Forum - View topicLets talk about: Viz
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darkhunter
 Posts: 2992 Location: Los Angelas |
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So what does everyone think of Viz current and future released?
I enjoy Viz's title very much, I just don't agree with some of thier dicision. Viz's choice to change name around was a bad idea though. A lot of it are Shonen Jump, they're not increadiblity deep but entertaining nonetheless. Bleach, Kenshin, One Piece, Naruto, Shman King, Ultimate muscle are addicting. Lower 8 dollar price tag isn't bad too and motivate me to collect more series. This is probably what's really putting Viz on the top of the manga community. They have a good editor's choice title though. Vagabond gotta be one of the finest manga ever createc. Phoenix, Nausicca, Saikano & No. 5 are excellent work. I have still yet to read many other Editor's choice, but this is an excellent line. Thier lack of information is noticble. Thier releases are iffy. You wont' find a lot of information on thier title from thier website. And they still have have Rahxephon or Wolf's Rain on thier site (both were store exclusive). If anybody else want to express opinon on this company or talk about a particular title, than go ahead. Last edited by darkhunter on Sat Nov 13, 2004 5:13 pm; edited 2 times in total |
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Kagemusha
 Posts: 2783 Location: Boston |
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I guess I shouldn't be an idiot and go off on a rant again about their policies...or do you want me to sound like a lunatic again
But it seems you want to talk only about their titles, and in that case I would say they have the most balanced library around. The strongest shonen mangas (One Piece, Kenshin, Firefighter Daigo) are all at Viz. They have alot of good shojo titles as well (I seem to read more of their shojo that I do of Tokyopop, but that is probobly just me, and I don't read as much as most others on the forum), and while its getting sparse lately, Editors Choice still has some great things (Vagabond and Phoenix are getting admirable treatments, as did Nausicaa and hopefully Monster). So they do have a solid library; just some of the things they tend to do frusterate me. |
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alice20th
Posts: 74 |
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Viz is the first American manga company, and like any ground breakers, they've made a whole host of mistakes on the way.
The first, and probably the most grievous is the fact that from 87-98 they were terrible about completing long series. When sales dropped, the series got cut, and that happened to quite a few fan favorites such as Urusei Yatsura, Patlabor, and Guyver, and to quite a few more lesser known series. Since 98, they've been much better (not perfect but the number of canceled series can probably be counted on one hand). Being the first company, they were pioneers putting out the first of a number of genres such as shoujo manga (Promise), seinen manga (Kamui), josei (Rumic Theater), shounen ai (X/1999 & Banana Fish), sports manga (One Pound Gospel) and other genres of manga. They also pioneered the manga anthology magazine in the U.S. with Manga Vizion and Pulp, a seinen magazine that, although canceled, is still years ahead of its time. Presently their strength is that they have the lowest prices in manga, and some killer titles being sold at that price. They have a wide range of genres and they have titles that appeal to a wide demographic. (They're a little short on josei at the moment, but...), and some of their lesser-known titles here like Basara and Red River were some of the best-selling manga ever in Japan. When there is no interference from big anime/game franchises, the manga tends to come out well translated with high production quality. The biggest problem with Viz presently from a fan perspective is that those series where the anime/game franchise flexes its muscles. When that happens, names change and the translation becomes more suspect. Fortunately their best-selling title, Rurouni Kenshin is free from that, but other Shonen Jump titles and Detective Conan have suffered from it. Their web site is one of the least informative in the industry, they still have the looming shadow of their past canceled series to fight, they've never given fans confidence that they listen, and decisions of their anime branch spills bad will over onto their manga division. But despite all that, they have some of the best titles in the industry, a history of innovation, and (at least a few) top-notch translators and production people. A20 |
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NetDiver
 Posts: 65 Location: Northern Europe |
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Viz has put very good titles on the market but recently it has become extremely hard get new realeases in Europe because Viz has limited it's sales to US and Canada only. So recently I've been drifting away from Viz to Dark Horse, Tokyopop and newer manga companies. Don't really have that much bad to say from Viz apart from the sales limit I mentioned above. Quality of their trade paper backs is good and translations are pretty much on the mark. On the note on translations, another thing that I dislike about Viz is their policy on changing names of the characters on some of their titles. Gunnm comes first to my mind. But this a minor problem and it hasn't really bothered my reading of Viz manga.
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itsatrapMF
 Posts: 21 |
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o.o I like Viz. Seem's everyone beat me to listing their history and accomplishment's in the industry so I'll keep it simple.
They carry titles I'll read, they release them fairly quickly, and the price is reasonable. No complaints here. |
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ames_909
 Posts: 37 Location: Canada |
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It might be just me, but I don't like Viz. It saddens me that they've licensed so many series that I like, because it seems like their company motto is something akin to "Quantity over Quality". Their releases often contain many typos and errors... don't even get me started on the way they translate. Sure, they're cheaper, but what's the point if the quality sucks? If I'm going for cheap, why not just get the original Japanese version? Hell, even the Chinese version is cheaper than Viz... not to mention the fact that it has better translations. It costs roughly $4 CDN for one (newly released) Chinese volume... and there's no tax, either. The releases come out quickly and regularly, often soon after it's been released in Japan. There's also no need for having to change all the speech patterns and phrases like they do for English so the American public can relate to, since the Japanese and Chinese often share common slangs and sayings.
Later, Ames |
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OTP
 Posts: 99 |
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What do you mean? Anyway, Viz is okay. They have some good titles, like Evangelion, Gundam (although, Gundam manga is licensed by just about every manga company, so that's really nothing to brag about), etc. The only problem I have with them, though, is their websites. As somebody already said, it's hard to find info there, other than the Shonen Jump stuff, that is. For example, I was looking for info on Case Closed volume 2 because Borders said it hadn't been published yet, and when I go to their website, theirs no info on it (this is this morning, by the way). In fact, I can barely even find any info on volume 1. But other than that, Viz is okay. I don't have as many of their titles as I do Tokyopop's, but they're okay. |
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ames_909
Posts: 37 Location: Canada |
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Well for one thing, they change/take out the way people address each other (eg. -chan, -senapi, -kun, etc.). They also change the dialogue to become more contemporary, more 'hip'.... it's a bit hard to explain unless you have two versions of the same thing in front of you. I first noticed this after comparing different versions of Inuyasha. Kagome sounded very much like a ditzy teenager (just like the anime dubbing, by the way) in the Viz version, complete with slang (eg. "s'posed", "y'know" "thing-a-ma-jig") and everything. The villagers also sound very 'Old English', using words like "tis" and "nary" every so often. They've also toned down the swearing to the point that it's almost nonexistent, which I really don't like. It's a part of Inuyasha's personality (and Kouga's as well), after all. I mean, what's the point of giving this series a T+ rating (for older teens)? There's some nudity, yet there's pretty much zero swearing (btw, "old hag" does not count as swearing in my book. It's rude, for sure, but it's not swearing.) Later, Ames |
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darkhunter
Posts: 2992 Location: Los Angelas |
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Now with the news of Hunter X Hunter, Eyeshield21 & JoJo (possibly Monster), I'm sure Viz will likely dominate 2005. How many big title are their left to licensed that will get the fan's attention.
I wouldn't be surprise if they follow up with 20th Century Boy somehow, that would make sense if they got Monster. |
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Kagemusha
Posts: 2783 Location: Boston |
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Dominate? Because of three shonen series (two of which aren't as popular as their already running series) and a seinen series? I doubt that. The company who controls shojo will probobly dominate, and while Viz has popular shojo series, they can't compare to Tokyopop.
And HOPEFULLY they will get 20th Century Boys, but that depends on how well Monster does. |
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king_micah
 Posts: 994 Location: OSU |
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FINISH RANMA.
Really, 14 years on, they might be done in 2010. It's silly. |
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che_guevara
Posts: 102 Location: Near Boston |
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No way. The majority of people who buy manga in the US are female teens, and the majority of manga sold is shoujo like Fushigi Yugi, Mars and Kare Kano. Besides, those three titles are really hyped-up, but they're not as good as people say they are. Especially HxH. I've read the first 4 volumes - nothing special, really. Just another tournament-based shonen series. I highly doubt Viz will do well in 2005. Less and less people are buying shonen jump, and lots of shonen jump graphic novels are taking space on shelves in bookstores, while I remember just a year ago, they'd fly off. Viz made a HUGE mistake switching from shoujo to shonen. And now their shoujo releases are sporadic and disorganized (i.e, second version of Fughigi Yugi). The only way Viz can take over the market is if they release a GOOD shoujo anthology. |
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Alchemist449
 Posts: 341 Location: LED ZEPPELIN! nuf said |
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Really? Where I live I have a much harder time finding shonen series than shoujo but, I still can get Planetes anywhere any time.
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darkhunter
Posts: 2992 Location: Los Angelas |
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You still forget that they have the most popular line: Shonen Jump which include Kenshin and Naruto, two of the top selling comic that and adding Monster plus 3 other popular shonen title (Hunter x Hunter has always been a fan favorite, Eyeshield is one of japan's top seller and Jojo is another fanfavorite) . Other shonen title are doing really well too (Bleach, One Piece).
Thier Shojo lineup is very solid: Sensual Phrase, Kare First Love, Hot Gimmick, etc, and they're thinking of running a shojo anthology. I'm not a viz fanboy, but so far, Viz's future look very promising. |
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che_guevara
Posts: 102 Location: Near Boston |
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Compare that to the number of extremely popular titles TP has - Chobits, GTO, Love Hina, .hack, Ai Yori Aoshi, Battle Royale, Battle Vixens, DNAngel, FLCL, Fruits Basket, Gravitation, Kare Kano, Kill Me Kiss Me, Legal Drug, MARS, Peach Girl, Saiyuki, Samurai Deeper Kyp, Suki, Tramps Like Us... Tokyopop has virtually complete control over the shoujo market. And that's not because it has BETTER titles, it's just because it releases them in a more reasonable way. The second versions of Fushigi Yugi volumes are being released SO sporadically, that it's impossible to actually keep track of them. In terms of the shounen market, yes, Viz basically owns the younger-boys market, but think about titles like Ai Yori Aoshi, Battle Royale, GTO, Love Hina, Samurai Deeper Kyo... Those are all HUGE. Hunter x Hunter will probably not reach the popularity of any of those titles. Think about this - Love Hina V.01, released SO long ago, is STILL selling more on Amazon.com than Bleach, all of Hikaru No Go, AND all of One Piece which were recently released. Check the sales rankings to see what I'm talking about. |
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