VISIT VIZ MEDIA AT LICENSING EXPO BOOTH #A137

VIZ MEDIA SHOWCASES WORLD’S HOTTEST ANIME TITLES AT 2013 LICENSING EXPO

ACCEL WORLD, BERSERK: THE GOLDEN AGE ARC TRILOGY, ‘K’ And NARUTO SHIPPUDEN, Among The New Titles To Be Showcased

San Francisco, CA, June 17, 2013 – VIZ Media, LLC (VIZ Media), the largest distributor and licensor of anime and manga in North America, returns to Las Vegas for the 2013 Licensing Expo with a robust catalog of some of the world’s top anime properties. The 2013 Licensing Expo is the world’s largest and most influential licensing industry event and takes place June 18^th-20^th at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas, NV. VIZ Media will be located in Booth # A137.

The annual Licensing Expo (www.licensingexpo.com) is the licensing industry's premier trade event for leveraging properties and brand equity to develop merchandise, Licensing Expo attracts more than 400 exhibitors representing more than 5,000 brands and properties in entertainment; sports; fashion and apparel; publishing; art and design; automotive; animation/anime; home and housewares; and lifestyle. Attendees from more than 80 countries represent the world's leading retailers, licensees, manufacturers, distributors and licensing agents.

Anime properties VIZ Media will highlight at 2013 Licensing Expo include:

NARUTO SHIPPUDEN (Rated ‘T+’ for Older Teens)

NARUTO has become the hottest animated series across North America and is one of VIZ Media’s most successful manga and animated properties in terms of sales. NARUTO has aired on TV since 2005, and is currently the most watched anime program on Cartoon Network’s Toonami block. On HULU, the 500+ subtitled episodes have reached over 200 million views. In addition, digital downloads are available on all major platforms including iTunes, Xbox, Amazon, Google and Xbox. NARUTO’s continuous popularity has brought more than 1000 consumer products to the U.S. market, including video games  from Namco Bandai (7 million copies sold), graphic novels from VIZ Media (127 million copies sold), and trading card games from Bandai America (10 million packs sold). 

In May 2013, the first official fan-designed t-shirt contest took place. The contest’s success resulted the immediate interest from numerous retail buyers. VIZ Media continues to secure new licensees and expand to new product lines, ranging from digital products to food and beverage items.

More information is available on the official website at VIZ.com/naruto.

BERSERK: THE GOLDEN AGE TRILOGY (Rated ‘M’ for Mature Audiences)

Based on the bestselling medieval dark fantasy manga (graphic novel) series created by Kentaro Miura, the BERSERK animation is beloved by not only anime and manga fans, but also holds a large following in the action-fantasy world. To date, 31 million BERSERK graphic novels have been sold worldwide. The trilogy has been nominated for multiple international movie awards for its extreme precision, and dynamic graphics.

The first two movies screened at a special premiere event in San Francisco in Spring 2013, and the third film will debut Summer 2014. Figures and accessories made in Japan are currently available in the U.S. High-end collectors figures are scheduled for released in early 2014.

For more information on the BERSERK: THE GOLDEN AGE ARC film trilogy, please visit the official Facebook page at: www.facebook.com/BerserkFilm.

ACCEL WORLD (Rated ‘T+’ for Older Teens)

Based on award winning novel (3.5 million copies sold in Japan), ACCEL WORLD takes place in the year 2046 when the virtual world becomes reality. All 24 subtitled episodes are available on Hulu and the series is top rated in the Science Fiction Anime category. In addition, 100,000 copies of Namco Bandai’s Accel World PSP and PS3 games have sold in Japan.  Currently apparel, accessories, and figures are available in the US market.  ACCEL WORLD continues to venture into new item categories in 2013.

For more information on ACCEL WORLD, please visit: VIZAnime.com/accel-world.

K (Rated ‘T’ for Teens)

From GoHands, the studio that brought you the cyberpunk anime film series Mardock Scramble, and the enigmatic writers’ collective GoRA Project comes K. The highly anticipated series revealed little information on the plot until the its simultaneous debut in 54 countries in 2012. Upon its release, K instantly attracted the attention of a wide fan base. The first K publicity event in Japan resulted in attendance exceeding 250% of capacity, and sold out of 5000 event tickets in 15 minutes. All 13 episodes are currently streamed on Hulu and are top ranking in the Action Adventure Anime category.

For more information about K, please visit VIZAnime.com/k.

Additional VIZ Media anime properties available for license include:

• BLEACH
• DEATH NOTE
• INUYASHA: THE FINAL ACT
• LAGRANGE: THE FLOWER OF RIN-NE
• NARUTO
• NARUTO SPINOFF: ROCK LEE AND HIS NINJA PALS
• TIGER & BUNNY
• VAMPIRE KNIGHT
• ZETMAN

For more information on other VIZ Media anime properties, please visit: www.viz.com/anime.

About VIZ Media, LLC

Headquartered in San Francisco, California, VIZ Media distributes, markets and licenses the best anime and manga titles direct from Japan.  Owned by three of Japan's largest manga and animation companies, Shueisha Inc., Shogakukan Inc., and Shogakukan-Shueisha Productions, Co., Ltd., VIZ Media has the most extensive library of anime and manga for English speaking audiences in North America, the United Kingdom, Ireland and South Africa. With its popular digital manga anthology WEEKLY SHONEN JUMP and blockbuster properties like NARUTO, BLEACH and INUYASHA, VIZ Media offers cutting-edge action, romance and family friendly properties for anime, manga, science fiction and fantasy fans of all ages.  VIZ Media properties are available as graphic novels, DVDs, animated television series, feature films, downloadable and streaming video and a variety of consumer products.  Learn more about VIZ Media, anime and manga at www.VIZ.com.

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