In 1996, two men named Tim Anderson and Paul Wiegard launched a business from a garage that would eventually become the backbone of anime distribution across Australia and New Zealand. They called it Madman Entertainment, and it began as a humble mail order service selling imported anime titles on VHS tapes. This was a time when anime was a niche curiosity in Australia, far removed from the global phenomenon it is today. The founders were inspired by the success of Manga Entertainment in the United States and the United Kingdom, hoping to replicate that model down under. Their first major technical achievement came in 1995 when they became the second Australian distributor to author DVDs in-house, releasing the film Ghost in the Shell. This move signaled a shift from simple importation to active localization and production, setting a precedent for the industry. By 1998, the company had expanded its reach to television, airing Neon Genesis Evangelion on SBS TV, bringing the medium into living rooms across the country for the first time on a broadcast scale.
The Digital Transition
The year 2008 marked a pivotal turning point for the company as it navigated the rapidly changing landscape of digital media and physical media. On the 23rd of February 2008, Madman Entertainment announced a distribution deal with Viz Media to bring manga titles to Australia and New Zealand, a partnership that would last until April 2016 when Simon & Schuster took over the rights. The company also began exploring new ways to deliver content to consumers, launching the Madman Screening Room, a video on demand streaming service. School Rumble was the first title to grace this new platform, marking the beginning of the end for the era of purely physical media. In June 2009, the company released its first Blu-ray Disc title, The Transformers: The Movie, demonstrating their commitment to high-definition formats. That same year, they produced an English adaptation of Tamagotchi: The Movie, a 2007 film based on the popular digital pets from Bandai and WiZ. Although they intended to dub the sequel, Tamagotchi: Happiest Story in the Universe!, the project was cancelled for reasons that remain unknown to this day. These moves reflected a company trying to stay ahead of the curve in a market that was rapidly evolving.The Sony Acquisition
The corporate structure of the company underwent a dramatic transformation in the late 2010s, culminating in a major acquisition by a global entertainment giant. On the 17th of February 2018, Madman co-founder and CEO Tim Anderson confirmed that Sony Music Entertainment Japan subsidiary Aniplex had acquired a minority interest in Madman Anime Group, issuing an undisclosed number of shares. This was not merely a financial investment but a strategic move to integrate the Australian distributor into the global Sony ecosystem. The deal was finalized on the 6th of February 2019, when Madman Entertainment's owners, Five V Capital, sold Madman Anime Group to Aniplex for an undisclosed sum. This acquisition paved the way for a consolidation of international anime streaming services. On the 24th of September 2019, Aniplex and Sony Pictures Television announced that they were merging their international anime streaming services under a new joint venture comprising Funimation, Madman Anime Group, and Wakanim. This reorganization placed AnimeLab as a direct subsidiary of Funimation, effectively bringing the Australian operation under the umbrella of one of the world's largest entertainment conglomerates.