Everything about Viz Communications totally explained
Viz Media, LLC, headquartered in
San Francisco, California, is an
anime,
manga and
Japanese
entertainment company founded in 1986 as Viz, LLC. In 2005, the Viz, LLC. and ShoPro Entertainment merged to form the current Viz Media, LLC which is jointly-owned by Japanese publishers
Shogakukan and
Shueisha, and Shogakukan's licensing division
Shogakukan Productions (ShoPro Japan).
History
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, were he started a business exporting American cultural items to Japan, and became a writer of cultural information. He also became interested in publishing Japanese
manga in the United States, though he himself wasn't a fan of the Japanese comics until a visit to Japan in 1985 exposed him to
Katsuhiro Otomo's single-volume title
Domu (A Child's Dream). His idea came to fruition after he met
Masahiro Ohga, then managing director of
Shogakukan, in 1985 and shared his vision. Shogakukan provided Horibuichi with
$200,000 in startup capital which Horibuichi used in 1986 to found Viz Communications.
Viz Communications released its first titles in 1987, which included
Legend of Kamui, however sales were mediocre due to the specialist comic market being adverse to venturing into new territory. To counter-act this problem, Viz expanded into the general publishing business and began publishing various art related books in 1992. Into these titles, Horibuchi began publishing manga, calling them
graphic novels so they'd be carried by mainstream bookstores. The plan worked and after several years, leading booksellers began to have dedicated shelves for manga titles. Sales also picked up with Viz Communications acquired the license for the comedy series
Ranma 1/2, which became an instant hit.
Divisions
Viz Pictures
In 2005, Viz Pictures was officially formed as the company's division for releasing live-action Japanese films as theatrical releases in selected markets. According to Horibuchi, the company will focus on films that focus on the "Japanese 'kawaii (cute) and cool' pop culture."
J-Pop Center
In 2009, Viz is slated to open a three-story entertainment complex in San Francisco to be called the J-Pop Center. The center piece of the complex will be a 150-seat movie theater that will screen anime and Japanese live action films. The center will also have a cafe, a store selling anime and manga related items, and clothing stores offering Japanese clothing items. Though specific tenants have not been named, all tenants are expected to be ones that cater to some aspect of the Japanese popular culture.
Criticism
Among the most common criticisms of Viz Media is that concerning its policies of Western
localization; readers familiar with the original Japanese manuscripts have noticed serious liberties in the translations, as well as heavy art edits that are seen as detracting from the manga's quality. 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. Viz's ongoing popularity hasn't provided any incentive to change its policies, and little was done to address reader complaints until
Tokyopop emerged as a serious competitor between the years 2002–2004.
Additional complaints focus on Viz's strict policy of
censorship; a number of panels in popular titles like
Dragon Ball and its latter portion, renamed
Dragon Ball Z to avoid confusion, were subjected to this treatment. Much of this censorship occurred
after the previously mentioned titles were published in relatively unedited form. 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 its titles.
When
Shueisha became a joint owner of Viz Media in 2002, both Shogakukan and Shueisha began to release manga exclusively through Viz. Shueisha's deal with Viz 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. Since 2002, most Shueisha manga have been exclusively published in the U.S. exclusively by Viz. There are exceptions; Shueisha permitted
DC Comics' subsidiary
CMX Manga to license
Tenjho Tenge and
Kamikaze Kaito Jeanne, and permitted
Dark Horse Comics to license
Gantz,
Lady Snowblood,
Shadow Lady and
The Monkey King. In 2003, possibly in response to Shogakukan and Shueisha's co-ownership of Viz, Japanese publisher
Kodansha formed a co-venture with
Del Rey.
Publications
» For a list of anime and Japanese films released by Viz, see the .
For manga titles released by Viz Media, see the .
Further Information
Get more info on 'Viz Communications'.
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