VIZ Media
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- This article deals with the American media company. For other uses, please see Viz (disambiguation).
VIZ Media, LLC, headquartered in San Francisco, California, is a major American anime, manga and Japanese entertainment company formed by the merger of VIZ, LLC, and ShoPro Entertainment. The company is commonly referred to as "Viz", the same name used in previous incarnations of VIZ LLC.
Viz also produces a manga and anime review magazine, Animerica; as well as an English language version of Shueisha's Weekly Shonen Jump (shōnen manga) magazine, and a shōjo manga monthly called Shojo Beat.
It formerly published Animerica Extra, a monthly manga anthology (which was converted to shōjo partway through its run), and PULP magazine, an adult-oriented monthly manga anthology that featured story lines inappropriate for younger readers, though not pornography (see seinen, josei).
It is jointly-owned by Japanese publishers Shogakukan and Shueisha, and licensing house Shogakukan Productions (ShoPro), a Shogakukan subsidiary.
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[edit] Books published by Viz (List Incomplete)
[edit] Manga
At various times in its history, Viz has published manga under the Viz Comics, Viz Communications, VIZ, LLC, Shonen Jump, PULP Manga, Shonen Jump Advanced, and Shojo Beat imprints. Amongst some of their more popular titles are manga series.
- Angel Sanctuary
- Bastard!!
- Beyblade
- Big O (manga)
- Black Cat (manga)
- Bleach
- Buso Renkin
- Case Closed (Detective Conan)
- Ceres, Celestial Legend
- Claymore (manga)
- D.Gray-man
- Death Note
- Dr. Slump
- Dragon Ball series
- Dragon Drive
- Excel Saga
- Eyeshield 21
- Fullmetal Alchemist
- Full Moon wo Sagashite
- Fushigi Yugi
- Hayate the Combat Butler
- Hikaru no Go
- Hunter x Hunter
- Mobile Suit Gundam series
- Hot Gimmick
- Houshin Engi
- I"s
- Inuyasha
- The Law of Ueki
- MÄR
- Midori Days (Midori no Hibi)
- NANA
- Naruto
- Neon Genesis Evangelion
- O-Parts Hunter (666 Satan)
- One Piece
- Pokémon Adventures
- The Prince of Tennis
- Ranma ½
- Reborn!
- Red River
- Rurouni Kenshin
- Sensual Phrase
- Shaman King
- Train Man: Densha Otoko (Densha Otoko)
- Ultimate Muscle
- X/1999
- W Juliet
- Whistle!
- Yakitate!! Japan
- Yu-Gi-Oh!
- YuYu Hakusho
- Zatch Bell! (Konjiki no Gash!)
- Zombie Powder
[edit] Ani-Manga
- Howl's Moving Castle
- InuYasha
- My Neighbor Totoro
- Pokémon: The First Movie
- Pokémon: The Movie 2000
- Spirited Away
- Steamboy
- Yu-Gi-Oh! The Movie
[edit] Novels
- Battle Royale
- Be With You (Ima, Ai ni Yukimasu)
- Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence After the Last Goodbye
- Kamikaze Girls
- Naruto: Innocent Heart, Demonic Blood
- Rurouni Kenshin
- Shakugan no Shana
- Socrates in Love
[edit] Magazines published by Viz
- Animerica (discontinued)
- Animerica Extra (discontinued)
- Manga Vizion (discontinued)
- PULP (discontinued)
- Shojo Beat
- Shonen Jump USA
[edit] Anime distributed by Viz
- A Chinese Ghost Story (Chinese animation)
- Bleach
- Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo (along with Geneon Entertainment)
- Boys Over Flowers (Hana Yori Dango)
- Ceres, Celestial Legend
- Corrector Yui
- Croket
- Deko Boko Friends
- Fatal Fury: Legend of the Hungry Wolf
- Fatal Fury 2: The New Battle (1993)
- Fatal Fury: The Motion Picture (1994)
- Flame of Recca
- Full Moon o Sagashite
- Galaxy Express 999 (along with Orion Pictures)
- Great Dangaioh
- Hamtaro
- Hikaru no Go
- Hunter × Hunter
- InuYasha
- Key the Metal Idol
- Maison Ikkoku
- MÄR
- MegaMan NT Warrior (RockMan EXE)
- Mirmo! (Mirumo de Pon)
- Monkey Turn
- Naruto
- Night Warriors
- One Piece (along with 4Kids Entertainment)
- Ogre Slayer
- Please Save My Earth
- Pokémon (along with 4Kids Entertainment)
- The Prince of Tennis
- Project ARMS
- Ranma ½
- Saikano
- S-CRY-ED
- Sonic X (along with 4Kids Entertainment)
- Taro the Space Alien
- Trouble Chocolate
- Video Girl Ai (along with Geneon)
- Zatch Bell! (Konjiki no Gash Bell)
[edit] Criticism
Among the most common of criticism against Viz Media involves its policies of Western localization; readers familiar with original Japanese manuscripts have noticed severe liberalities with translations, as well as heavy art edits that are seen as detracting from a manga's quality.[1] 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.[2] Viz's staying popularity has not provided any incentive to change their policies[3][4], and little was done to appease reader complaints until TOKYOPOP emerged as a serious competitor between the years 2002–2004.[5]
Additional complaints focus around Viz's strict policy of censorship; popular titles like Dragonball and Dragonball Z were subjected to a strong degree of language simplification, and any instances of non-bloodless violence were edited out of the English language manga at the behest of angry parents.[6] Much of this censorship occurred after the previously mentioned titles were published relatively unedited. 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 their titles.[7][8]
When Shueisha became a joint owner of Viz Media in 2002[9], both Shogakukan and Shueisha began to exclusively release manga through Viz (see: cartel). There are a few exceptions; Shueisha originally licensed its adult-oriented manga to an affiliate, Raijin Comics; after Raijin Comics' bankruptcy, Viz created the "Shonen Jump Advanced" and "Viz Signature" brands to differentiate properties oriented toward older readers. Recently, Shueisha permitted DC Comics subsidiary CMX Manga to license Tenjho Tenge and Kamikaze Kaito Jeanne. These restrictions are controversial because Shueisha/Shogakukan's competitors (such as Kodansha) have been forced to split their titles between other licensors such as TOKYOPOP, Dark Horse or Del Rey.[10]
Shueisha and Shogakukan's influence in Western markets puts pressure on other affiliated companies, like Hakusensha, to default to Viz Media (Viz holds all but four licensed titles from Hakusensha). This excessive control of the market is seen as a cause of Viz's unstable quality, typography, accuracy, and art cleanliness. However, with the rise of smaller companies, like CMX, Dark Horse, and specifically Del Rey (a partner of Kodansha)[11], this advantage has been permanently curbed; TOKYOPOP now must struggle to remain competitive in the licensing market, while Viz suffers from no such limitation.[12]
Recently, Viz Media has come under fire for their policies of "rotating" manga in their monthly magazine, Shojo Beat. Two titles, Kaze Hikaru and Count Cain were removed from Shojo Beat's monthly serial, on the claim that Viz "periodically switch[s] out stories to keep the magazine fresh" [13]. Readers of the magazine question Viz's integrity, as this move forces them to purchase expensive manga volumes for discontinued titles, which are released at an extremely slow pace.
[edit] Other media
In addition to the above, Viz has also published online magazines (the now-defunct J-pop.com)
[edit] References
- ^ Rosenfelder, Mark (July 1996). What the translators did to Ranma. Zompist. Retrieved on 2006-09-30.
- ^ What Manga Right to Left--Will It Fly?. ICv2 (March 8, 2002). Retrieved on 2006-09-30.
- ^ Pokemon is America's best-selling comic book. Anime News Network (June 24, 1999). Retrieved on 2006-09-30.
- ^ Manga Trade Paperback Sales Exploding. ICv2 (March 10, 2002). Retrieved on 2006-09-30.
- ^ Manga Trade Paperback Sales Exploding. ICv2 (March 10, 2002). Retrieved on 2006-09-30.
- ^ Viz Unleashes Uncensored Dragon Ball. ICv2 (March 11, 2001). Retrieved on 2006-09-30.
- ^ Viz and Shueisha To Launch Mass Market Boys Magazine in US. ICv2 (June 10, 2002). Retrieved on 2006-09-30.
- ^ Interview with Viz Management, Part I. ICv2 (August 13, 2002). Retrieved on 2006-09-30.
- ^ Shueisha Buys Equity Interest in Viz. ICv2 (August 2, 2002). Retrieved on 2006-09-30.
- ^ Random House Preps Manga Releases. ICv2 (June 23, 2004). Retrieved on 2006-09-30.
- ^ ABOUT US. Del Rey. Retrieved on 2006-09-30.
- ^ Interview with Tokyopop VP Mike Kiley. ICv2 (July 11, 2002). Retrieved on 2006-09-30.
- ^ Godchild Not Returning to Shojo Beat. ANN (August 19, 2006). Retrieved on 2006-10-18.