Vértice Cine

Logo descriptions by bigladiesman

Logo captures by Eric S.

Video capture courtesy of Eric S.

Background: Based in Barcelona, Spain, Manga Films was created in 1993 as a distributor for Japanese anime (mostly from Toei Animation) and Asiatic action and horror films. Its success took it to diversify its catalog in the late '90s, starting to distribute independent American films and many British movies and TV shows (sometimes under the name of its subsidiary Sherlock Media), and even entering in the production world. Nowadays Manga Films is maybe the most powerful Spanish-based independent media distributor: for instance, it currently holds he rights of all the RKO library in Spain as well as a major part of the Hammer Productions library. Their website is here.

1st Logo

(1993-1999)

Nicknames: "Fire!", "Anime no Fayaboruu", "Anime Fireball", "Red-Hot Metal"

Logo: On a dark blue background, we see a fireball crossing the screen diagonally from left to right. Then "MANGA" (in silver and in 3D) flips and zooms out to the center of the screen, letter by letter. Then a huge burst of fire engulfs the screen and turns the logo red. A outline of the logo zooms out and turns the logo 2D, as a light streak forms the word "F I L M S" in white. The URL of the company's site fades in below.

FX/SFX: The fire, the letters turning from 3D to 2D.

Music/Sounds: A rising synth sound and a calmer ascending series of pings, followed by a Japanese folk theme with powerful percussion when the fire bursts, and synths that end with a little "ping".

Availability: Extremely rare. It appears on Manga Films tapes from the era, like its Dragon Ball GT release. On later VHS releases (for example on a Monty Python's Flying Circus VHS from 2000) it was substituted by the next logo. The still version (with no website) is preserved on the Spanish DVD releases of Torrente (1998).

Editor's Note: None.

2nd Logo

(2000-)

Nickname: "Orbiting Cubes"

Logo: On a black background, some red glowing lines start zooming out while twisting. As they make their way, they reveal themselves as three rectangles that keep twisting and finally merging together with a quick flash. Then a streak of identical rectangles is formed and we zoom through it at a very high speed while in the background some vertical and horizontal hyperspace-like lines appear. At the end of the streak we reach a web-like structure formed by moving lines which are formed by 0's, 1's, and the word "films". In the web, four stars are formed (distributed in a way that resembles part of the Great Bear constellation) and merge together as a set of silver cubes enters the scene and starts orbiting the new star, which glows, rotates and moves down until disappearing. The cubes then go out of orbit and start falling until crashing - perfectly aligned and leaving trails of light - into some kind of floor. The floor zooms out as white trails form letters in a down-to-up pattern, leaving the words "manga films" as a white, glowing rectangle surrounds the now finished logo.

FX/SFX: Very nice CGI animation that features glowing lines, weird moves and angles and flashes.

Music/Sounds: Some "whoosh" sounds, followed by a dramatic fanfare with synths and strings.

Availability: Fairly common.

Editor's Note: None.