VIZ Made Master Licensor for Bleach

Date: 2006 March 22 10:04

Posted by Jeremy

VIZ Media becomes the official Master Licensor for anime and manga series Bleach.

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VIZ Media, LLC has announced that they have been named Master Licensor for the hit anime and manga series Bleach by TV TOKYO Corporation and Shueisha Inc. The appointment was facilitated by TV TOKYO’s licensing arm, TV TOKYO Medianet.

An action-adventure comedy in the same vein as Dragonball Z, Bleach, created and illustrated by Tite Kubo, tells the story of Ichigo Kurosaki, a 15-year-old who has the ability to see and communicate with ghosts. When his family is attacked a malevolent lost soul known as a Hollow, Ichigo reluctantly becomes a Soul Reaper, a supernatural warrior dedicated to sending these tortured spirits to their final resting place. The series recently became an anime series in 2004, and is still a mainstay in the pages of Japan’s Weekly Shonen Jump.

"It is a great privilege to be bringing such an outstanding property to so many parts of the world," said John Easum, Executive Vice President for VIZ Media. "Bleach is one of the most powerful and successful new series coming out of Japan, and it has already established by VIZ Media under our Shonen Jump imprint. Working together with VIZ Media B.V. in Europe, we look forward to making Bleach a global success."

Already publishing the "Bleach" manga under their Shonen Jump imprint, VIZ Media now holds the television, home video and merchandising rights for the title in the Americas, Europe and Oceania. The company plans to introduce a dynamic rollout strategy that will leverage the manga and other entertainment brands into a broad licensing and marketing program. A television broadcast partner for the anime and other key licensing partners have not yet been named, but will be determined shortly.