San Diego Comic-Con International 2013

Viz Media

Starting with their manga division, Viz Media kicked off their Thursday afternoon San Diego Comic Con panel with a run-down of some of their recent and upcoming titles. Titles profiled included adventure manga Magi, shoujo manga Voice Over and Sweet Rein, and josei manga Midnight Secretary and Happy Marriage!?. The panelists then recapped some of the print acquisitions that they first announced at Anime Expo, starting with the Miyazaki-related books—The Art of Princess Mononoke, and the books Starting Point and Turning Point, essays about and by Hayao Miyazaki, both about his life and also his career.

New manga titles announced at Anime Expo included Kohske's Gangta., the first volume of which will be released in February 2014. Also added to the lineup was Naoshi Komi's Nisekoi - False Love (Jan 2014); Akira Toriyama's Dragon Ball Full Color Edition (Feb 2014); Kazuma Kondou's Deadman Wonderland (Feb 2014); Rumiko Takahashi's classic Ranma 1/2 (March 2014);

New acquisition announcements exclusive to Comic Con included three titles that will be released on Viz's Haikasoru science fiction imprint. First is the All You Need Is Kill graphic novel. The work is adapted from Hiroshi Sakurazaka's science fiction novel, and will be illustrated by Lee Ferguson, with story adaptation by Nick Marnatas. The original source material is also the inspiration for the upcoming film Edge of Tomorrow starring Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt.

Viz will also be releasing Koushun Takami's Battle Royale novel with a new translation and new cover, alongside the Battle Royale Slam Book, a collection of essays about Battle Royale. Both will be available in April 2014. Haikasoru had previously released a version of Battle Royale that was an edit of an older translation, but this upcoming release is an entirely new translation.

In digital manga news, Viz recently announced that their e-manga titles will also be available in the Kobo eBook store, and can now be read on Kobo eReaders. Viz's digital manga titles allows readers to purchase a wide selection of manga for tablets and e-readers, including new titles like Bleach, Blue Exorcist, and Psyren, but also older classics like Please Save My Earth, MAR, and Case Closed. The panelists also talked about the Weekly Shonen Jump anthology that readers could subscribe to, which offers new chapters of manga the same day as the Japanese release. Titles include Naruto, One Piece, Bleach, World Trigger, One-Punch Man, and others.

Shonen Jump fans attending Comic Con can swing by the Shonen Jump panel on Saturday at 12:30 PM in Room 5AB, where an episode of the Weekly Shonen Jump podcast will be live-recorded. There will also be a free Weekly Shonen Jump fan meet-up on Saturday from 2-6 PM near the 5th Ave Pier, where there will be energy drinks and t-shirts for attendees.

The panel then transitioned to Viz Media's online anime channel, Neon Alley. The 24/7 programmed channel is available online and via consoles, and features dubbed series like Tiger and Bunny, One Piece, K, and many others. Puella Magi Madoka Magica and Magi – The Labyrinth of Magic will be joining the lineup this fall.