The Crain's New York Business news source reports that the anime and manga distributor Central Park Media ( CPM ) filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy and has closed its doors as of Monday. According to Crain's, the company owes US$1.2 million to creditors. The company has not been active in releasing new titles in the past 12 months.

CPM and its Software Sculptors , U.S. Manga Corps , and Anime 18 labels were once the North American homes of such prominent works as Grave of the Fireflies , Utena , Mobile Police Patlabor , Record of Lodoss War , Slayers , Night on the Galactic Railroad , Project A-Ko , Dominion Tank Police , Descendants of Darkness , Demon City Shinjuku , Urotsukidoji , and La Blue Girl . It later branched out into the book publishing field by releasing Comic Party , Record of Lodoss War , Slayers , Embracing Love , Kizuna , and other titles under the CPM Manga and Be Beautiful Manga imprints. It sponsored the Big Apple Anime Fest earlier this decade.

Companies that file for bankruptcy under Chapter 7 of the Bankruptcy Code in the United States will face liquidation — unlike Chapter 11 and 13 bankruptcies which still allow companies to restructure and continue to operate.

CPM 's former management did not respond to ANN's request for comment.

Thank you to Jess Pavlovich for the news tip.

Update: Added the Be Beautiful imprint. Thanks, gynocrat_rex.

Update 2: CPM laid off staffers in its comic book and sales departments in 2005 due to slowing book sales and a change in its distribution system. It laid off additional staffers in 2006 after being "significantly impacted" by the retail chain owner Musicland's bankruptcy filing earlier that year.