Viz Media

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Viz Media

logo
legal form Limited Liability Company (USA)
founding 1986
Seat San Francisco
Branch media
Website http://www.viz.com/

Viz Media booth at WonderCon 2009.

Viz Media (spelled VIZ Media) is a North American publisher of anime , manga and other products for the Japanese entertainment industry, based in San Francisco . It was founded in 1986 as Viz Communications . In 2005 the merger with the American sales branch of ShoPro Entertainment took place and has operated under the name Viz Media since then. The company is part of the Hitotsubashi Group . Viz Media also publishes a number of anime and manga magazines, including American editions of Japanese magazines such as Weekly Shōnen Jump .

history

Viz was founded in 1986 by Seiji Horibuchi. He received $ 200,000 in seed money from Shogakukan . In 1987 the publisher published its first titles, including Legend of Kamui . The company later entered the anime distribution market and enjoyed success there. In the 1990s, Viz expanded into the South American and European markets. Shueisha became a co-owner of Viz in 2002. Shogakukan and Shueisha began publishing manga almost exclusively through Viz. In 2004 the American Shogakukan sales department ShoPro Entertainment merged with Viz to form Viz Media . Viz Media reorganized its European business area in 2007. As part of this reorganization, Viz Media moved the European headquarters from Amsterdam ( Netherlands ) to Paris ( France ). The resulting new company was founded on January 15, 2007 under the name Viz Media Europe and took over all European, Middle Eastern and African activities from Viz Media. In 2009 the imprint Haikasoru (Japanese for high castle as an allusion to the SF novel The Man in the High Castle ) was launched for the publishing house of Japanese science fiction novels. In July 2019, VIZ Media entered into a partnership with Crunchyroll to exploit selected Crunchyroll titles in America and Canada for the home video market and the electronic market.

Group structure

Hitotsubashi Group
Shōgakukan , Shūeisha , ShoPro
parent company
 
 
 
 
Viz Media 2017 logo.svg Viz Media
 
 
 
 
Viz Productions

Publications

Magazines

  • Animerica (discontinued)
  • Animerica Extra (discontinued)
  • Free Animerica (discontinued)
  • Game On (discontinued)
  • Manga Vizion (discontinued)
  • Pulp (discontinued)
  • Shojo Beat (discontinued)
  • Shonen Jump USA

Manga and Anime (selection)

Real films

Soundtrack

  • Ranma ½ Original TV Soundtrack, Volume 1

criticism

The publisher was criticized for changes to the published manga. Mangas like Ranma ½ were adapted in the translation to Western conditions and the reading direction changed from Japanese to Western. The censorship of series such as Dragonball was also criticized. Viz Media justified the changes with the fact that the manga with a lower age rating can be offered outside the bookstores, such as in supermarkets.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Weekend Beat: Cashing in on over-the-counter culture ( Memento from March 16, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
  2. ↑ ICv2: SHUEISHA BUYS EQUITY INTEREST IN VIZ. In: icv2.com. August 1, 2002, accessed September 8, 2019 .
  3. ↑ Sarah Baisley: John Easum New president of VIZ Media Europe in New Paris Headquarters. In: Anime News Network. December 28, 2006, accessed September 11, 2019 .
  4. ^ The Man in the High Castle, Haikasoru: Space Opera. Dark Fantasy. Hard science. In: Haikasoru. Viz Media, November 23, 2011, accessed July 3, 2015 .
  5. ^ Matt Lopez: Crunchyroll and VIZ Media Partner on Home Video and EST Distribution (Exclusive). In: thewrap.com. July 3, 2019, accessed September 8, 2019 .
  6. ↑ Mark Rosenfelder at Zompist about the changes at Ranma ½
  7. ↑ Interview with the management of Viz Media at ICv2, article from August 13, 2002

Web links

Commons : Viz Media  - collection of images, videos and audio files