VIZ MEDIA PREMIERES ONE-PUNCH MAN ANIME ACTION SERIES SIMULCAST

New Anime Series By Studio MADHOUSE About A Superhero With A Knockout Punch Streams On The Same Day As Japanese Broadcast Premiere – Catch Episode 1 On October 4^th!

San Francisco, CA, October 1, 2015 – VIZ Media, LLC (VIZ Media), the largest publisher, distributor and licensor of manga and anime in North America, invites audiences to catch the knuckle-busting premiere of the ONE-PUNCH MAN anime simulcast – this Sunday, October 4^th!

Presented with English subtitles on the same day as its Japanese network broadcast premiere, Episode 1 introduces an action-packed story about an average-guy-turned-superhero who packs a knockout punch. New episodes of the series will debut each Sunday. ONE-PUNCH MAN will be available to U.S. audiences on-demand on VIZ.com and Hulu. 

ONE-PUNCH MAN is based on the bestselling manga series (also published by VIZ Media; rated ‘T for Teens), created by writer ONE and artist Yusuke Murata. The anime series was animated by the renowned Japanese studio, Madhouse, and helmed by famed anime director, Shingo Natsume, (Space Dandy, Fullmetal Alchemist: The Sacred Star of Milos), and features character designs by Chikashi Kubota (From the New World, Robotics:notes).

In ONE-PUNCH MAN, Saitama is a hero who only became a hero for fun. After three years of “special” training, though, he’s become so strong that he’s practically invincible. In fact, he’s too strong—even his mightiest opponents are taken out with a single punch, and it turns out that being devastatingly powerful is actually kind of a bore. With his passion for being a hero lost along with his hair, yet still faced with new enemies every day, how much longer can he keep it going?

“ONE-PUNCH MAN is one of the most highly anticipated anime shows of 2015 and we are very excited to add the hard hitting new action adventure to our roster and launch the series to domestic as well as international fans on the same day as broadcast premiere in Japan,” says Brian Ige, VIZ Media Vice President Animation. “The bestselling manga series has established a fervent and fast growing fan base for ONE-PUNCH MAN and we look forward to awareness spreading to legions of new fans with the launch of the anime series. Catch the butt-kicking first episode this weekend!”

Manga creator ONE began ONE-PUNCH MAN as a web comic, which quickly went viral and garnered over 10 million hits. Japanese manga publisher (and VIZ Media parent company) Shueisha eventually secured the publishing rights to the series which has sold more than 4.5 million copies to-date. In addition to ONE-PUNCH MAN, ONE writes and draws the series Mob Psycho 100 and Makai no Ossan.

Yusuke Murata is a highly acclaimed and skilled manga artist best known for his work on the football series, EYESHIELD 21 (also published in North America by VIZ Media). In 1995, Murata won the prestigious 122^nd Hop Step Award for his series, Partner, and placed second in 1998 in the semi-annual Akatsuka Awards for Samui Hanashi.

Neon Alley is VIZ Media’s consolidated online destination for FREE streaming anime content in the U.S. with over 3,700 subtitled and English dubbed episodes and movies from more than 32 series! Neon Alley also reaches an expansive on-demand U.S.-based audience on Hulu, which enables viewers to watch shows anytime, anywhere across devices including Xbox One, PlayStation^®4 (PS4™), Roku, Roku TV, Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, Google Chromecast, and mobile devices. A full list of Hulu -enabled devices can be found at http://www.hulu.com/plus/devices.

For more information on ONE-PUNCH MAN or other anime titles from VIZ Media, please visit www.VIZ.com/opm/.

Additional information on Neon Alley is available at: www.NeonAlley.com and http://blog.neonalley.com.

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 ONE PIECE, 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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