Misplaced Pages

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56-405: Hal went from music arrangers into a music band and then back to music arrangers, arranging songs for many Japanese artists. Toshiharu Umezaki (sometimes written as Toshiyasu Umezaki) is known as the main member and leader of the band, which had gone through some deformations in their structure. The sound of Hal is mainly a lively digital beat at the edge where the electric guitars are used a lot, as

112-512: A 70% growth in the U.S. market, in line with a 43% increase in overall manga sales in the United States the same year. On July 3, 2020, Funimation announced that they would begin streaming the original Naruto series on July 6. More content from Viz Media started to launch in their catalog such as Hunter × Hunter , Sailor Moon R: The Movie , and two Berserk films. On September 9, 2020, Funimation announced that they had reached

168-460: A January 2003 cover date. Based on the popular Japanese anthology Weekly Shōnen Jump , published by Shueisha , Shonen Jump is retooled for English readers and the American audience and is published monthly, instead of weekly. It features serialized chapters from seven manga series, and articles on Japanese language and culture, as well as manga, anime, video games, and figurines. In conjunction with

224-563: A co-venture with Del Rey . In 2005, VIZ Communications merged with ShoPro Entertainment, an American subisidary of Shogakukan and was renamed to Viz Media . Horibuchi became the new company's chairman. During the same year, Horibuchi started a related division, Viz Pictures, for releasing selected live-action films in the US to theaters and DVD. On December 17, 2008, Viz Media announced that starting on April 1, 2009, Warner Home Video (now Warner Bros. Discovery Home Entertainment ) would be handling

280-452: A corrupted Sailor Guardian, plans to increase her powers and rule the Milky Way . The season began broadcasting on TV Asahi on March 9, 1996 and ended on February 8, 1997 for 34 episodes. It was later released on DVD in six compilations with five episodes, by Toei, from September 26 to November 21, 2005. Sailor Stars was not dubbed during the initial English-language dub of Sailor Moon in

336-567: A distribution partnership with Viz Media, with Viz Media titles being made available to stream on Funimation's website. The deal was made after select Viz titles were previously made available on Funimation. On May 9, 2023, Viz Media launched a digital manga service called "Viz Manga", featuring licenses from Shogakukan and Shueisha that are not published on the digital "Shonen Jump" service, and has simultaneous English releases of ongoing manga. On July 5, 2024, Viz announced on their social media channels that they had acquired RWBY following

392-541: A half years until it was canceled in August 1998. Pulp was a monthly manga anthology introduced by Viz in 1997. The magazine featured more mature titles, marketed at adults rather than teenage readers. Some of titles serialized in the magazine included: Uzumaki , Banana Fish , and Dance Till Tomorrow . The magazine was canceled in 2002. Shonen Jump is a shōnen manga anthology that debuted in November 2002, with

448-423: A lower page count. The last monthly issue of the original format Animerica had a cover date of June 2005 (Volume 13, No. 6). Animurica was one of the first professional anime and manga magazines released in the United States, and one of the most popular in the 1990s. In 2004, it had a circulation of 45,000 readers, but low sales and high competition from Newtype USA resulted in the essential cancellation of

504-415: A press release claiming that none of their current product lines would be affected. On April 2, 2012, it was announced that the senior vice-president and general manager of Viz Media Ken Sasaki would be succeeding executive producer Hidemi Fukuhara as president and CEO; Fukuhara will subsequently take up the position of vice-president at the end of the month. In Fall 2013, Viz began distributing titles to

560-453: A production group once again with Takehito Shimizu and Yuta Nakano replacing Sato. Shimizu previously was a session guitarist for Hal when it was a band. Nakano had originally been a remixer for artists such as Ayumi Hamasaki. Nakano left the band in early 2004, and was unofficially replaced by Mayuko Maruyama. Shimizu and Maruyama left Hal in late 2009. Both eventually signed deals with a music production comapany named "Blue Bird's Nest", which

616-633: A separate entity from Viz Media) opened a three-story entertainment complex in San Francisco called New People. The center piece of the complex is a 143-seat movie theater that screens anime and Japanese live-action films. The center also has a cafe, a store selling anime and manga related items, and clothing stores offering Japanese clothing items. Neon Alley was a streaming service dedicated to anime and related programming established in October 2012. After moving streaming content from its own platform to Hulu ,

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672-489: A special feature and typic in their arrangements. Hal started out as music arrangers in 1996. The first song that they arranged was "Sailor Star Song" by Kae Hanazawa, which was the opening theme for Sailor Moon Sailor Stars . Hal became known especially for the work that they did with Ayumi Hamasaki . " Appears ", " Fly High ", " M ", " Evolution " and " No Way to Say " are some of their most famous tunes with her. They also have worked with some other artists like Ami Suzuki ,

728-658: A writer of cultural information. He also became interested in publishing Japanese manga in the United States, though he himself was not a fan of Japanese comics until a visit to Japan in 1985 exposed him to Katsuhiro Otomo 's single-volume title Domu: A Child's Dream . His idea came to fruition after he met Masahiro Ohga, then managing director of Shogakukan , in 1985 and shared his vision. Shogakukan provided Horibuchi with $ 200,000 in startup capital, which Horibuichi used in 1986 to found VIZ Communications . VIZ Communications released its first titles in 1987, which included Legend of Kamui ; however, sales were mediocre due to

784-584: Is a subsidiary of avex . Currently Umezaki keeps the Hal name active, arranging songs for Japanese singers and music groups. HAL's single "The Starry Sky" was the ending theme for the anime Angelic Layer . The Angelic Layer OST also featured another song by HAL, "Justice" including a few remixes of both. HAL's 6th single, "I'll be the One", is the second opening of Hikaru No Go . Sailor Moon Sailor Stars Sailor Moon Sailor Stars , or simply Sailor Stars ,

840-560: Is an American entertainment company headquartered in San Francisco , California , focused on publishing manga , and distribution and licensing Japanese anime , films, and television series. The company was founded in 1986 as VIZ, LLC . In 2005, VIZ and ShoPro Entertainment merged to form the current VIZ Media, which is owned by Japanese publishing conglomerates Shueisha and Shogakukan , as well as Japanese production company Shogakukan-Shueisha Productions (ShoPro) . In 2017, Viz Media

896-514: Is because their sister company publishes the original novels. For Azumanga Daioh , Yen Press's license of the manga was a month before Shogakukan reprinted the manga in May 2009, resulting in a change of license holders from ASCII Media Works (when Yen Press announced the license) to Shogakukan (when Yen Press released it). The Yen Press edition is a newly translated and lettered version of ADV Manga's edition (taken from ASCII Media Works) as opposed to

952-571: Is performed by Kae Hanazawa. The ending theme, used for the first 33 episodes, is " Kaze mo Sora mo Kitto... " performed by Alisa Mizuki . The second and final ending theme that was used for the final episode is " Moonlight Densetsu ", performed by Moon Lips. With Princess Kakyuu's Star Seed in hand, Galaxia begins to attack the Earth and obtains the Star Seeds of every innocent person. The Starlights have already confronted Galaxia to avenge their princess, and

1008-506: Is the fifth and final season of Sailor Moon , a Japanese magical girl anime series based on the Sailor Moon manga series by Naoko Takeuchi ; the season was directed by Takuya Igarashi and produced by Toei Animation . Like the rest of the Sailor Moon series, it follows the adventures of Usagi Tsukino and her fellow Sailor Guardians. The season is divided into two story arcs , with

1064-489: The KinKi Kids , Every Little Thing and Dream . In 2000 the group of men did a casting to choose a female vocalist for forming the musical group Hal, which was an idea of Toshiharu Umesaki and Atsushi Sato's. Finally the singer Halna was chosen to be a part of Hal and they signed a deal with record label Avex Trax . They temporarily stopped their group as arrangers after the work with " Grip! " from Every Little Thing. After

1120-407: The "difficult economic climate" was behind the magazine's cancellation, and that it would continue releasing the magazine's titles, as well as others, using the "Shojo Beat" imprint. In January 2009, Viz Media announced plans to launch a Japanese science fiction novel line called Haikasoru. The first novels were scheduled to be released in the summer of the same year, with four novels: The Lord of

1176-521: The 3-volume edition by Shogakukan. Yen Press has expressed interest in releasing the 3-volume edition although editor Kurt Hassler said he is not "sure this will be possible.", possibly because Shogakukan owns Viz and that they almost exclusively license their titles to them). In March 2010, Shogakukan began a partnership with Fantagraphics Books to issue a line of manga to be edited by Matt Thorn. In 2003, possibly in response to Shogakukan and Shueisha's co-ownership of Viz, Japanese publisher Kodansha formed

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1232-642: The European and South American markets. When Shueisha became a joint owner of Viz in 2002, both Shogakukan and Shueisha began to release manga exclusively through Viz. Shueisha's deal with Viz may have been prompted by competition with Raijin Comics , a rival manga publisher created in 2002 by editors and artists who had split off from Shueisha, taking their properties with them. Some exceptions to this exclusivity exist, however: Shueisha permitted DC Comics 's subsidiary CMX Manga to license Tenjho Tenge (although it

1288-617: The Haunted Hot Springs and Super HxEros , and permitted Tokyopop to license Kodocha , Marmalade Boy , and Digimon Next and Manga Planet to license Silver Fang -The Shooting Star Gin- and allowed Kodansha USA to license the Battle Angel Alita manga in America. Shogakukan permitted Tokyopop to license Corrector Yui (even though Viz Media licensed the anime) and Yumi Tsukirino's Stitch! manga (because Tokyopop had

1344-523: The Philippines. In 2014, it announced it would do the same in India with 75 Shueisha titles being released in that country; Viz titles had been distributed unofficially to that country prior to the announcement. On July 3, 2019, Viz Media partnered with Crunchyroll to distribute select Crunchyroll licensed titles on home video and electronic sell-through in the United States and Canada. In 2020, Viz Media saw

1400-656: The Sailor Guardians go after them. When they reach Galaxia and the Starlights, Galaxia steals the four Inner Guardians' Star Seeds, killing them. Seeing all the Star Seeds that Galaxia has been gathering, Eternal Sailor Moon recognizes one of them to be Mamoru's. Bandai released two video games in 1996 to promote this season: Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon Sailor Stars for Sega Pico , and Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon Sailor Stars: Fuwa Fuwa Panic 2 for Super Nintendo Entertainment System . Viz Media VIZ Media, LLC

1456-621: The Sands of Time by Issui Ogawa , ZOO by Otsuichi , All You Need Is Kill by Hiroshi Sakurazaka , and Usurper of the Sun by Hōsuke Nojiri . In addition, the imprint released an expanded edition of Kōshun Takami 's Battle Royale . In 2010, the imprint release Project Itoh 's novel Harmony , which later won a Special Citation Philip K. Dick Award . The imprint is distributed to trade by Simon & Schuster . In October 2011, Viz Media launched SuBLime as an imprint for boys' love titles. The imprint

1512-451: The US and Japan. VIZ Productions' first film is the live action adaptation of All You Need is Kill , Edge of Tomorrow , starring Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt . Their second production was the American live-action adaptation to the supernatural thriller manga series: Death Note , which was directed by Adam Wingard and starred Nat Wolff , as the film's lead. Viz also has many partnerships with various authors and celebrities, perhaps

1568-453: The United States, followed by a streaming release of the entire show on Tubi TV in Canada on July 15, 2016. The first 17 episodes of Sailor Stars were released on Blu-ray and DVD in a dual-language format on June 18, 2019. The rest were released on November 12, 2019. Three pieces of theme music were used: one opening theme and two ending themes. The opening theme, titled " Sailor Star Song ",

1624-593: The Year for its release of the fourteenth volume of the Naruto series. By 2002, Viz Communications kept some publications in the original right-to-left format, while in other publications it mirrored pages from Japan's right-to-left reading format to fit the Western left-to-right reading style. During that year Dallas Middaugh, the senior marketing manager of Viz, stated that the left-to-right version of Neon Genesis Evangelion outsold

1680-576: The Year" award in December 2002, and has continued to enjoy high sales with a monthly circulation of 215,000 in 2008. Shojo Beat was a shōjo manga magazine Viz launched in June 2005 as a sister magazine for Shonen Jump . It featured serialized chapters from six manga series as well as articles on Japanese culture, manga, anime , fashion and beauty. Viz launched related "Shojo Beat" imprints in its manga, light novel , and anime divisions to coordinate with

1736-562: The branding would be retired in May 2016. Animerica is a quarterly anime and manga digest that initially started as a monthly magazine featuring reviews of anime and manga titles, as well as related works. After a preview issue was released in November 1992, the magazine's first issue was released in February 1993 with a March 1993 cover date. The magazine originally featured articles and reviews on manga, anime, and related media, as well as manga preview chapters. In 1998, Animerica Extra

Hal (Japanese band) - Misplaced Pages Continue

1792-399: The closure of its original parent company, Rooster Teeth —several months prior. In contrast to similar TV and film ratings, Viz also has set up certain "manga ratings" for their products based on their content. Despite its name, Viz's manga ratings were also used on licensed anime titles, though, in the later 2000s, they instead relied on local countries' rating systems. Viz Media

1848-624: The company will focus on films that focus on the "Japanese 'kawaii (cute) and cool' pop culture." In 2007, the division released seven films to theaters, including Train Man: Densha Otoko and Honey and Clover . DVD releases for all VIZ Pictures films are distributed exclusively by its parent, VIZ Media. Viz Pictures renamed themselves to New People and no longer shares office space or employees with Viz Media. Viz Media no longer distributes DVD and Blu-ray releases of their products. In August 2009, Viz Pictures (now known as New People and

1904-432: The distribution of both its new and existing catalog releases. Viz itself is still the licensor and will do all production, while tapping the distribution powerhouse that distributes the works of other major companies such as Disney XD , Adult Swim , and Cartoon Network . Viz president and CEO Hidemi Fukuhara stated that he believes the partnership will help the company grow its anime holdings more effectively. Distribution

1960-459: The early 2000's. In May 2014, Viz Media announced that they licensed the series from the start for an uncut release, and also that they plan to release the fifth season on Blu-ray and DVD after Cloverway Inc. and Optimum Productions lost their licenses to the English-language adaption of Sailor Moon when they decided not to renew it. (It would have also been challenging to produce a dub at

2016-655: The exclusive rights to Disney manga in North America), Seven Seas Entertainment to license Dai Dark and Polar Bear Cafe and Digital Manga to license The Amazing 3 and the Himitsu Sentai Gorenger manga, Udon Entertainment to license the Infini-T Force manga (even though Viz Media licensed the anime), the now-defunct ComicsOne to license Wounded Man - The White Haired Demon , permitted Dark Horse Comics to license Crying Freeman (even though it

2072-464: The first 6 episodes consisting of a self-contained arc exclusive to the anime in which the Sailor Guardians encounter Queen Nehelenia again. The remaining 28 episodes adapt material from the "Stars" arc of the manga, in which the Sailor Guardians meet up with the Sailor Starlights , led by Princess Kakyuu . They discover that Sailor Galaxia, the leader of the " Shadow Galactica " organization and

2128-400: The license for the comedy series Ranma ½ , which became an instant hit. The company continued to see success when it expanded into the anime distribution market, began publishing Shonen Jump , an English adaptation of the popular Japanese magazine Weekly Shōnen Jump . It also acquired another huge selling title, Inuyasha . In the late 1990s, VIZ began making the push to move into

2184-552: The magazine and help it succeed where other manga anthologies in North America have failed. Shueisha purchased an equity interest in Viz to help fund the venture, and Cartoon Network , Suncoast , and Diamond Distributors became promotional partners in the magazine. The first issue required three printings to meet demand, with over 300,000 copies sold. It was awarded the ICv2 "Comic Product of

2240-453: The magazine's contents. Targeted at women ages 16–18, the first issue of Shojo Beat launched with a circulation of 20,000 copies. By 2007, average circulation was approximately 38,000 copies. Half of its circulation came from subscriptions rather than store sales . In May 2009, the magazine was discontinued after 49 issues, with the July 2009 issue being the last released. Viz stated

2296-403: The magazine, Viz launched new imprints for releasing media related to the series presented in the magazine, and other shōnen works. This includes two new manga imprints, an anime DVD imprint, a fiction line for releasing light novels , a label for fan and data books, and a label for the release of art books. Prior to the magazine's launch, Viz launched an extensive marketing campaign to promote

Hal (Japanese band) - Misplaced Pages Continue

2352-536: The magazine. A one shot story based on Battle Arena Toshinden , illustrated by the game's character designer Tsukasa Kotobuki was published in the magazine as well. Manga Vizion , sometimes misspelled Manga Vision , is a manga anthology introduced by VIZ in 1995. It is believed to be the first manga anthology published in the United States. The premiere issue was dated March 1995 and featured three series: The Tragedy of P , Samurai Crusader: The Kumomaru Chronicles , and Ogre Slayer . It ran for three and

2408-445: The most famous being the cosplay film that debuted in the 2013 Tokyo Anime Festival with Kirata Uchiha, played by JadexRoyal. Winning multiple awards for the board including Masashi Kishimoto . Others include Full Moon, and Last Quarter. In November 2005, New People was officially formed as a sister company for releasing live-action Japanese films as theatrical releases in selected markets called Viz Pictures. According to Horibuchi,

2464-709: The original magazine and its reformatting as a free digest. Game On! USA was a monthly magazine that focused primarily on Japanese-developed video games, with an emphasis on the import scene. It served as the American counterpart to Shogakukan's Game On! magazine. It was published in May 1996 and ran for 7 monthly issues before being discontinued that same year in November. The magazine had news and reviews and other articles about classic fighting games like Street Fighter , Samurai Shodown and Virtua Fighter . Two video game-based manga series, Super Street Fighter II: Cammy by Masahiko Nakahira, and Samurai Shodown by Kyoichi Nanatsuki and Yuki Miyoshi, were serialized in

2520-402: The release of seven singles and two studio albums as Hal, the band got separated in 2003 because Halna decided to leave the group and get away from the spotlight, with the release of their final album, called " Singles ", a compilation album with all the singles released by the band. Atsushi Sato also withdrew at the same time to arrange music on his own, under the nickname of ats- . Hal became

2576-552: The right to left format more easily than their parents. VIZ has censored some of its titles. Some titles, such as Dragon Ball , were published in both censored and uncensored forms. Based in Los Angeles , Viz Productions coordinates the licenses of Japanese material (manga, books, and film) to American film companies. Their goal is to involve the Japanese creators in the production and facilitate communication between all parties in

2632-475: The right-to-left version of Neon Genesis Evangelion on a three to one basis; Middaugh concluded that readers wanted "an easy reading experience." Akira Toriyama , creator of Dragon Ball , requested that his work, which was separated by Viz into Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z , be published in the original right-to-left format. Vagabond was printed in right-to-left to preserve historical accuracy. Middaugh said that younger readers of Dragon Ball adapted to

2688-509: The specialist comic market being averse to venturing into new territory. To counteract this problem, VIZ expanded into the general publishing business and began publishing various art related books in 1992. Into these titles, Horibuchi began publishing manga, calling them graphic novels so they would be carried by mainstream bookstores. The plan worked, and after several years, leading booksellers began to have dedicated shelves for manga titles. Sales also picked up when VIZ Communications acquired

2744-482: The time, due to the show being aired on TV, while being targeted towards younger children and the show needed to adhere to FCC regulations, which this season would have struggled with, due to the Sailor Starlights switching genders and showing same sex affection). On December 14, 2015, Viz Media streamed the first episode of Sailor Moon Sailor Stars , along with the series finale of Sailor Moon SuperS , on Hulu in

2800-613: Was awarded the Manga Publisher of the Year Gem Award by Diamond Comic Distributors in 2007. VIZ continues to publish many titles, some of the most popular including: Dragon Ball , One Piece , Detective Conan (as Case Closed ), Bleach , Inuyasha , and Naruto which results a high success of the company as well as a large amount of the North American readers. Viz also received an award for Manga Trade Paperback of

2856-673: Was formed in collaboration with the Japanese publisher Libre and its parent company Animate to publish English-language boys' love manga for the print and worldwide digital market. Although the first slate of books announced under SuBLime are Libre titles, the imprint will potentially offer titles from other Japanese publishers in the future. In March 2016, Viz Media announced that they are collaborating with United Talent Agency on their live action projects based on anime series. On July 3, 2019, Viz Media announced that they had partnered with Crunchyroll to distribute select Crunchyroll licensed titles on home video and electronic sell-through in

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2912-498: Was later re-licensed and re-released by Viz Media) and Kamikaze Kaito Jeanne , permitted Dark Horse Comics to license Gantz , Lady Snowblood , Shadow Lady , The Monkey King , and recently Yasuhiro Nightow 's Blood Blockade Battlefront and CLAMP 's Gate 7 . Shueisha also permitted Udon Entertainment to license The Rose of Versailles , Seven Seas Entertainment to license Hayate X Blade , and will later permit Seven Seas Entertainment to license Yuuna and

2968-518: Was launched as a manga anthology that eventually focused specifically on shōjo titles. It was canceled in 2004. VIZ changed the magazine's format in April 2005, with the new magazine really being two free publications of the same name. One is advertising-oriented and created specially for distribution at anime and manga conventions while the other is more general in scope and distributed through retail stores. Both versions have fewer and briefer articles and

3024-421: Was previously licensed by Viz), New Lone Wolf and Cub (however, this is because Dark Horse has the original series ), The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword , and Mob Psycho 100 , and permitted Hachette Book Group 's subsidiary Yen Press to license Azumanga Daioh , Silver Spoon , Karakai Jōzu no Takagi-san , My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU , and Cirque du Freak (however for Cirque du Freak , this

3080-460: Was the largest publisher of graphic novels in the United States in the bookstore market, with a 23% share of the market. Seiji Horibuchi, originally from Tokushima Prefecture in Shikoku , Japan, moved to California , United States in 1975. After living in the suburbs for almost two years, he moved to San Francisco , where he started a business exporting American cultural items to Japan, and became

3136-439: Was then transferred to Studio Distribution Services, LLC , a joint venture between WBDHE and Universal Pictures Home Entertainment . On February 20, 2009, Viz Media laid off an unknown number of employees in order to help be more streamlined to face the current economic climate. On May 11, 2010, Viz Media again laid off a number of workers, 60 this time, again in order to try to become more streamlined. This time they released

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