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Viz Media
Type Private
Founded San Francisco, California (1986)
Founder Seiji Horibuchi
Headquarters San Francisco, California U.S.
Area served North America, Europe, South America
Key people Seiji Horibuchi
Industry publication
Owner Shogakukan, Shueisha, Shogakukan Productions
Employees 160 (as of 2007)[1]
Divisions Viz Pictures, J-Pop Center
Website http://www.vizmedia.com/

Viz Media, LLC, headquartered in San Francisco, California, is an anime, manga and Japanese entertainment company founded in 1986 as Viz, LLC. The term privately held company refers to ownership of a business company in two different ways first referring to ownership by non-governmental organizations and second The City and County of San Francisco is the fourth most populous city An entrepreneur is a person who has possession over a company enterprise, or Venture, and assumes significant accountability for the inherent risks and the outcome The City and County of San Francisco is the fourth most populous city The United States of America —commonly referred to as the South America is a Continent of the Americas, situated entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a For other uses of this term see Industry (disambiguation An industry (from Latin industrius, "diligent industrious" To publish is to make content Publicly known. The term is most frequently applied to the distribution of text or images on paper or to the placing of content Ownership is the state or fact of exclusive rights and control over Property, which may be an object, land/real estate, Intellectual property is a Japanese publisher of dictionaries, Literature, Manga, Non-fiction, DVDs and other media in Japan. is a major publisher in Japan, headquartered in Tokyo. The company was founded in 1925 as the entertainment-related publishing division of Japanese publisher Shogakukan is a Japanese publisher of dictionaries, Literature, Manga, Non-fiction, DVDs and other media in Japan. Employment is a Contract between two parties, one being the employer and the other being the employee. A division of a business entity is a portion of that business that operates under a different name A website (alternatively web site or Web site, a back-construction from the Proper noun World Wide Web) is a collection of Web pages The City and County of San Francisco is the fourth most populous city (anime in Japanese, ˈmɑŋgə is the Japanese word for Comics (sometimes called komikku コミック and print Cartoons In their modern form manga date from shortly For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Japan topics. See also Entertainment (disambiguation and The Entertainer (disambiguation Entertainment is an activity designed to give people 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). is a Japanese publisher of dictionaries, Literature, Manga, Non-fiction, DVDs and other media in Japan. is a major publisher in Japan, headquartered in Tokyo. The company was founded in 1925 as the entertainment-related publishing division of Japanese publisher Shogakukan is a Japanese publisher of dictionaries, Literature, Manga, Non-fiction, DVDs and other media in Japan. [2]

Contents

History

Seiji Horibuchi, originally from Tokushima Prefecture in Shikoku, moved to California in 1975. California ( is a US state on the West Coast of the United States, along the Pacific Ocean. 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. The City and County of San Francisco is the fourth most populous city 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). ˈmɑŋgə is the Japanese word for Comics (sometimes called komikku コミック and print Cartoons In their modern form manga date from shortly is a Japanese Manga artist and director He is perhaps best known for being the creator of the manga Akira and its anime adaptation, which are extremely His idea came to fruition after he met Masahiro Ohga, then managing director of Shogakukan, in 1985 and shared his vision. is a Japanese publisher of dictionaries, Literature, Manga, Non-fiction, DVDs and other media in Japan. Shogakukan provided Horibuichi with $200,000 in startup capital which Horibuichi used in 1986 to found Viz Communications. The United States dollar ( sign: $; code: USD) is the unit of Currency of the United States; it has also been [1][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. is a Manga by the prominent Japanese Mangaka Sanpei Shirato. It ran from December 1964 to July 1971 in the monthly Gekiga magazine Garo 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. A 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. is a Japanese Manga series written and illustrated by Rumiko Takahashi with an Anime adaptation [1]

The company continued to see success when it expanded into the anime distribution market, began publishing an English version of the popular Japanese magazine Shonen Jump, and acquired another huge selling title, InuYasha. (anime in Japanese, sometimes known as Weekly Jump and better known as Shōnen Jump, is one of the longest-running weekly Manga compilations in Japan full title ( romanized as INUYASHA In the late 1990s, Viz began making the push to move into the European and South American markets. [1]

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. Diamond Comic Distributors Inc (often called Diamond Comics, DCD, or casually Diamond) is the largest Comic book distributor Viz also received an award for "Manga Trade Paperback of the Year" for its release of the fourteenth volume of the Naruto series. is an ongoing Japanese Manga series written and illustrated by Masashi Kishimoto with an Anime adaptation [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. is a Japanese Movie, television series, Manga, Novel, and other media, all based on the purportedly true story of a 23-year-old is a Japanese Manga series written and illustrated by Chika Umino. 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]

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. [6] 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. [7] Viz's ongoing popularity has not provided any incentive to change its policies[8][9], and little was done to address reader complaints until Tokyopop emerged as a serious competitor between the years 2002–2004. For the music movie see Tokyo Pop. Tokyopop, stylized TOKYOPOP, and formerly known as Mixx, is a distributor licensor [10]

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. Censorship is the suppression of speech or deletion of communicative material which may be considered objectionable harmful or sensitive as determined by a censor [11] 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. Wal-Mart Stores Inc (or Walmart as written in its new logo is an American public corporation that runs a chain of large discount department stores [12][13]

When Shueisha became a joint owner of Viz Media in 2002,[14] both Shogakukan and Shueisha began to release manga exclusively through Viz. is a major publisher in Japan, headquartered in Tokyo. The company was founded in 1925 as the entertainment-related publishing division of Japanese publisher Shogakukan 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. RAIJIN COMICS was a Manga anthology published in North America by the now-defunct Gutsoon! Entertainment and largely backed by the Sega 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. DC Comics is an American comic book and related media company CMX is a division of Wildstorm Productions, an Imprint of DC Comics which in turn is owned by Time Warner. is an is a Fantasy Shōjo manga by Arina Tanemura. It was initially called Phantom-Thief Jeanne by its North American licensor CMX Manga Dark Horse Comics is one of the largest independent American Comic book publishers behind dominant publishers Marvel Comics and DC Comics is a Japanese Manga and Anime series written and illustrated by Hiroya Oku. is a Manga written by Kazuo Koike and illustrated by Kazuo Kamimura, and serialized in Shueisha 's Weekly Playboy. is a Manga series written and illustrated by Masakazu Katsura. also known as Katsuya Terada's The Monkey King, is a Dark fantasy Manga series written and illustrated in full color by Katsuya Terada. In 2003, possibly in response to Shogakukan and Shueisha's co-ownership of Viz, Japanese publisher Kodansha formed a co-venture with Del Rey. is the largest Japanese publisher headquartered in ( Bunkyo) Tokyo. is the Manga -publishing Imprint of Del Rey Books, a branch of Ballantine Books, which in turn is part of Random House, the publishing division [15]

Publications

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

References

  1. ^ a b c d Oikawa, Tomohiro (2007-09-01). Animerica is one of the original Magazines reviewing Anime and Manga in North America. Animerica Extra was a monthly Shōjo Manga Magazine that was published in North America by Viz LCC (now VIZ Media) from Shojo Beat is a Shōjo Manga magazine published in North America by Viz Media. sometimes known as Weekly Jump and better known as Shōnen Jump, is one of the longest-running weekly Manga compilations in Japan Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Events 462 - Possible start of first Byzantine indiction cycle. Weekend Beat: Cashing in on over-the-counter culture. Asahi Weekly. Asahi Shimbun Company. Retrieved on 2008-03-12. 2008 ( MMVIII) is the current year in accordance with the Gregorian calendar, a Leap year that started on Tuesday of the Common Events 538 - Witiges, king of the Ostrogoths ends his siege of Rome and retreats to Ravenna, leaving
  2. ^ About Our Company. Viz Media. Retrieved on 2008-03-12. 2008 ( MMVIII) is the current year in accordance with the Gregorian calendar, a Leap year that started on Tuesday of the Common Events 538 - Witiges, king of the Ostrogoths ends his siege of Rome and retreats to Ravenna, leaving
  3. ^ Reisman, Will (2008-01-21). 2008 ( MMVIII) is the current year in accordance with the Gregorian calendar, a Leap year that started on Tuesday of the Common Events 1189 - Philip II of France and Richard I of England begin to assemble troops to wage the Third Crusade. Seiji Horibuchi: Japanese culture on U.S. shores. Examiner. com. Retrieved on 2008-03-12. 2008 ( MMVIII) is the current year in accordance with the Gregorian calendar, a Leap year that started on Tuesday of the Common Events 538 - Witiges, king of the Ostrogoths ends his siege of Rome and retreats to Ravenna, leaving
  4. ^ a b c d Interview With Viz Media's Seiji Horibuchi On Viz Media's Live Action Initiative. ICv2 (2007-06-13). Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Events 1525 - Martin Luther marries Katharina von Bora, against the Celibacy rule decreed by the Roman Catholic Church for Retrieved on 2008-03-12. 2008 ( MMVIII) is the current year in accordance with the Gregorian calendar, a Leap year that started on Tuesday of the Common Events 538 - Witiges, king of the Ostrogoths ends his siege of Rome and retreats to Ravenna, leaving
  5. ^ Viz Wins Two 2007 Gem Manga Awards from Diamond. Anime News Network (2008-04-07). Anime News Network (ANN is an Anime industry News Website that reports on the status of Anime, Manga, Japanese popular 2008 ( MMVIII) is the current year in accordance with the Gregorian calendar, a Leap year that started on Tuesday of the Common Events 529 - First draft of Corpus Juris Civilis (a fundamental work in Jurisprudence) is issued by Eastern Roman Emperor Retrieved on 2008-04-07. 2008 ( MMVIII) is the current year in accordance with the Gregorian calendar, a Leap year that started on Tuesday of the Common Events 529 - First draft of Corpus Juris Civilis (a fundamental work in Jurisprudence) is issued by Eastern Roman Emperor
  6. ^ Rosenfelder, Mark (July 1996). What the translators did to Ranma. Zompist. Retrieved on 2006-09-30. Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. Events 1399 - Henry IV is proclaimed King of England. 1744 - France and Spain defeat the
  7. ^ What Manga Right to Left — Will It Fly?. ICv2 (2002-03-08). See also 2002 (disambiguation Year 2002 ( MMII) was a Common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. Events 1618 - Johannes Kepler discovers the third law of planetary motion. Retrieved on 2006-09-30. Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. Events 1399 - Henry IV is proclaimed King of England. 1744 - France and Spain defeat the
  8. ^ Pokemon is America's best-selling comic book. Anime News Network (1999-06-24). Year 1999 ( MCMXCIX) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display full 1999 Gregorian calendar) Events 972 - Battle of Cedynia, the first documented victory of Polish forces takes place Retrieved on 2006-09-30. Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. Events 1399 - Henry IV is proclaimed King of England. 1744 - France and Spain defeat the
  9. ^ Manga Trade Paperback Sales Exploding. ICv2 (2002-03-10). See also 2002 (disambiguation Year 2002 ( MMII) was a Common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. Events 241 BC - First Punic War: Battle of the Aegates Islands - The Romans sink the Carthaginian fleet bringing Retrieved on 2006-09-30. Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. Events 1399 - Henry IV is proclaimed King of England. 1744 - France and Spain defeat the
  10. ^ Manga Trade Paperback Sales Exploding. ICv2 (2002-03-10). See also 2002 (disambiguation Year 2002 ( MMII) was a Common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. Events 241 BC - First Punic War: Battle of the Aegates Islands - The Romans sink the Carthaginian fleet bringing Retrieved on 2006-09-30. Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. Events 1399 - Henry IV is proclaimed King of England. 1744 - France and Spain defeat the
  11. ^ Viz Unleashes Uncensored Dragon Ball. ICv2 (2001-03-11). Year 2001 ( MMI) was a Common year starting on Monday according to the Gregorian calendar. Events 1425 BC - Thutmose III, Pharaoh of Egypt, dies (according to the Low Chronology of the 18th Dynasty Retrieved on 2006-09-30. Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. Events 1399 - Henry IV is proclaimed King of England. 1744 - France and Spain defeat the
  12. ^ Viz and Shueisha To Launch Mass Market Boys Magazine in US. ICv2 (2002-06-10). See also 2002 (disambiguation Year 2002 ( MMII) was a Common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. Events 1190 - Third Crusade: Frederick I Barbarossa drowns in the Sally River while leading an army to Jerusalem Retrieved on 2006-09-30. Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. Events 1399 - Henry IV is proclaimed King of England. 1744 - France and Spain defeat the
  13. ^ Interview with Viz Management, Part I. ICv2 (2002-08-13). See also 2002 (disambiguation Year 2002 ( MMII) was a Common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. Events 3114 BC - According to the Lounsbury correlation the start of the Maya calendar. Retrieved on 2006-09-30. Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. Events 1399 - Henry IV is proclaimed King of England. 1744 - France and Spain defeat the
  14. ^ Shueisha Buys Equity Interest in Viz. ICv2 (2002-08-02). See also 2002 (disambiguation Year 2002 ( MMII) was a Common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. Events 338 BC - A Macedonian army led by Philip II defeated the combined forces of Athens and Thebes in the Retrieved on 2006-09-30. Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. Events 1399 - Henry IV is proclaimed King of England. 1744 - France and Spain defeat the
  15. ^ Random House Preps Manga Releases. ICv2 (2004-06-23). "MMIV" redirects here For the Modest Mouse album see " Baron von Bullshit Rides Again " Events 1180 - First Battle of Uji, starting the Genpei War in Japan 1305 - The Flemish Retrieved on 2006-09-30. Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. Events 1399 - Henry IV is proclaimed King of England. 1744 - France and Spain defeat the

External links

Anime News Network (ANN is an Anime industry News Website that reports on the status of Anime, Manga, Japanese popular
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