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VIZ Media LLC is an anime and manga distribution company, co-owned by Japanese publishers Shogakukan, its licensing division Shogakukan Productions (ShoPro for short) and Shueisha. Founded in 1986 by writer Seiji Horibuchi, VIZ Media is one of the oldest American anime distribution companies. It is a primary distributor of many popular shonen-oriented manga series (such as Dragon Ball, Naruto, Bleach and Death Note), which have also been serialized in Shueisha's Weekly Shonen Jump manga anthology.

An American version of the magazine, referred to by fans as "Shonen Jump USA", was published monthly between 2003-2012 before it was replaced by a weekly digital version. From 2005-09, VIZ Media also published Shojo Beat, a monthly shojo manga anthology. The folks at VIZ also managed to achieve linguistic immortality by coining the term "glomp" for use as a sound effect in their translations of Ranma ½ and Urusei Yatsura.

VIZ Media also distributes Anime on DVD and Blu-Ray as well with home video distributors Warner Home Video and Universal Pictures Home Entertainment (beginning in 2021) backing them up in North America. In 2009, they launched VizAnime.com, a Hulu-supported website for streaming anime from Viz's catalog. In 2012, VIZ launched Neon Alley, their very own 24/7 linear anime channel for game consoles and PCs. Neon Alley would eventually merge with VizAnime.com in 2014, after VIZ consolidated all its streaming anime under the "Neon Alley" brand.

In 2019, VIZ Media announced the VIZ Originals imprint, to help shed more light on the non-Japanese manga market. The imprint focuses on Animesque works by non-Japanese creators, much like Radiant, giving creators of the genre a better platform outside of Japan.

Not, repeat not, to be confused with British humour anthology comic Viz.


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     Manga published under the Shonen Jump (and Shonen Jump Advanced) imprint: 

     Manga published under the Shojo Beat imprint: 

     Manga published under the Shonen Sunday imprint: 

     Manga published under the Viz Signature imprint: 

     Manga published under the SuBLime imprint: 
  • Am I in Love or Just Hungry?
  • Awkward Silence
  • Bad Boys, Happy Home
  • The Bed of My Dear King
  • Birds of Shangri-La
  • Black or White
  • Blue Morning
  • Bond of Dreams, Bond of Love
  • Candy Color Paradox
  • Dick Fight Island
  • Links

     Other manga published by Viz Media: 

     Anime released by Viz Media: 

     Western comics published under the Viz Originals imprint: 

     Other media licensed by Viz Media 


Tropes:

  • Ascended Meme:
  • Comic-Book Adaptation: VIZ owns the rights to several officially licensed Nintendo adaptations, such as Super Mario Bros., The Legend of Zelda, Pokémon, and Splatoon.
  • No Export for You:
    • At least with regard to streaming anime, anyway. For nearly a decade, Viz Media was the only major anime distributor in North America that did not provide any on-demand streams of its anime offerings to Canada, preferring to do business with the US-exclusive Hulu. Canadians can find a handful of their shows on Netflix, but often in an incomplete state. Not until Tubi TV began streaming several Viz titles—albeit to date not all of them—had the company attempted a proper work-around for Canadians, leaving them to just Keep Circulating the Tapes of Viz's titles for that near-decade. Viz Media still gets vitriol from north of the border as a result of this.
    • For some reason, some of the movies they've dubbed and released haven't gotten Blu-Ray releases in the US, even though they have the HD masters to put on digital services and it's been years since the Japanese ones were released. The main ones being the three Naruto movies and the first two Bleach movies. They finally released the first Shippuden movie on Blu-Ray in October 2017, so maybe they'll release the others.
  • Production Posse: They used The Ocean Group in Vancouver a lot back in the day. Nowadays, most of their dubs are recorded in Los Angeles at Studiopolis (and sometimes Bang Zoom! Entertainment and/or NYAV Post) with the exception of the 2018 remake of Captain Tsubasa which was recorded in Miami at NM Miami Studio and The Kitchen Inc.


Alternative Title(s): VIZ

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