ADV Films

Note : ADV stands for "Animation Dubbing Vision."

A.D. Vision

1st Logo (1992-1995)

Nicknames : "Early A.D. Vision", "A.D. Vision Star Grid"

Logo : On a black background, we see stars and at the bottom a rainbow-colored grid, a CGI rendition of the A.D. Vision print logo of the time zooms out and shines three times, each time followed by a star shining.

FX/SFX/Cheesy Factor : The zoom-out and the shining, which is primitive even for the time period.

Music/Sounds : None.

Availability : A pretty tough find. Your best bet is to find titles packaged in black Amaray cases with the A.D. Vision logo on the artwork. A hint: it appeared on the very first subtitled releases of the early volumes of The New Cutey Honey and Devil Hunter Yohko OVA's. This logo also appeared in an ADV logo montage on the DVD collection of the latter.

Scare Factor : None.

2nd Logo (1995-1998)

Nicknames : "A.D.V.", "Liquid Spheres", "Rainbow Spheres"

Logo : On a grey background, three spheres rise up from a pool of liquid and start spinning as the background tilts and spins, revealing a yellow/black background. The grey base turns into a rectangle and the spheres start to form the letters "A D V" and 3 smaller spheres take place next to each letter. A multi-coloured "A.D. VISION" wipes across the screen and turns white as it settles under the shapes. The logo shines.

FX/SFX : All the CGI is great for the time.

Music/Sounds : A synthesizer fanfare with a few drum beats and a "whoosh" as "A.D. VISION" wipes across the screen.

Availability : Seen on most early ADV tapes, like the early Neon Genesis Evangelion and Blue Seed tapes as well as the first releases of Dragon Half and801 T.T.S. Airbats. The logo is printed on the cover of all VHS tapes that have it. Also appears on the Devil Hunter Yohko DVD as part of a logo montage.

Scare Factor : None to low, because the A. D. VISION wiping across the screen might not sit well with viewers. However, this logo is a favorite of many.

ADV Films

1st Logo (1998-1999)

Nickname : "Laser ADV"

Logo : On a black background, we see lasers forming white lines. The camera gradually pans over the white lines, which eventually end up forming the new ADV logo. When the logo is finally finished, it turns blue, and a comet shoots by, making the word "FILMS" fade in.

FX/SFX : The lasers forming the white lines, the logo turning blue, the comet. The CGI is good for the time period, but not as good as the 2nd A.D. Vision logo.

Music/Sounds : Same as the 2nd A.D. Vision logo, but shorter and with additional laser sound effects.

Availability : Seen on ADV tapes of the era, including Sakura Wars, Burn-Up: EXCESS, and Delinquent in Drag. Also appears on the logo montage at the beginning of Devil Hunter Yohko on DVD.

Scare Factor : Low to medium, because of the animation. However, if you're not fond of lasers, it's definitely high.

2nd Logo (1999-2002)

Nicknames : "ADV Circle", "Astrological Symbols"

Logo : There is an astrological symbol of the Sun flashing followed by a bright orange-red flash of light in the middle of the screen, which creates a blue background with various astrological symbols in an arrangement from left to right. The symbols start to flash to arrange it to look like this: "☉☿♀⊕♂♃♄♅♆♇", while on the last flash of the fourth symbol (Earth), astrological symbols start to glow and swirl around, forming the stylized letters "ADV". A white circle forms around the letters and a mass of tiny squares appear in the blurry transition below, forming the world "FILMS".

FX/SFX : Astrological symbols and swirl are all very well animated.

Music/Sounds : Futuristic sound effects throughout; no music apart from a slight synth drone at the very end.

Availability : Seen on all ADV tapes and DVDs from the era, most notably Sonic the Hedgehog: The Movie.

Scare Factor : Low. The sudden appearence of an astrogical symbol of the Sun followed by a flash at the start may startle first-time viewers, otherwise it is completely harmless.

3rd Logo (2002-2009)

Nickname : "Distorted ADV", "Glitchy ADV"

Logo : On a black background, a circle shape zooms in and starts swirling about. We then zoom in and pan across a close-up ADV Films logo (without the circle) with video clips of anime series released by ADV Films. The ADV logo flies back and collides with the circle, which causes static to appear on the screen and the logo to distort and glitch up. There is a flash, and the same ADV logo from the previous logo appears (there is another quick distort on this shot).

Variant : There's a 10th Anniversary variant that was used for the logo's first year. After the logo is in place, the camera zooms out, revealing a ring reading "10TH ANNIVERSARY" with the background lighting up to blue, followed by another quick distort.

FX/SFX : Rather dull animation in comparison to the previous logos.

Music/Sounds : Like the previous logo; just some sound effects, consisting of "wobble"-type sounds, an ethereal choir, screeching static noises, followed by those sounds, depending on these variants:
 * Regular: Crystallic sparkling sound, one more final screeching static noise when the logo quickly spins around, followed by another "wobble"-type sound.
 * 10th Anniversary: An electricity zapping sound followed by a hollow reactor sound, which is held for the longer time followed by the same "wobble"-type sound from regular variant when the logo zooms quickly.

Availability : No longer current since ADV Films is now in diversity and has been renamed Section23 Films, but it appeared on their final releases includingChrono Crusade, Azumanga Daioh, and Elfen Lied. Also on the Devil Hunter Yohko ADV logo montage. Scare Factor : Low to high. The sudden appearance of the ring at the beginning, glitch-ups, sounds, close-up animation, the sudden phasing at the end, and the fact that it follows a warning with a black background can scare first-time viewers.

4th Logo (2007?-2009?)

Logo : On a black background, a sketchy drawing of the ADV letters rotates up with the lines wiggling. The lines disappear and a ring in the same lined fashion rotates around with the rotating letters as the middle of the background becomes purple. The letters and ring fill with color and they transform from 2D to 3D as they flip, zoom, and rotate around more until the letters fly off screen and the ring flips another time and shines as it's gets filled in with black. The letters with "FILMS" turns and settles on the ring, forming the logo. The logo shines and the purple disappears and the logo becomes lines again and phases away. In 2007, the text "15TH ANNIVERSARY" was below it.

FX/SFX : The spinning and flipping as well as the transformation from 2D to 3D. Less dull than before, but still dull animation.

Music/Sounds : A couple of scratches, whooshes and shining sounds throughout with a little ditty near the end.

Availability : Rare. Seen on some releases co-released from Central Park Media. Used in tandem with the 3rd logo.

Scare Factor : Low. The in-your-face animation and sudden phaze out at the end may surprise some, but this less creepy than the 3rd logo.