Viz enters Europe

Mangaminx

Stand User
Viz Media have announced that they will bring their manga and animation series to Europe via a newly created European branch. According to AnimeNation the company brand in Europe will be "Viz Media B.V." and will be co-owned by Viz and a London company. The European Viz offices open in Amsterdam on October 3rd.<ul>"VIZ Media B.V., with access to some of the most popular manga and animation properties owned by VIZ Media’s parent companies, Shueisha Inc. and Shogakukan Inc., the largest publishing houses in Japan, and ShoPro (Japan) will become a market leader for successful Japanese manga and animation content in Europe. Able to manage all the rights associated with a property, including publishing, retail, broadcast, home entertainment, merchandising and promotional, the venture will be able to exploit fully opportunities across all categories to realize long-term growth of its properties."</ul>The full press release can be read here.

Viz state that amongst the first titles they intend to bring to Europe are Dekko Bokko Friends, Mar and Bleach.

With Gollancz already bringing Viz's Shounen-Jump manga to the UK, this could mean that some of Viz's other manga and anime properties make it to the UK through VIZ Media B.V., either via regular retail outlets or TV broadcast.
 
Good news, that will undoubtably bring the possilbity of a UK Naruto DVD release closer. Viz have a nice selection of titles, and there release in the UK will hopefully result in their titles becoming more popular and thus benefiting the UK anime and manga industry.
 
A quote from the press release:

VIZ Media B.V., with access to some of the most popular manga and animation properties owned by VIZ Media’s parent companies, Shueisha Inc. and Shogakukan Inc., the largest publishing houses in Japan, and ShoPro (Japan) will become a market leader for successful Japanese manga and animation content in Europe. Able to manage all the rights associated with a property, including publishing, retail, broadcast, home entertainment, merchandising and promotional, the venture will be able to exploit fully opportunities across all categories to realize long-term growth of its properties.

This looks like being massive news for the UK! With VIZ's impressive financial weight, their presence in Europe can only be a good thing. Even getting the likes of Naruto, Inuyasha and even Zatch Bell on UK TV doesn't seem as much as a long shot as say, four or five months ago. Fingers crossed something positive comes from this exciting news.
 
this is great news and now that i think about it viz could own one od the serie that rature plan to have on there channel, it could be the reason they have been putiing off telling us what 2 shows they are bring out.
 
WTFDaveMustaine said:
Viz should release Read or Die and Read or Dream, i've waited long enough already.

They only "just" licensed Read Or Die according to animeondvd, but its starting in Spring 06 if I believe. Thats stateside of course, but its easy to import.
 
Wha?? thats great news. I thought manga was released in the US at the same time as the Uk. I've never had to import manga because my local store has all the new releases. I bought Midori Days from there the day after it was released in the US. :X
 
WTFDaveMustaine said:
Wha?? thats great news. I thought manga was released in the US at the same time as the Uk. I've never had to import because my local store has all the new releases. I bought Midori Days from there the day after it was released in the US. :X

It just means your local place that sells manga imports it quickly. Look in places like ottokars, Waterstones or WH Smith for the "offical" UK releases.
 
Mangaminx said:
It just means your local place that sells manga imports it quickly. Look in places like ottokars, Waterstones or WH Smith for the "offical" UK releases.
Our Waterstones and WHSmith sell no manga whatsoever.

Amazon.co.uk sells the US versions too then...
 
WTFDaveMustaine said:
Mangaminx said:
It just means your local place that sells manga imports it quickly. Look in places like ottokars, Waterstones or WH Smith for the "offical" UK releases.
Our Waterstones and WHSmith sell no manga whatsoever.

Amazon.co.uk sells the US versions too then...

Yeh Amazon.co.uk does . My local Ottokars actually has 6+ entire bookshelves of manga now.
 
Waterstones, WHSmith and Ottakers are British bookstores, and therefore do not stock imported manga; Borders, on the other hand, are an American chain and so stock mainly US titles in their UK branches, interestingly.
 
This is great news, i commented on this earlier today on The Otaku.com, but i didn't realise it was such big news, with so much influence this could be really good news for the UK
 
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