22 Facts About Viz Media

VIZ Media LLC is an American manga publisher, anime distributor and entertainment company headquartered in San Francisco, California.

Viz Media became interested in publishing Japanese manga in the United States, though 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: A Child's Dream.

Viz Media's idea came to fruition after he met Masahiro Ohga, then managing director of Shogakukan, in 1985 and shared his vision.

Shueisha's deal with Viz Media 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.

On December 17,2008, Viz Media announced that starting on April 1,2009, Warner Home Video would be handling the distribution of both its new and existing catalog releases.

Related searches

Viz Media itself is still the licensor and will do all production, while tapping the distribution powerhouse that distributes the works of other major companies such as BBC, National Geographic Channel, and Cartoon Network.

On February 20,2009, Viz Media laid off an unknown number of employees in order to help be more streamlined to face the current economic climate.

On May 11,2010, VIZ Media again laid off a number of workers, 60 this time, again in order to try to become more streamlined.

On July 3,2019, Viz Media partnered with Crunchyroll to distribute select Crunchyroll licensed titles on home video and electronic sell-through in the United States and Canada.

The deal was made after select Viz Media titles were previously made available on Funimation.

In contrast to similar TV and film ratings, Viz Media has set up certain "manga ratings" for their products based on their content.

Viz Media was awarded the Manga Publisher of the Year Gem Award by Diamond Comic Distributors in 2007.

Viz Media received an award for Manga Trade Paperback of the Year for its release of the fourteenth volume of the Naruto series.

Viz Media has many partnerships with various authors and celebrities, perhaps the most famous being the cosplay film that debuted in the 2013 Tokyo Anime Festival with Kirata Uchiha, played by JadexRoyal.

In conjunction with the magazine, Viz launched new imprints for releasing media related to the series presented in the magazine, and other shonen works.

Shueisha purchased an equity interest in Viz Media to help fund the venture, and Cartoon Network, Suncoast, and Diamond Distributors became promotional partners in the magazine.

Shojo Beat was a shojo manga magazine Viz Media launched in June 2005 as a sister magazine for Shonen Jump.

Viz Media launched related "Shojo Beat" imprints in its manga, light novel, and anime divisions to coordinate with the magazine's contents.

Viz Media stated the "difficult economic climate" was behind the magazine's cancellation, and that it would continue releasing the magazine's titles, as well as others, using the "Shojo Beat" imprint.

In January 2009, Viz Media announced plans to launch a Japanese science fiction novel line called Haikasoru.

In March 2016, Viz Media announced that they are collaborating with United Talent Agency on their live action projects based on anime series.

On July 3,2019, Viz Media announced that they had partnered with Crunchyroll to distribute select Crunchyroll licensed titles on home video and electronic sell-through in the United States and Canada, as well as stream selected Viz Media titles on Crunchyroll.