Viz Media, LLC, headquartered in San Francisco, California, is an anime, manga and Japanese entertainment company founded in 1986 as Viz, LLC. In 2005, the Viz, LLC. and ShoPro Entertainment merged to form the current Viz Media, LLC which is jointly-owned by Japanese publishers Shogakukan and Shueisha, and Shogakukan's licensing division Shogakukan Productions (ShoPro Japan).^[1]

History

Seiji Horibuchi, originally from Tokushima Prefecture in Shikoku, moved to California in 1975. After living in the mountains for almost two years, he moved to San Francisco, were he started a business exporting American cultural items to Japan, and became a writer of cultural information. He also became interested in publishing Japanese manga in the United States, though he himself was not a fan of the Japanese comics until a visit to Japan in 1985 exposed him to Katsuhiro Otomo's single-volume title Domu (A Child's Dream). His idea came to fruition after he met Masahiro Ohga, then managing director of Shogakukan, in 1985 and shared his vision. Shogakukan provided Horibuichi with $200,000 in startup capital which Horibuichi used in 1986 to found Viz Communications.^[2][3]

Viz Communications released its first titles in 1987, which included Legend of Kamui, however sales were mediocre due to the specialist comic market being adverse to venturing into new territory. To counter-act this problem, Viz expanded into the general publishing business and began publishing various art related books in 1992. Into these titles, Horibuchi began publishing manga, calling them graphic novels so they would be carried by mainstream bookstores. The plan worked and after several years, leading booksellers began to have dedicated shelves for manga titles. Sales also picked up with Viz Communications acquired the license for the comedy series Ranma 1/2, which became an instant hit.^[2]

The company continued to see success when it expanded into the anime distribution market, began publishing Shonen Jump, an English adaptation of the popular Japanese magazine Weekly Sh?nen Jump. It also acquired another huge selling title, InuYasha. In the late 1990s, Viz began making the push to move into the European and South American markets.^[2]

In 2004, Viz Communications was merged with ShoPro Entertainment, funding company Shogakukan's American distribution division. Horibuchi became the new company's chairman. In 2005, Horibuchi started a related division, Viz Pictures, for releasing selected live-action films in the US to theaters and DVD.^[4]

Viz Media was awarded the "Manga Publisher of the Year" Gem Award by Diamond Comic Distributors in 2007. Viz also received an award for "Manga Trade Paperback of the Year" for its release of the fourteenth volume of the Naruto series.^[5]

Divisions

Viz Pictures

In 2005, Viz Pictures was officially formed as the company's division for releasing live-action Japanese films as theatrical releases in selected markets. According to Horibuchi, the company will focus on films that focus on the "Japanese 'kawaii (cute) and cool' pop culture."^[4] In 2007, the division released seven films to theaters, including Train Man: Densha Otoko and Honey and Clover. DVD releases for all Viz Pictures films are distributed exclusively by its parent, Viz Media.^[4]

J-Pop Center

In 2009, Viz is slated to open a three-story entertainment complex in San Francisco to be called the J-Pop Center. The center piece of the complex will be a 150-seat movie theater that will screen anime and Japanese live action films. The center will also have a cafe, a store selling anime and manga related items, and clothing stores offering Japanese clothing items. Though specific tenants have not been named, all tenants are expected to be ones that cater to some aspect of the Japanese popular culture.^[4]

Publications

For a list of anime and Japanese films released by Viz, see the Viz Media category. For manga titles released, see the Viz Media manga category.

Animerica

Animerica was one of the first magazines to review anime and manga introduced in North America. After a preview volume was released in November 1992, the monthly magazine was officially launched in March 1993. A sister publication, Animerica Extra, which focused on sh?jo titles followed in 1998

In 2004, Animerica Extra was canceled. In April 2005, the original Animerica was discontinued in its original format and no longer offered in newsstands or by subscription after the June 2005 issue. A quarterly digest-size leaflet size version bearing the same name is distributed for free by Viz representatives at anime conventions and in display stands at Borders, Waldenbooks and Best Buy stores.

Game On! USA

Manga Vizion

Pulp

Pulp was a monthly manga anthology introduced by Viz in 1997. The magazine featured more mature titles, marketed at adults rather than teen readers. Some of titles serialized in the magazine included: Uzumaki, Banana Fish, and Dance Till Tomorrow. The magazine was canceled in 2002.^[6]

Shonen Jump

Shonen Jump is a sh?nen manga anthology that debuted in November 2002, with a January 2003 cover date. Based on the popular Japanese anthology Weekly Sh?nen Jump, published by Shueisha, Shonen Jump is retooled for English readers and the American audience and is published monthly, instead of weekly. It features serialized chapters from seven manga series, and articles on Japanese language and culture, as well as manga, anime, video games, and figurines. In conjunction with the magazine, Viz launched new imprints for releasing media related to the series presented in the magazine, and other sh?nen works. This includes two new manga imprints, an anime DVD imprint, a fiction line for releasing light novels, a label for fan and data books, and a label for the release of art books.

Prior to the magazine's launch, Viz launched an extensive marketing campaign to promote the magazine and help it succeed where other manga anthologies in North America have failed. Shueisha purchased an equity interest in Viz to help fund the venture, and Cartoon Network, Suncoast, and Diamond Distributors became promotional partners in the magazine. The first issue required three printings to meet demand, with over 300,000 copies sold. It was awarded the ICv2 "Comic Product of the Year" award in December 2002, and has continued to enjoy high sales with a monthly circulation of 215,000 in 2008.

Shojo Beat

Shojo Beat is a sh?jo manga magazine Viz began releasing in June 2005 as a sister magazine for Shonen Jump. It features serialized chapters from six manga series, and articles on Japanese culture, manga, anime, fashion and beauty. Since its initial launch, the magazine has undergone two redesigns, becoming the first English anthology to use the two color tone pages common in Japanese manga anthologies. Viz launched related "Shojo Beat" imprints in its manga, light novel, and anime divisions to coordinate with the magazine's contents.

The initial release of Shojo Beat launched with a circulation of 20,000 copies. Its average circulation has increased to its current level of approximately 38,000 copies, with half of its circulation coming from subscriptions rather than store sales.

Criticism

Among the most common criticisms of Viz Media is that concerning its policies of Western localization; readers familiar with the original Japanese manuscripts have noticed serious liberties in the translations, as well as heavy art edits that are seen as detracting from the manga's quality.^[7] Numerous manga have several translation inconsistencies due to a frequent rotation of translators, and changes such as "panel swaps" from Japan's "right to left" reading format are maintained because Viz affirms such a format allows its products to be more accessible.^[8] Viz's ongoing popularity has not provided any incentive to change its policies^[9][10], and little was done to address reader complaints until Tokyopop emerged as a serious competitor between the years 2002?2004.^[11]

Additional complaints focus on Viz's strict policy of censorship; a number of panels in popular titles like Dragon Ball and its latter portion, renamed Dragon Ball Z to avoid confusion, were subjected to this treatment.^[12] Much of this censorship occurred after the previously mentioned titles were published in relatively unedited form. Viz's argument was that the increased censorship (from a "T" for "teen" rating to an "A" for "all audiences") allowed it to distribute manga in more popular marketing venues (such as Wal-Mart) and to earn greater profits from the marketing of its titles.^[13][14]

When Shueisha became a joint owner of Viz Media in 2002,^[15] both Shogakukan and Shueisha began to release manga exclusively through Viz. Shueisha's deal with Viz may have been prompted by competition with Raijin Comics, a rival manga publisher created in 2002 by editors and artists who had split off from Shueisha, taking their properties with them. Since 2002, most Shueisha manga have been exclusively published in the U.S. exclusively by Viz. There are exceptions; Shueisha permitted DC Comics' subsidiary CMX Manga to license Tenjho Tenge and Kamikaze Kaito Jeanne, and permitted Dark Horse Comics to license Gantz, Lady Snowblood, Shadow Lady and The Monkey King. Shueisha also permitted Tokyopop to license Kodocha, Marmalade Boy and Digimon Next along with Disney Publishing. In 2003, possibly in response to Shogakukan and Shueisha's co-ownership of Viz, Japanese publisher Kodansha formed a co-venture with Del Rey.^[16]

References

External links

• Viz Media America
• Viz Media Europe
• J-Pop Center website
• Viz Pictures website

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