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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.
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.
* '' Bastard!!

* ''[[Big O (manga)]]''
* ''[[Big O (manga)]]''
* ''[[Black Cat (manga)]]''
* ''[[Black Cat (manga)]]''

Revision as of 22:15, 20 October 2006

File:Logo viz.gif
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 Shonen Jump (shōnen manga) magazine, and a shōjo manga monthly called Shojo Beat.

It formerly published Animerica Extra, a shōjo manga monthly, and PULP magazine, an adult-oriented manga monthly 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.

Books published by Viz

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.

Ani-Manga

Novels

Magazines published by Viz

Anime distributed by Viz

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 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) 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 instable quality, 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.

Other media

In addition to the above, Viz has also published online magazines (the now-defunct J-pop.com)

References

  1. ^ Rosenfelder, Mark (July 1996). "What the translators did to Ranma". Zompist. Retrieved 2006-09-30.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: year (link)
  2. ^ "What Manga Right to Left--Will It Fly?". ICv2. March 8, 2002. Retrieved 2006-09-30.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: year (link)
  3. ^ "Pokemon is America's best-selling comic book". Anime News Network. June 24, 1999. Retrieved 2006-09-30.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: year (link)
  4. ^ "Manga Trade Paperback Sales Exploding". ICv2. March 10, 2002. Retrieved 2006-09-30.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: year (link)
  5. ^ "Manga Trade Paperback Sales Exploding". ICv2. March 10, 2002. Retrieved 2006-09-30.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: year (link)
  6. ^ "Viz Unleashes Uncensored Dragon Ball". ICv2. March 11, 2001. Retrieved 2006-09-30.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: year (link)
  7. ^ "Viz and Shueisha To Launch Mass Market Boys Magazine in US". ICv2. June 10, 2002. Retrieved 2006-09-30.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: year (link)
  8. ^ "Interview with Viz Management, Part I". ICv2. August 13, 2002. Retrieved 2006-09-30.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: year (link)
  9. ^ "Shueisha Buys Equity Interest in Viz". ICv2. August 2, 2002. Retrieved 2006-09-30.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: year (link)
  10. ^ "Random House Preps Manga Releases". ICv2. June 23, 2004. Retrieved 2006-09-30.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: year (link)
  11. ^ "ABOUT US". Del Rey. Retrieved 2006-09-30.
  12. ^ "Interview with Tokyopop VP Mike Kiley". ICv2. July 11, 2002. Retrieved 2006-09-30.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: year (link)
  13. ^ "Godchild Not Returning to Shojo Beat". ANN. August 19, 2006. Retrieved 2006-10-18.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: year (link)
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