VIZ MEDIA AND WELOVEFINE ANNOUNCE SPECIAL FIRST-TIME EVER NARUTO SHIPPUDEN DESIGN CONTEST

VIZ MEDIA AND WELOVEFINE ANNOUNCE SPECIAL FIRST-TIME EVER NARUTO SHIPPUDEN DESIGN CONTEST

Manga Creator Masashi Kishimoto, Along With Manga Editor And Director Of The Smash Hit Anime, Invite Artists And Fans To Tap Their Inner Ninja For A Chance To Win Trip To Anime Expo 2013 And Other Prizes

San Francisco, CA, March 26, 2013 – VIZ Media, LLC (VIZ Media), the largest distributor and licensor of anime and manga in North America, has announced a special NARUTO SHIPPUDEN Design Contest, sponsored by NARUTO and NARUTO SHIPPUDEN licensee WeLoveFine (WeLoveFine.com), beginning today and running through midnight, on Tuesday April 16th.

Fans are encouraged to channel their inner ninja and flex their artistic muscle to create an original “stylized” or “super deformed” (Chibi-style) rendering of a prominent NARUTO SHIPPUDEN character. All designs MUST incorporate characters and themes from NARUTO SHIPPUDEN and not from any previous episodes or manga volumes of the NARUTO series. Art pieces should be scanned and submitted to WeLoveFine. Submittals must be 100% original; exact copies of NARUTO manga or anime will not be accepted; do not trace any original NARUTO manga or anime artwork. Complete contest details are available at: http://www.welovefine.com/contest/39-naruto-shippuden-design-contest.

Contest submissions will be judged and winners personally selected by WeLoveFine, along with esteemed Guest Judges Masashi Kishimoto, the creator of NARUTO and NARUTO SHIPPUDEN, Joe Otsuki, Editor of the NARUTO manga, and Hayato Date, Director of the NARUTO SHIPPUDEN anime series.

The Grand Prize winner will received a paid 3-days 2-nights trip to attend Anime Expo 2013, the nation’s biggest anime convention set to be held in Los Angeles, CA, July 4-7 at the Los Angeles Convention Center. Prize package includes a 4-day Anime Expo membership badge, 1 round trip airfare (limited to U.S. domestic flights only) and lodging near the convention center.

The three Guest Judges will also select their personal favorite design for a “Judges Pick” winner, and each of those artists will win $300 in cash! One runner-up winner will receive a $150 gift certificate for WeLoveFine.com and five Honorable Mention winners will each receive a $50 gift certificate for WeLoveFine.com.

Created by Masashi Kishimoto, NARUTO was first introduced in Weekly Shonen Jump magazine in Japan in 1999 and quickly became that country’s most popular ninja manga targeting tweens and teens. The manga series (rated ‘T’ for Teens, in print and digital editions) and animated counterpart (NARUTO rated ‘T’ for teens, and NARUTO Shippuden rated ‘T+’ for older teens) are some of VIZ Media’s most successful properties and have captivated millions of fans across North America, Europe and South America. NARUTO is a co-production of TV TOKYO, VIZ Media parent company Shueisha Inc., and Pierrot Co., Ltd.

Author/artist Masashi Kishimoto was born in 1974 in the rural Okayama Prefecture of Japan. After spending time in Art College, he won the prestigious Hop Step Award for new manga artists with Karakuri (Mechanism). Kishimoto decided to base his next story on traditional Japanese culture. His first version of NARUTO, created in 1997, was a one-shot story about fox spirits; his final version, which debuted in Weekly Shonen Jump in 1999, quickly became the most popular ninja manga in Japan.

In the NARUTO manga and animated series, Naruto Uzumaki wants to be the best ninja in the land. He's done well so far, but Naruto knows he must train harder than ever and leaves his village for intense exercises that will push him to his limits. NARUTO SHIPPUDEN begins two and a half years later, when Naruto returns to find that everyone has been promoted up the ninja ranks – except him. Sakura’s a medic ninja, Gaara’s advanced to Kazekage, and Kakashi… well he remains the same. But pride isn’t necessarily becoming of a ninja, especially when Naruto realizes that Sasuke never returned from his search for Orochimaru. Plus, the mysterious Akatsuki organization is still an ever-present danger. As Naruto finds out more about the Akatsuki’s goals, he realizes that nothing in his universe is as it seems. Naruto is finding that he’s older, but will he also prove wiser and stronger?

More information on NARUTO and NARUTO SHIPPUDEN is available at www.Naruto.com.

About WeLoveFine

WeLoveFine.com is the online hub selling the most creative licensed designs on the web! Established in 2009, our stock features men’s’ and women’s’ pop-culture-savvy t-shirts – plus a variety of hats, bags, and art prints – covering fan-beloved characters including Star Wars, My Little Pony, Marvel Comics, Hello Kitty, Adventure Time, Scott Pilgrim, Jem, Disney, Star Trek, Sesame Street and more! More information about WeLoveFine is available at: www.welovefine.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 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.

Polar Bear Café episodes 1-50

Polar Bear Café episodes 1-50 directed by Mitsuyuki Masuhara, produced by Studio Pierrot

Welcome to Polar Bear Café! Join Panda, Penguin, and Polar Bear and all their friends as they live their daily lives in this light-hearted comedy.

Based off of a manga that ran in the Josei (women’s) comic anthology Flowers, Polar Bear Café may be the most pleasant surprise I’ve had in recent memory. The series features a loveable cast of characters. It’s rare, especially in this day and age, to stumble across something so positive. Yet, at the same time the series has its sentimental moments and is not afraid to take itself seriously.

The animation is gorgeous sporting realistic character designs especially for the animals. The world the characters inhabit is surreal yet at the same time done realistically. For those who are tired of the general cynicism that seems to permeate much of today’s entertainment this series is a much welcomed departure.

Rating 10/10

Polar Bear Café is currently streaming on Crunchyroll

Award Winning Japanese Sci-fi Novel Has North American Debut From VIZ Media’s Haikasoru Imprint

THIS IS NOT A NOVEL.

THIS IS NOT A SHORT STORY COLLECTION.

THIS IS SELF-REFERENCE ENGINE

Award Winning Japanese Sci-fi Novel Has North American Debut From VIZ Media’s Haikasoru Imprint

San Francisco, CA, March 19, 2013 – VIZ Media’s literary imprint Haikasoru has announced today’s North American debut of author Toh EnJoe’s SELF-REFERENCE ENGINE, a work of hard science fiction where vignette, story, and philosophy combine to create a novel designed like a concept album. In Japan, EnJoe’s prize-winning fiction is well known for blending hardcore science fiction with bizarre surrealism.

SELF-REFERENCE ENGINE is available now and carries an MSRP of $14.99 U.S. / $16.99 CAN. An eBook edition is also available for the Amazon Kindle, Apple’s iBooks Store, the Barnes & Noble’s Nook Books Store, and the Sony Reader™ Store.

Haikasoru publishes some of the most compelling contemporary Japanese science fiction and fantasy stories for English-speaking audiences, and is the first imprint based in the U.S. dedicated to Japanese science fiction and fantasy in translation.

This is not a novel. This is not a short story collection. This is Self-Reference ENGINE. Instructions for Use: Read chapters in order. Contemplate the dreams of twenty-two dead Freuds. Note your position in space-time at all times (and spaces). Keep an eye out for a talking bobby sock named Bobby Socks. Beware the star-man Alpha Centauri. Remember that the chapter entitled “Japanese” is translated from the Japanese, but should be read in Japanese. Warning: if reading this book on the back of a catfish statue, the text may vanish at any moment, and you may forget that it ever existed. From the mind of Toh EnJoe comes Self-Reference ENGINE, a textual machine that combines the rigor of Stanislaw Lem with the imagination of Jorge Luis Borges. Do not operate heavy machinery for one hour after reading.

“Self-Reference ENGINE is unlike any typical science fiction novel,” says editor Nick Mamatas. “On one level, this is an astounding work of hard science fiction by a brilliant author with a PhD in physics. But it’s also extremely rich with literary allusion. If you’re a reader interested in how the fundamental laws of physics and the space-time continuum can be bent or even broken, or are prone to liking everything from the meta self-referential aspects of Mystery Science Theatre 3000 to avant-garde postmodernism, SELF-REFERENCE ENGINE is a must-read!”

Author Toh EnJoe was born in Hokkaido, Japan in 1972. After completing a PhD at the University of Tokyo, he became a researcher in theoretical physics. In 2007 he won the Literary World Newcomer’s Prize with “Of the Baseball.” That same year also saw the publication of his book, Self-Reference ENGINE, which caused a sensation in science fiction literary circles and was ranked #2 on SF Magazine’s list of the best science fiction of the year. Since then, EnJoe has been one of those rare writers comfortable working in both “pure literature” and science fiction. In 2010 his novel, U Yu Shi Tan, won the Noma Prize for new authors. In 2011 his “This Is a Pen” was nominated for the Akutagawa Prize, and he won Waseda University’s Tsubouchi Shouyou Prize. In January 2012, he won the Akutagawa Prize with “Butterflies of a Harlequin.” His other works include Boy’s Surface and About Goto.

For more information and to read an excerpt of Self-Reference ENGINE, please visit the dedicated website at http://www.haikasoru.com/self-reference-engine.

For more information on Haikasoru and other titles available from the imprint, please visit the website at Haikasoru.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 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.

07 Ghost vol. 1 & 2

07 Ghost vol. 1 & 2 Story by Yuki Amemiya, Art by Yukino Ichihara

Born into royalty and growing up as a slave before joining the military, Teito Klein is beholder of a tragic fate. His fate is forever changed one day when memories of his past flood his mind. Can Klein unravel the many heavily guarded mysteries surrounding him?

Serialized in the josei (women’s) comic anthology Monthly Comic Zero-Sum in Japan, 07 Ghost has a surprisingly complex mythos and a very fascinating world in general. It is easy to sympathize with the protagonist and the cast in general feels well rounded. It is easy to see why the series was popular enough to spawn an animated adaptation which is good in its own right.

The series is not without fault, though, it has confusing action scenes which require doubling back in order to garner a better understanding of what is happening. The character designs in general are also somewhat unmemorable. Regardless, 07 Ghost is a solid fantasy series, worth, at the very least, checking out.

07 Ghost volumes 1 and 2 are available in print in North America from Viz Media.

Umineko When They Cry Episode 1: Legend of the Golden Witch vol. 1 review

Umineko When They Cry Episode 1: Legend of the Golden Witch vol. 1 Story by Ryukishi 07, Art by Kei Natsumi

When Battler travels to the island where his grandfather lives for the first time in 6 years things start off the same as they always did; it is not long, however, before things start going wrong. Horribly wrong at that. Can Battler solve the mystery before it is too late?

Originally published in Japan by Square Enix, the first volume of the first episode of Umineko is somewhat of a mixed bag. On the one hand there is a compelling mystery here. On the other, there’s several of the tropes that are associated with Japanese animation and comics such as maids. These tropes feel very out of place in what is otherwise a grim story.

The cast of characters is also very large and it becomes somewhat difficult to keep track of all the characters and their interactions. It would have been nice if the story had spent more time delving into the characters’ relationship to one another or had a smaller cast. As it stands, Umineko has a compelling plot but probably isn’t worth one’s time and money unless one has a pre-established interest in the mystery genre.

Umineko When They Cry Episode 1: Legend of the Golden Witch vol. 1 is available in print from Yen Press. 

VIZ MEDIA LAUNCHES FREE sticky DOT comics iPAD APP FOR KIDS

VIZ MEDIA LAUNCHES FREE sticky DOT comics

iPAD APP FOR KIDS

New Digital Destination For Young Readers To Debut 30 Parent-Trusted Manga & Graphic Novels, Including POKÉMON, VOLTRON FORCE® And LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE™

San Francisco, CA, March 5, 2013 – VIZ Media, LLC (VIZ Media), the largest publisher, distributor and licensor of manga, graphic novels and anime in North America, has announced the launch today of sticky DOT comics, its new kids comics app for the Apple iPad® and iPad® mini.

Sticky DOT comics, a proprietary app developed by VIZ Media, brings the best all-ages comics to the iPad with content featuring fan-favorite characters both familiar and new. Fans can securely browse, download and read a diverse collection of popular manga and graphic novels including full volumes of POKÉMON, MAMESHIBA, MR. MEN LITTLE MISS™, REDAKAI and VOLTRON FORCE®.

sticky DOT comics is available for free download through the iTunes Store. Individual volumes are available for purchase and download in the U.S. and Canada within the application for a debut price of $2.99-$3.99 per volume. Readers are encouraged to check the app regularly, as new series and volumes, as well as free previews, will be added frequently.

sticky DOT comics Launch Week Titles Will Include:

• PokÉmon Adventures
• PokÉmon Adventures: DIAMOND AND PEARL/PLATINUM
• PokÉmon Black and White
• PokÉmon: DIAMOND AND PEARL ADVENTURE!
• Mameshiba: On the Loose!
• Little Miss Sunshine: here comes the sun!
• Mr. Strong: Good Thing I Came Along!
• Redakai
• Voltron Force

“Now with the sticky DOT comics iPad app, fans of any age can take their favorite family-friendly manga and graphic novels on the go,” says Beth Kawasaki, Senior Editorial Director, VIZ Kids. “There’s something for everyone in this debut, including the adorable adventures of LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE, the action of REDAKAI, and the awesome fun of POKÉMON, available for the first time in digital form, and we’ll be adding more exciting series and content to sticky DOT comics soon!”

For more information on sticky DOT comics, please visit the dedicated sticky DOT comics page on iTunes.

For more information on VIZ Kids graphic novels and manga, please visit VIZKids.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 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.