... The 1970s decade refers to the years from 1970 to 1979, inclusive. ... The 1980s decade refers to the years from 1980 to 1989, inclusive. ... Categories: Stub ... Captain Harlock in Galaxy Express 999 the movie Captain Harlock (宇宙海賊キャプテンハーロック Uchū Kaizoku Kyaputen Hārokku, Space Pirate Captain Harlock (also transliterated Captain Herlock)) is the main character of many animated Japanese series and manga by writer/artist Leiji Matsumoto. ... // Atom, star of the long-running science fiction series Mighty Atom (also known as Astro Boy to Western audiences). ... The 1980s decade refers to the years from 1980 to 1989, inclusive. ... Voltron is a shape-changing giant mecha robot first featured in the 1980s animated television series Voltron, Defender of the Universe. ... Robotech is a popular science fiction and anime franchise that was launched by an 85-episode animated television series about three successive extraterrestrial invasions of Earth. ...

In the early 1990s, several companies began to experiment with licensing less children-oriented material. Some, such as A.D. Vision, and Central Park Media and its imprints, achieved fairly substantial commercial success and went on to become major players in the now very lucrative American anime market. Others, such as AnimEigo, achieved more limited success. Many companies created directly by Japanese parent companies did not do as well, most releasing only one or two titles before folding their American operations. The 1990s decade refers to the years from 1990 to 1999, inclusive. ... A.D. Vision (commonly referred to as ADV) is a Houston, Texas based international multimedia entertainment company, active in home video production and distribution, broadcast television, theatrical film distribution, merchandising, original productions, magazine and comic book publishing and is the largest anime company in North America. ... Central Park Media is a distributor of East Asian cinema, television, and comics. ... AnimEigo is an American licensor and distributor, within the United States and Canada, of Japanese anime such as Urusei Yatsura, Oh My Goddess!, Vampire Princess Miyu, Gainaxs classic industry sendup Otaku no Video, the BubbleGum Crisis OVA series, and Kimagure Orange Road. ...