VIZ Media

VIZ Media LLC is an American manga and anime entertainment and distribution company based in San Francisco, California. It was founded in 1986 as VIZ LLC. In 2005, VIZ LLC and ShoPro Entertainment merged to form the current VIZ Media LLC, which is jointly owned by Japanese publishers Shūeisha, Shōgakukan and Shogakukan-Shūeisha Productions (ShoPro). As of 2017, Viz Media is the largest publisher. of graphic novels and comics in the United States, with a market share of 23%.

History

Beginnings

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, where he started a business exporting American cultural items to Japan, and became a cultural information writer. He also became interested in publishing manga in the United States, although he himself was not a fan of Japanese comics until a visit to Japan in 1985 exposed him to Katsuhiro Otomo's single-volume title,Domu: The Dream of a child. His idea materialized after meeting Masahiro Ohga, then general manager of Shogakukan, in 1985 and sharing his vision. Shogakukan provided Horibuchi with $200,000 in seed capital, which Horibuichi used in 1986 to found VIZ Communications.

VIZ Communications launched its first titles in 1987, including Legend of Kamui, however sales were mediocre because the specialized comics market was adverse to venturing into new territory. To counter this problem, VIZ expanded into the general publishing business and began publishing several art-related books in 1992. In these titles, Horibuchi began publishing manga, calling them graphic novels to be carried by major bookstores. The plan worked and after several years, major bookstores began to have shelves dedicated to manga titles. Sales also increased when VIZ Communications acquired the license for the comedy series Ranma ½, which became an instant hit.

The company continued to see success when it expanded into the anime distribution market, beginning to publish Shonen Jump, an English-language adaptation of the popular Japanese magazine Weekly Shōnen Jump. It also acquired another big-selling title, Inuyasha. In the late 1990s, VIZ began making a push to enter the European and South American markets.

2000s

When Shūeisha became co-owner of Viz Media in 2002, both Shōgakukan and Shūeisha began publishing manga exclusively through Viz. Shueisha's deal with Viz may have been driven by competition with Raijin Comics, a rival manga publisher created in 2002 by publishers and artists who had split from Shueisha, taking their properties with them. However, there are some exceptions to this exclusivity as Shūeisha allowed DC Comics subsidiary CMX Manga to license Tenjō Tenge (although it was later re-licensed and re-released by VIZ Media) and i>Kamikaze Kaitō Jeanne, allowed Dark Horse Comics to license Gantz, Lady Snowblood, Shadow Lady, The Monkey King, among others, also allowed Seven Seas Entertainment to license Hayate Boy and Digimon Next, these as the main example.

In 2002, VIZ kept some publications in the original right-to-left format, while in other publications it mirrored pages from Japan's right-to-left reading format to conform to the Western left-to-right reading style. During that year, Dallas Middaugh, VIZ's marketing director, stated that the left-to-right version of Neon Genesis Evangelion outsold the right-to-left version on a three-to-one basis; Middaugh concluded that readers wanted "an easy reading experience." Akira Toriyama, creator of Dragon Ball, requested that his work, which was separated by Viz in Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z, be published in the original right-to-left format. Vagabond was printed from right to left to preserve historical accuracy. Middaugh said that younger Dragon Ball readers adapted to the right-to-left format more easily than their parents.

In 2004, VIZ Communications merged with ShoPro Entertainment, financing the American distribution division of the Shōgakukan company. Horibuchi became the president of the new company. In 2005, Horibuchi created a related division, Viz Pictures, for the release of select live-action films in the US in theaters and DVD.

In January 2007, VIZ Media Europe was created, established in the Netherlands, the company moved to Paris in 2007. The current president of the group is Hyoe Narita. The VIZ Media Europe group has also been part of Kazé since 2009, when it was acquired by Shūeisha and Shōgakukan. The subsidiary is headed by Kazuyoshi Takeuchi, former president of Shodensha Publishing.

In September 2008, VIZ Media appointed International Merchandising Consultants (IMC) as licensing agent in Argentina, Bolivia, Paraguay and Uruguay to market the successful Naruto license.

On December 17, 2008, Viz Media announced that starting April 1, 2009, Warner Home Video would be responsible for distribution of its new and existing catalog versions. Viz remains the licensee and will handle all production, while taking advantage of the distribution hub that distributes the works of other major companies such as the BBC, National Geographic Channel and Cartoon Network. Hidemi Fukuhara, then president and CEO of Viz, stated that the partnership will help the company grow its anime holdings more effectively. On February 20, 2009, Viz Media laid off an unknown number of employees with the in order to help be more efficient to face the economic climate of that time.

In 2009, the publisher of Anime Virtual S.A. and AV Visionen GmbH, both from Germany, became part of the Japanese publishing group ShoPro, to seal the integration into the global media group, Anime Virtual SA was renamed Viz Media Switzerland on August 8, 2011.

2010s

On May 11, 2010, VIZ Media again laid off a number of workers, 60 this time, again in order to try to be more efficient. This time they published a press release stating that none of its current product lines would be affected.

In April 2012, it was announced that Viz Media Senior Vice President and General Manager Ken Sasaki would succeed executive producer Hidemi Fukuhara as President and CEO; Fukuhara will subsequently assume the role of Vice President at the end of the month.

On April 27, 2017, it was announced that the company Televix Entertainment will be the sales representative and distributor of VIZ Media in Latin America, allowing it to manage VIZ Media properties, which include series such as Bleach, Death Note and Naruto for open TV channels, DVD distributors, mobile operators and aggregators.

Content Rating

Unlike similar television and movie ratings, Viz has also established certain "manga ratings" for your products based on their content.

A (ALL AGES): May be suitable for readers or consumers of any age. For example, it may contain mild language and fantasy violence, but no swearing or nudity.

T (TEENS): May be suitable for early teens and older. For example, it may contain violence, infrequent use of strong language, suggestive themes or situations, crude humor, alcohol and/or tobacco use.

T+ (OLDER TEENS): May be suitable for older teenagers and adults. For example, it may contain intense violence and/or gory, sexual content, frequent strong language, alcohol, tobacco and/or other substance use.

M (MATURE): Suitable for adults only. May contain extreme violence, mature themes and graphic depictions.

Despite its name, Viz manga ratings were also used on licensed anime titles, although, in the 2000s, they were based on local countries' rating systems.

Catalogue

Manga

Currently licensed

† - New volumes in publication process

††††† - Series not published in full

†††† - Yen Press has the digital release rights of the series as a Square Enix title.

Previously on license

†† - Series not published in its entirety

Anime

Currently licensed

† - Not currently dubbed or released outside of streaming

Previously licensed

Live-action movies