VIZ MEDIA

'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.

Contents

Magazines published by Viz

Anime manga and films distributed by Viz

Soundtracks distributed by Viz

Criticism

Other media

References

External links

Magazines published by Viz

★ ''Animerica'' (discontinued)

★ ''Animerica Extra'' (discontinued)

★ ''Game On! USA'' (discontinued)

★ ''Manga Vizion'' (discontinued)

★ ''Pulp'' (discontinued)

★ ''Shojo Beat''

★ ''Shonen Jump USA''

★ ''Free Animerica (second version of Animerica)

Anime manga and films distributed by Viz

:''Please see the category for anime and films.''
:''Please see the category for manga.''

Soundtracks distributed by Viz

★ ''Ranma ½ Original TV Soundtrack, Volume 1''

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.^[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 ongoing popularity has not provided any incentive to change its policies^[3][4], and little was done to address reader complaints until Tokyopop emerged as a serious competitor between the years 2002–2004.^[4]
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.^[6] 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.^[7][8]
When Shueisha became a joint owner of Viz Media in 2002,^[9] both Shogakukan and Shueisha began to release manga exclusively through Viz. There are a few exceptions; for example, 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 its 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 inconsistent 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 its policy of "rotating" manga in its 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 the tankōbon for discontinued titles, which are released at approximately three-month intervals.

Other media

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

References

1. What the translators did to Ranma
2. What Manga Right to Left — Will It Fly?
3. Pokemon is America's best-selling comic book
4. Manga Trade Paperback Sales Exploding
5. Manga Trade Paperback Sales Exploding
6. Viz Unleashes Uncensored Dragon Ball
7. Viz and Shueisha To Launch Mass Market Boys Magazine in US
8. Interview with Viz Management, Part I
9. Shueisha Buys Equity Interest in Viz
10. Random House Preps Manga Releases
11. About Us
12. Interview with Tokyopop VP Mike Kiley
13. Godchild Not Returning to Shojo Beat

External links

★ Viz Media Website

★ Viz Media Europe

★ Viz LLC and ShoPro Entertainment become Viz Media