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 Manga Bulletin: June 4, 2008
Written by Park Cooper
Hello, Park Cooper here, and welcome once again to Manga Bulletin, a newish feature in which, among other things, ML will give you the manga/anime/industry news of the week and comment on it, perhaps snarkily (perhaps not). Indeed it’ll be a place for all sorts of shameless plugging, but let’s jump right into things with some professionals of hype with the newest press releases I’ve gotten from Viz:
VIZ MEDIA ANNOUNCES UNPRECEDENTED IN-PERSON APPEARANCES FOR JUNE 11 NEW YORK CITY MOVIE EVENT
BLEACH THE MOVIE: MEMORIES OF NOBODY
Character Designer Masashi Kudo And Producer Ken Hagino To Give Unique Insights On New Feature Film Based On Hit Animated Supernatural Action Series
San Francisco, CA, June 2, 2008 – VIZ Media, LLC (VIZ Media), one of the entertainment industry’s most innovative and comprehensive publishing, animation and licensing companies, has announced a special event for its New York City movie event BLEACH THE MOVIE: MEMORIES OF NOBODY on Wednesday, June 11 at the Regal Union Square Stadium 14 Theatre at 7:00pm. Theatre information follows at the end of this press release.
VIZ Media will welcome rare in-person appearances by BLEACH Character Designer Masashi Kudo and Producer Ken Hagino, who will offer insights to the audience prior to the start of the film. A costumed version of the character KON from the movie will also be on-hand to welcome guests and pose for pictures. The first 100 attendees on June 11, at the Regal Union Square Stadium 14 location, will also receive a special BLEACH armband courtesy of Great Eastern Entertainment, Inc., a leading licensed manufacturer of animation and entertainment merchandise.
Adapted from the wildly popular animated series and best-selling manga series (both distributed and published in North America by VIZ Media) by acclaimed Japanese artist Tite Kubo, BLEACH THE MOVIE: MEMORIES OF NOBODY will make its North American debut in a special two-night theatre experience in 300 cities nationwide on June 11 and 12. The screening will also include an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at the talent behind the characters as well as interviews with the Japanese Director, Noriyuki Abe, Producer Ken Hagino and Character Designer, Masashi Kudo. VIZ Media has partnered with NCM FATHOM, the entertainment division of National CineMedia, to present this epic action anime hit nationwide. For a complete list of theatre locations and prices, please visit the www.FathomEvents.com website (theatres are subject to change).
BLEACH THE MOVIE: MEMORIES OF NOBODY begins as unidentified beings known as “Blanks” start popping up. They are soon followed by a Soul Reaper named Senna who makes them disappear. Puzzled by these unknown beings and the even more mysterious girl, Ichigo and Rukia set out to learn more, but uncover an evil plot when a menacing clan tries to kidnap Senna. Banished from the Soul Society long ago, the clan’s leader has sent sending the World of the Living and the Soul Society on a collision course, and Senna seems to be the key to his diabolical plot for revenge. Can Ichigo and his fellow Soul Reapers save the two worlds from annihilation?
“Anticipation is steadily building for this special movie event of BLEACH THE MOVIE: MEMORIES OF NOBODY and we are very excited to welcome character designer Masashi Kudo and producer Ken Hagino for rare in-person appearances at the June 11 New York City screening,” says Liza Coppola, Sr. Vice President “This will be a unique opportunity to see one of the hottest animated supernatural action thrillers on the big screen and glean some insights straight from the creative forces behind the film.”
BLEACH is a tremendously successful multimedia property internationally. The manga series (rated ‘T’ for teens) has been licensed to more than a dozen countries, and has sold over 50 million copies in Japan alone. In North America the manga has been a sales hit and the popular animated series is viewed weekly by millions in the United States and Canada. This success has further spawned an array of related video games, apparel, action figures, trading cards and other merchandise. BLEACH THE MOVIE: MEMORIES OF NOBODY is rated T for Teens.
BLEACH THE MOVIE: MEMORIES OF NOBODY will screen at the following theatre in New York City June 11 and 12
Regal Union Square Stadium 14
850 Broadway, New York, NY 10003
(212) 253-6266
Fans are encouraged to show up in their in their best BLEACH gear in support of this exciting movie. For more information on BLEACH and BLEACH THE MOVIE: MEMORIES OF NOBODY please visit the official BLEACH website at bleach.viz.com or www.viz.com.
...
...Any staffers got anything to say about this? I'm not into Bleach, so I've got nothing...
--David Rasmussen:
We’ve been down this road so many times with anime movie releases it’s no longer funny.
Sure, at least they’re not too close to The Dark Knight’s release, but they’ll get buried by the release of The Incredible Hulk in terms of buzz… if most everyone ignores this release and pays it no mind then I wouldn’t be surprised.
--Athena and Alethea Nibley:
I don’t think anyone’s expecting Bleach to be a major summer blockbuster, but there are a bunch of fans out there who will be happy to see it on the big screen. Personally, we think it’s great that anime is getting popular enough that it makes it to the big screen at all this side of the Pacific Ocean. We’re not huge Bleach fans ourselves, but I still think it’s awesome that they’re bringing the character designer and producer to the premiere. If we were in New York, we would totally be there.
--David Rasmussen
Fans are one thing, VIZ actually having a plan for a major theatrical release to get the movie to said fans (if this doesn’t turn out to be another Inu-Yasha-style dud with the movie getting one quick theatrical release then going straight to DVD) is another.
...
...Okay, let's try two more:
VIZ MEDIA SHOWCASES A VARIETY OF NEW TITLES AT 2008 BOOKEXPO AMERICA SHOW
Company To Offer A Dynamic Array Of Manga Titles For Children, Teens And Adults At Preeminent Publishing Event
In Booth #1647
San Francisco, CA, May 30, 2008 – VIZ Media, LLC (VIZ Media), one of the entertainment industry’s most innovative and comprehensive publishing, animation and licensing companies, will highlight several notable upcoming manga (graphic novel) releases at the 2008 BookExpo America (BEA) show, taking place May 30-June 1, 2008 at the Los Angeles Convention Center in Los Angeles, California. BEA is the preeminent yearly trade event for publishers and booksellers in North America. VIZ Media will be located in Booth 1647.
VIZ Media will further participate in three roundtable discussions on a variety of important topics central to the burgeoning manga industry in North America. Graphic Novel Distribution, Bookstores, and the Direct Market takes place Saturday, May 31, 9:30am-10:30am in Room 406B and will feature VIZ Media’s Vice President of Sales & Product Marketing Gonzalo Ferreyra. The discussion will review various changes the domestic manga industry has undergone, as well as the risks and rewards of distributing manga in the bookstore arena and what comes next for publishers.
On Saturday, May 31, 2008, 1:00pm-2:00pm in Room 406A panelists will examine new challenges facing publishers, new changes in content and taste, and how publishers like VIZ Media are attracting new demographics in a panel entitled Manga’s New Generational Trade-up: The Publishers Quest for New Readers and will feature Leyla Aker, Manga Editor, VIZ Media.
Leyla Aker will also be a panelist on the The Graphic Novel Buzz that will be taking place on Saturday, May 31, 2008, 4:00pm in Room 404B.
Some of the titles VIZ Media will be showcasing at BEA 2008 Include:
From the VIZKIDS imprint:
POKÉmon: the rise of the darkrai • Rated “A” for All Ages •
MSRP: $7.99 • Available June 3, 2008
POKÉmon is more than just a game or a TV show: it’s an international cultural phenomenon that has won the hearts of millions of fans worldwide! In POKÉMON: THE
RISE OF DARKRAI, the newest addition to the VIZKIDS imprint, our young hero Ash may think he’s seen everything when it comes to Pokémon, but is he ready to face the mysterious Darkrai in his latest awesome adventure? While touring Alamos Town—home of the Space-Time Tower—with the beautiful Alice, Ash and his friends discover that the town’s special garden has been decimated! Baron Alberto, a dashing but arrogant fellow, immediately blames the destruction on Darkrai. As if it just overheard the accusation, Darkrai appears and confronts our heroes! Who is Darkrai? Is it a friend… or an enemy in disguise? And as a battle between Legendary Pokémon Dialga and Palkia rages directly above Alamos Town, and threatens to tear a hole in the space-time continuum, will Ash and his friends survive this showdown and learn Darkrai’s true nature? Find out in this companion volume to the new feature film, also to be distributed by VIZ Media.
THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: THE OCARINA OF TIME • Rated “A” for All Ages • MSRP: $7.99 • Available October 7, 2008
Based on the best-selling adventure video games from Nintendo, The Legend of Zelda manga are being made available for the first time in North America. The Legend of Zelda series details the adventures of Link as his destiny is revealed starting with the Ocarina of Time. Beloved by millions of fans around the world, readers will enjoy the additional details and in-depth explanation of game elements that are available nowhere else but in the manga.
From the VIZ Signature imprint:
CAT EYED BOY • Rated “T+” for Older Teens • MSRP: $24.99 •
Available June 10, 2008
The latest horror masterpiece from Kazuo Umezu, the creator of DRIFTING CLASSROOM (also published by VIZ Media), Cat-Eyed Boy is a half-human, half-monster child who mostly resembles a human, and therefore cannot live in the demon world. He lives hidden in the shadows of the human world, hated by demons and humans alike, but wherever he goes, awful events occur. Humans interact with demons, but surprisingly it’s the humans that act more evil than the monsters. Cat-Eyed Boy acts like a Trickster, saving the innocent and helping the wicked receive the punishment that fate metes out. CAT EYED BOY features gripping tales of revenge and retribution for the evil acts that people commit. The series is broken into 11 individual stories, many full of extremely grotesque and disturbing images. Kazuo Umezu started drawing professionally in the 1950s and is considered the most influential horror manga artists. Umezu’s weird style, incredible ideas and sometimes terrifying imagery have made him a fixture of Japanese pop culture, and his work has been adapted into movies, anime and collectibles.
REAL • Rated “T+” for Older Teens • MSRP: $12.99 •
Available July 15, 2008
REAL is a gritty drama from Takehiko Inoue and offers a unique twist on the sports manga genre as it focuses on wheelchair basketball. A motorcycle accident, bone cancer, and a speeding truck crashing into a boy on a stolen bicycle all present tragic, life-changing events that turn the worlds of three young men upside down in this gripping new series. Three very different personalities have only one thing in common – their passion for basketball.
[Park Cooper: I just got a review copy of this yesterday, actually. I'll be reviewing it soon.]
SOLANIN • Rated “T+” for Older Teens • MSRP: $17.99 •
Available October 21, 2008
College graduates struggle to cope with the real world and music offers refuge in this modern manga with an American attitude. Meiko Inoue is a recent college grad working as an office lady in a job she hates. Her boyfriend Naruo is permanently crashing at her apartment because his job as a freelance illustrator doesn’t pay enough for rent. And her parents in the country keep sending her boxes of veggies that just rot in her fridge. Straddling the line between her years as a student and the rest of her life, Meiko struggles with the feeling that she’s just not cut out to be a part of the real world. SOLANIN was created by Inio Asano and was originally published as a two-volume series but will be released by VIZ Media as a single omnibus edition and will have six color pages.
[Park Cooper: All I can think is that in real life? If I lived in Japan and my name was Naruo I would get really sick of it.]
From the SHONEN JUMP imprint:
SHONEN JUMP FIFTH ANNIVERSARY COLLECTOR’S EDITION • Rated “T” for Teens • MSRP: $24.99 • Available August 5, 2008
SHONEN JUMP is the most popular manga anthology in the English-speaking world and celebrates its fifth anniversary with this special edition. Each month, SHONEN JUMP publishes more than 300 pages of the world’s most popular manga—Japanese comics that range from the ninja action of NARUTO to the soul-reaping epic that is BLEACH to the ocean-faring adventures of ONE PIECE. Collected in this special edition is all the manga from the very first issue of SHONEN JUMP, published in December 2002—plus the first chapter of NARUTO, now one of the most successful manga series, which originally appeared in the second issue of the magazine. Also included are feature stories from the first five years of SHONEN JUMP, including Japanese lessons, manga sudoku and rare interviews with great manga creators such as Masashi Kishimoto (NARUTO), Akira Toriyama (DRAGON BALL Z), Tite Kubo (BLEACH) and Eiichiro Oda (ONE PIECE)—over a dozen in all. Plus a valuable YU-GI-OH! trading card, and essays by SHONEN JUMP’s American and Japanese editors.
SLAM DUNK • Rated “T” for Teens • MSRP: $7.99 •
Available August 11, 2008
SLAM DUNK is the highly anticipated 31-volume basketball drama from Takehiko Inoue that was a smash hit in Japan. Sakuragi Hanamichi’s got no game with girls – none at all! It doesn’t help that he’s known for throwing down at a moment’s notice and always
coming out on top. A hopeless bruiser, he’s been rejected by 50 girls in a row! All that changes when he meets the girl of his dreams, Haruko, and she’s actually not afraid of him! When she introduces him to the game of basketball, his life is changed forever. SLAM DUNK sold over 100 million copies worldwide and catapulted Inoue into the top ranks of Japanese manga artists. An ardent fan of the sport, he also worked on character design for the PLAYSTATION basketball game ONE ON ONE. Takehiko Inoue is also the creator of the VAGABOND manga series, also published by VIZ Media in the US.
From the SHONEN JUMP ADVANCED imprint:
NORA: THE LAST CHRONICLE OF DEVILDOM • Rated “T+” for Older Teens •MSRP: $7.99 • Available October 7, 2008
Nora is an unruly demon that has defied his Dark Liege one too many times. For the sake of his “education,” Nora is sent to live among mortals and enters a bond of servitude with cool-as-ice star student Kazuma Makkari. Kazuma is about to learn the ways of the underworld – and Nora will learn more from the “real world” than he ever thought possible! NORA: THE LAST CHRONICLE OF DEVILDOM is Kazunari Kakei’s first manga series and debuted in Japan in the April 2004 issue of Monthly Shonen Jump and also spawned a sequel, SUREBREC: NORA THE 2nd, which premiered in Monthly Shonen Jump’s March 2007 issue.
[Park Cooper: Except to point out that my wife and I adapt this title, I've got nothin'. Except to say, ah, the miracle of community standards. Thank you, Japan, for once again publishing something we could never get away with over here. I can say no more.]
VIZ MEDIA DEBUTS NEW NARUTO CHAPTER BOOK SERIES AT 2008 BOOK EXPO AMERICA
Showcase Of The Newest VIZKIDS Format Introduces The Exciting World Of Ninja To Young Readers In Booth #1647
Los Angeles, CA, May 30, 2008 – VIZ Media, LLC (VIZ Media), one of the entertainment industry’s most innovative and comprehensive publishing, animation and licensing companies, showcases its first Chapter Book series based on NARUTO, the wildly popular animated and manga (graphic novel) series, at the 2008 Book Expo America (BEA) show which takes place May 30-June 1, 2008 at the Los Angeles Convention Center in Los Angeles, California. BEA is the preeminent yearly trade event for publishers and booksellers in North America. VIZ Media will be located in Booth #1647.
The NARUTO Chapter Book series is the latest addition to the company’s VIZKIDS imprint designed for younger readers. It tells the action-packed saga of a boy named Naruto Uzumaki who dreams of becoming the world’s greatest ninja. The stories are designed to reinforce positive messages about friendship, teamwork, resilience and overcoming adversity through a variety of adventures inspired by the original manga series. Each Chapter Book edition is based on the original concept by NARUTO creator Masashi Kishimoto and will be presented in an 80-page volume in the traditional Western style (left to right), complemented by illustrations, a map, a glossary and more!
The first two Chapter Books will be:
#1: NARUTO: THE BOY NINJA • Recommended for Ages 7 – 10 • SRP: $4.99 US/$5.99 CAN • Available October 7, 2008
Naruto’s training to be a ninja, but he’s having trouble keeping his jokester ways under control. He’s causing all kinds of trouble at the Ninja Academy and his teachers think he’s annoying. Naruto himself thinks he’s going to be the best ninja that ever lived, but first he’ll have to prove to everyone that he’s more than just the class clown!
#2: NARUTO: THE TESTS OF A NINJA• Recommended for Ages 7 – 10 •
SRP: $4.99 US/$5.99 CAN • Available October 7, 2008
After graduating from Ninja Academy, Naruto makes new friends including the pretty and smart Sakura and the moody and popular Sasuke. He also meets his new sensei named Kakashi. But Naruto’s jokester ways won’t help him to keep up with his talented new pals. If he wants to be the best ninja ever, he’s going to have to work for it!
“BookExpo America is the preeminent event for the North American publishing industry and VIZ Media is pleased to return to the show this year with a brand new line of NARUTO titles specifically aimed at younger readers,” says Alvin Lu, Vice President, Publishing, VIZ Media. “The tremendous international success of the NARUTO brand continues to attract legions of fans of all ages. Our latest expansion of the VIZKIDS library with Chapter Books represents our long-term commitment to develop and publish unique and age-appropriate titles while utilizing the popularity of NARUTO and other top properties to encourage a love of reading in younger fans.”
First introduced in Weekly Shonen Jump magazine in Japan in 1999, NARUTO quickly became that country’s most popular ninja manga targeting tweens and teens and has sold more than 82 million copies to-date. NARUTO currently enjoys widespread domestic success as the best selling manga title in North America. NARUTO has sold over 3.6 million copies to date and regularly appears on USA Today’s Bestseller list and Bookscan’s Graphic Novel Top 50. VIZ Media also distributes the NARUTO animated series on DVD (which has sold through over 750,000 copies domestically). Today, NARUTO is considered one of the most popular animated series in Japan’s history and has achieved immense success not only as a manga and TV series, but also in the realm of licensed categories such as toys, trading card games and video games. For more information go to www.NARUTO.com.
...
...Anyone? Anything?
Nope, nobody. Nothing. The ML staffers had nothing for this one. Not even our new intern, Naruo. When I asked Naruo what he thought of this press release, he just told me to shut up. Then he went back to writing Inu-Yasha/Oh My Goddess fanfic.
I don't think Naruo's gonna work out. He's got issues.
Please look forward to next time.
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