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VIZ MEDIA ANNOUNCES NEW PUBLISHING TITLES SET TO DEBUT IN EARLY 2019
VIZ Media Expands Publishing Roster With MY HERO ACADEMIA: SCHOOL BRIEFS, URUSEI YATSURA, FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST Four-Panel Comics, And More!
San Francisco, CA, July 23, 2018 – VIZ Media, LLC (VIZ Media), a premier company in the fields of publishing, animation distribution, and global entertainment licensing, expands its publishing catalog with a variety of new acquisitions announced during its official panel events held this past weekend at Comic-Con International 2018.
The new titles are scheduled for release beginning early next year and include MY HERO ACADEMIA: SCHOOL BRIEFS, the first of three prose short story collections based on the hit superhero action series created by Kohei Horikoshi. Rumiko Takahashi’s beloved manga series URUSEI YATSURA receives a new large trim edition, and Hiromu Arakawa brings us hilarious four-panel comics from the world of FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST. Two new NAUSICCAÄ books, THE ART OF NAUSICAÄ OF THE VALLEY OF THE WIND and NAUSICCAÄ OF THE VALLEY OF THE WIND PICTURE BOOK were also announced. Each book features vivid Studio Ghibli art from the legendary director Hayao Miyazaki.
Additional information on each of these titles will be announced in the near future.
MY HERO ACADEMIA: SCHOOL BRIEFS, By Kohei Horikoshi and Anri Yoshi
Debuts Spring 2019
The U.A. High School hero course teaches young hopefuls everything they need to become heroes. Between killer events like the sports festival and internships, there’s even a Parents’ Day! Life is never dull for the students of U.A. High!
URUSEI YATSURA, By Rumiko Takahashi
Rated ‘T+’ for Older Teens · Debuts Winter 2019
Revisit the acclaimed romantic comedy about an unlucky human boy who meets a beautiful space alien princess in this large trim size edition with all-new translations and new cover designs. In the series, Ataru Moroboshi’s supernatural encounters with the feminine kind all start when he’s chosen to play tag with an alien princess named Lum who invades the earth on her UFO. Ataru has ten days to touch Lum’s horns or aliens will take over the earth! As it turns out, the game of tag is only the beginning of Ataru’s troubles, as he continues to attract strange encounters with otherworldly beings like beautiful snow spirit Oyuki and the sexy crow goblin Princess Kurama!
FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST: THE COMPLETE FOUR-PANEL COMICS, By Hiromu Arakawa · Rated ‘T’ for Teens · Debuts Spring 2019
Collects all of author Hiromu Arakawa’s beloved four-panel comic strips from the graphic novel series, her bonus strips from the anime DVDs of Fullmetal Alchemist and Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood and rare strips from Japan! No joke is too cheesy and there are no sacred cows when Arakawa takes up her pen to spoof her own characters in this delightfully zany take on FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST!
THE ART OF NAUSICAÄ OF THE VALLEY OF THE WIND, By Hayao Miyazaki Debuts Spring 2019
Hayao Miyazaki’s Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, based on his own manga, was
released in 1984 and has been a cult classic ever since. In a long-ago war, humankind set off a devastating ecological disaster. The earth is slowly submerging beneath the expanding Sea of Corruption, an enormous toxic forest that creates mutant insects and poisonous spores. Beyond the sea lies the Valley of the Wind, a kingdom of barely 500 citizens and home to Nausicaä, who risks everything to save her people and bring peace and health to the valley. Includes sketches, developmental water colors, cel animation, and more.
NAUSICCAÄ OF THE VALLEY OF THE WIND PICTURE BOOK, By Hayao Miyazaki · Debuts Spring 2019
In a long-ago war, humankind set off a devastating ecological disaster. The earth is
slowly submerging beneath the expanding Sea of Corruption, an enormous toxic forest that creates mutant insects and releases a miasma of poisonous spores into the air. At the periphery of the sea, lies the Valley of the Wind, a kingdom of barely 500 citizens; a nation given fragile protection from the decaying sea’s poisons by the ocean breezes; and home to Nausicaä, who risks everything to save her people and bring peace and health to the valley. Includes scene-by-scene illustrations and character dialogue from the film in a double-length picture book.
VIZ MEDIA ANNOUNCES THE ACQUISITION OF GOTHIC FANTASY ANIME SERIES CASTLEVANIA
VIZ Media Acquires Home Media Rights To Season 1 Of The Hit Netflix Animated Series CASTLEVANIA
San Francisco, CA, July 23, 2018 – VIZ Media, LLC (VIZ Media), a premier company in the fields of publishing, animation distribution, and global entertainment licensing, expands its catalog with the acquisition of Season 1 of CASTLEVANIA.
VIZ Media announced the acquisition of CASTLEVANIA during its official panel held this past weekend at Comic-Con International, one of the nation’s biggest annual pop culture conventions. VIZ Media has acquired home media distribution rights to the American anime-influenced series, which is produced by Frederator Studios. CASTLEVANIA Season 1 has streamed to wide acclaim on Netflix.
Inspired by the classic video game series, CASTLEVANIA is a dark medieval fantasy following the last surviving member of the disgraced Belmont clan, trying to save Eastern Europe from extinction at the hand of Vlad Dracula Tepes himself. In Season 1, Trevor Belmont, embittered and excommunicated, finds himself drawn into a battle for the survival of Europe – a region that has brought doom upon itself by taking away the one thing its greatest monster loved.
“We are very excited to announce VIZ Media’s acquisition of the CASTLEVANIA animated series,” says Brian Ige, VIZ Media’s Vice President of Animation. “The series has drawn a wide following and we look forward to giving new and existing fans the opportunity to add this adventure to their personal collections.”
“CASTLEVANIA is one of those unique series that had instant global recognition and popularity. Frederator is proud to have VIZ as one of our special global partners, singularly equipped to reach our fans across the world,” says Fred Seibert, President & CEO of Frederator Networks.
VIZ Media has worked with Frederator Studios and Frederator Networks to license publishing titles based on popular properties from the company’s catalogs including BRAVEST WARRIORS, the acclaimed animated series from Pendleton Ward, the visionary creator of the Emmy Award-winning Cartoon Network show, Adventure Time. VIZ Media also published EASY EATS: A BEE AND PUPPYCAT COOKBOOK, inspired by the hit animated web series, Bee and PuppyCat, which was produced by Frederator Studios and seen widely on Frederator Network’s Cartoon Hangover web channel.
For additional information on anime and manga titles distributed and published by VIZ Media, please visit viz.com.
About VIZ Media, LLC
Established in 1986, VIZ Media is the premier company in the fields of publishing, animation distribution, and global entertainment licensing. Along with its popular digital magazine WEEKLY SHONEN JUMP and blockbuster properties like NARUTO, DRAGON BALL, SAILOR MOON, and POKÉMON, VIZ Media offers an extensive library of titles and original content in a wide variety of book and video formats, as well as through official licensed merchandise. Owned by three of Japan’s largest publishing and entertainment companies, Shueisha Inc., Shogakukan Inc., and Shogakukan-Shueisha Productions, Co., Ltd., VIZ Media is dedicated to bringing the best titles for English-speaking audiences worldwide.
Learn more about VIZ Media and its properties at viz.com.
About Frederator Networks
Frederator Networks, A WOW! Unlimited Media company, consists of Frederator Studios and Frederator Digital.
Frederator Studios makes cartoons for television, movies, and the Internet. It was founded by serial media entrepreneur and former Hanna-Barbera president Fred Seibert in 1998 as a unique incubator for big animation ideas by producing original cartoons. More than 250 short films have resulted in 17 hit series for television and the Internet, including Bee and PuppyCat, Butch Hartman’s The Fairly OddParents on Nickelodeon, and Pendleton Ward’s Adventure Time on Cartoon Network.
Frederator Digital programs many online channels including Channel Frederator, Cartoon Hangover, and The Leaderboard, as well as manages the Channel Frederator Network (YouTube-based entertainment multi-channel network). Launched in late 2012, Frederator’s Cartoon Hangover channel includes Bee and PuppyCat, Bravest Warriors, as well as many new shorts from the world’s future animation superstars. Frederator’s Cartoon Hangover Select, a subscription video-on-demand channel, is exclusive to Ellation’s VRV platform.
Frederator Networks has offices in Burbank, CA and New York, NY.
About WOW Unlimited Media Inc.
WOW Unlimited Media Inc. is creating a leading next-generation kids and youth animation business by focusing on digital platforms and content. The company’s key assets include: the world’s #1 digital animation network (Frederator Networks), one of Canada’s largest, multi-faceted animation production studios (Rainmaker Entertainment), one of the most successful U.S.-based independent animation production companies of the past 20 years (Frederator Studios) and multiple owned and operated VOD channels on digital platforms, including its latest launch of Cartoon Hangover Select on Ellation Media’s VRV platform. Bell Media is the company’s strategic partner. The company operates out of offices in Toronto, New York, Vancouver and Los Angeles, and is listed on the TSX Venture Exchange (TSX-V: WOW.A and WOW.B).
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