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Posts Tagged Naoki Urasawa

PR: Suspenseful MASTER KEATON Manga from the Celebrated Naoki Urasawa Debuts Next Week!

By Lissa Pattillo on Tuesday, December 9, 2014

VIZ MEDIA DEBUTS NAOKI URASAWA’S
SUSPENSFUL MANGA SERIES MASTER KEATON

Gripping Manga Series With Post-Cold War Era Intrigue And Espionage From The Award-Winning Creator Of MONSTER And 20th CENTURY BOYS Launches This Month!

San Francisco, CA, December 9, 2014 – VIZ Media, LLC (VIZ Media), the largest distributor and licensor of manga and anime in North America, is proud to deliver the launch of celebrated manga creator Naoki Urasawa’s tense post-Cold War detective suspense – MASTER KEATON – on December 16th.

The 12-volume manga (graphic novel) series has never been released in English before, and each volume will receive a deluxe treatment featuring approximately 18 pages of full-color artwork. MASTER KEATON was created and drawn by the award-winning manga artist Naoki Urasawa with story co-produced by Hokusei Katsushika and Takashi Nagasaki. It will be published quarterly under the company’s VIZ Signature imprint and will be rated ‘T+’ for Older Teens and carry an MSRP of $19.99 U.S. / $22.99 CAN.

MASTER KEATON joins VIZ Media’s library of other critically acclaimed manga titles by Naoki Urasawa that includes PLUTO: URASAWA × TEZUKA, MONSTER: THE PERFECT EDITION, 20th CENTURY BOYS and 21st CENTURY BOYS.

MASTER KEATON introduces Taichi Hiraga Keaton, an archeology professor and part-time insurance investigator known for his successful and unorthodox methods of investigation. The son of a Japanese zoologist and an English noblewoman, educated in archaeology at Oxford and a former member of the SAS, Master Keaton uses his knowledge and combat training to uncover buried secrets, thwart would-be villains, and pursue the truth. The manga series was originally published in Japan between 1988 and 1994 in Big Comic Original magazine and also inspired a popular 39-episode anime adaptation.

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Categories: Press Releases
Tags: Master Keaton, Naoki Urasawa, Viz Media

PR: Naoki Urasawa’s Monster Manga Series Returns to Print In New Perfect Edition

By Lissa Pattillo on Wednesday, June 25, 2014

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NAOKI URASAWA’S MONSTER MANGA SERIES RETURNS TO PRINT IN NEW PERFECT EDITION RELEASE FROM VIZ MEDIA

New Definitive Edition Of The Acclaimed Psychological Manga Thriller Delivers A Tense Crime Drama Filled With Conspiracy, Political Intrigue And Murder

San Francisco, CA, June 24, 2014 – VIZ Media, LLC (VIZ Media), the largest distributor and licensor of manga and anime in North America, is proud to announce the release of the ultimate collection of creator Naoki Urasawa’s acclaimed manga (graphic novel) suspense masterpiece. MONSTER: THE PERFECT EDITION, Vol. 1 will debut on July 15th. The new print-only oversized release will be published under the VIZ Signature imprint, is rated ‘T+’ for Older Teens, and will carry an MSRP of $19.99 U.S. / $22.99 CAN.

MONSTER: THE PERFECT EDITION is the ultimate version of the acclaimed psychological crime thriller. This new release features a new translation, remastered pages, and a generous amount of full-color content. Future volumes of MONSTER: THE PERFECT EDITION will be released four times a year in North America, the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand for a total of nine volumes covering the entire series.

In Naoki Urasawa’s MONSTER, Johan is a cold and calculating killer with a mysterious past, and brilliant Dr. Kenzo Tenma is the only one who can stop him! Conspiracy and serial murder open the door to a compelling, intricately woven plot in this masterwork of suspense. In the first volume of the new PERFECT EDITION, everyone faces uncertainty at some point in their lives. Even a brilliant surgeon like Kenzo Tenma is no exception. But there’s no way he could have known that his decision to stop chasing professional success and instead concentrate on his oath to save peoples’ lives would result in the birth of an abomination. The questions of good and evil now take on a terrifyingly real dimension. Years later, in Germany during the tumultuous post-reunification period, middle-aged childless couples are being killed one after another. The serial killer’s identity is known. The reasons why he kills are not. Dr. Tenma sets out on a journey to find the killer’s twin sister, who may hold some clues to solving the enigma of the “Monster.”

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Categories: Press Releases
Tags: Monster, Naoki Urasawa, Viz Media

Viz Media Adds Master Keaton and Resident Evil to Signature Line

By Lissa Pattillo on Wednesday, March 5, 2014

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Viz Media is on a roll with exciting PR. The publisher released another set of press releases yesterday with new licenses to announce, including these two titles for their Viz Signature imprint:

Master Keaton – Hokusei Katsushika/Takashi Nagasaki & Naoki Urasawa
Resident Evil – Naoki Serizawa

Master Keaton follows an archaeology professor with a keen skill at finding the truth, which he utilizes as a part-time insurance investigator. Keaton uses his years of education, military training and upbringing to solve the many mysteries that present themselves before him.

Suffice to say, many of us are thrilled to see a new Naoki Urasawa series coming out in English. Viz Media previously released several of his series – Monster, 20th Century Boys and Pluto – and they’re easily some of the best quality comics on my shelves. While Naoki Urasawa didn’t exclusively write Master Keaton, I’m eager for more of his great comic paneling and sense of story pacing.

Viz Media is releasing Master Keaton in “deluxe” editions that will be on sale for $22.99 CAN/ $19.99 US starting in December of this year. Each book will have 18 pages of full-colour content.

Resident Evil is a series from which its artist I’m not familiar with, but the franchise is certainly a stranger to few ears. This manga series is a prequel to Resident Evil 6, who’s lead character is the muscular, zombie-punching Chris Redfield. This five volume manga series explores where the global outbreak that left the world infected with the C-virus originated. Chris Redfield and his team are called to a high school in Singapore when things begin spiraling out of control for a Professor investigating a student’s sudden transformation.

The first volume of Resident Evil will be released in November for $14.99 CAN / $12.99 US.

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Categories: Licensing
Tags: Master Keaton, Naoki Serizawa, Naoki Urasawa, Resident Evil, Viz Media, Viz Signature

PR: Viz Media Acquires Naoki Urasawa’s Thrilling Suspense Series Master Keaton

By Lissa Pattillo on Wednesday, March 5, 2014

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VIZ MEDIA ACQUIRES NAOKI URASAWA’S THRILLING SUSPENSE SERIES MASTER KEATON

Manga Series About An Investigator With An Unorthodox Set Of Skills From The Award-Winning Creator Of MONSTER And 20th CENTURY BOYS Debuts In English In December

San Francisco, CA, March 4, 2014 – VIZ Media, LLC (VIZ Media), the largest distributor and licensor of manga and anime in North America, has announced it has acquired the North American publishing rights for Naoki Urasawa’s post–Cold War suspense thriller, MASTER KEATON. The 12-volume manga (graphic novel) series has never before been available in English and is scheduled to launch in print in December under the VIZ Signature imprint.

MASTER KEATON was created and drawn by the award-winning manga artist Naoki Urasawa, story coproduced with Hokusei Katsushika and Takashi Nagasaki. MASTER KEATON will be rated ‘T+’ for Older Teens and carry an MSRP of $19.99 U.S. / $22.99 CAN. Each paperback volume will receive a deluxe treatment, including 18 pages of full-color artwork. In addition to publishing MASTER KEATON in North America, VIZ Media will also release it in print in the United Kingdom and Australia.

The riveting detective drama introduces Taichi Hiraga-Keaton, an archeology professor and part-time insurance investigator known for his successful and unorthodox methods of investigation. The son of a Japanese zoologist and an English noblewoman, educated in archaeology at Oxford and a former member of the SAS, Master Keaton uses his knowledge and combat training to uncover buried secrets, thwart would-be villains, and pursue the truth. The manga series was originally published in Japan between 1988 and 1994 in Big Comic Original magazine and also inspired a popular 39-episode anime adaptation.

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Categories: Press Releases
Tags: Master Keaton, Naoki Urasawa, Viz Media

Otaku USA: On The Shelf – March 13, 2013

By Lissa Pattillo on Wednesday, March 13, 2013

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A new Wednesday and a new batch of comics! My knowledge of what day of the week it is often comes from when new books come out, so I’ve really been throwing myself for a loop lately with these late On The Shelf posts. Eep! Not this week though – Wednesday posting, on time!

Without further ado, you can read my thoughts on this week’s new books over at my On The Shelf article for Otaku USA.

07 Ghost (Vol.03) [Amazon CAN, Amazon US, RightStuf]
21st Century Boys (Vol.02) [Amazon CAN, Amazon US, RightStuf]
Arata the Legend (Vol.13) [Amazon CAN, Amazon US, RightStuf]
Blade of the Immortal (Vol.26): Blizzard [Amazon CAN, Amazon US, RightStuf]
Fullmetal Alchemist 3-in-1 (Vol.04) [Amazon CAN, Amazon US, RightStuf]
His Favorite (Vol.03) [Amazon CAN, Amazon US, RightStuf]
Neon Genesis Evangelion 3-in-1 (Vol.02) [Amazon CAN, Amazon US, RightStuf]
Paradise Kiss (Vol.03) [Amazon CAN, Amazon US, RightStuf]
Rin-Ne (Vol.11) [Amazon CAN, Amazon US, RightStuf]
Tokyo Babylon (Vol.01) [Amazon CAN, Amazon US, RightStuf]

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Categories: News, Release Lists
Tags: 07 Ghost, 20th Century Boys, Arata, Arata the Legend, Blade of the Immortal, Boys' Love/Yaoi, CLAMP, Dark Horse, Fullmetal Alchemist, His Favorite, Naoki Urasawa, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Paradise Kiss, Rin-Ne, Shonen Sunday, SuBLime, Tokyo Babylon, Vertical Inc, Viz Media, Viz Signature

Listings Up For 20th Century Boys Sequel & Nausicaa from Viz Media

By Lissa Pattillo on Monday, April 30, 2012

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Listings for the sequel to Naoki Urasawa’s 20th Century Boys were posted to retail sites late last week, acting as pretty good confirmation that Viz Media will be continuing on the story. The sequel is titled 21st Century Boys and will be released in November 2012. The last volume of 20th Century Boys is volume twenty-two and is scheduled for release in September.

21st Century Boys is two volumes long and continues right where the original left off as Kenji continues the fight against ‘the Friend’ while looking to his memories for clues that can help them.

21st Century Boys (Vol. 01)
21st Century Boys (Vol. 02)

Another listing of note is for a boxset containing two hardcover editions of Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind. The series, written and drawn by Hayao Miyazaki, is about our world in 1000 years when pollution has corrupted the planet. A young woman, Nausicaä, traverses this new world through forests and wars on a journey to discover what lead the planet here and what its future may hold. This edition will come with a bonus poster and interior colour pages.

To both of these releases I shout a resounding ‘yay!’ It seemed safe assumption that Viz Media would license a two volume sequel to 20th Century Boys but it’s great to see the listings for it. I’ve also never been able to read all of Nausicaä so an affordable, hardcover, extra shiny boxset offers the perfect opportunity!

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Categories: Licensing, News
Tags: 20th Century Boys, Manga, Naoki Urasawa, Viz Media, Viz Signature

Otaku USA: On The Shelf – February 15, 2012

By Lissa Pattillo on Wednesday, February 15, 2012

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Post-Valentine’s Day, aka discount chocolate day! New manga and bags full of chocolate is a winning combination to me. There aren’t a whole lot of new titles this week but still plenty of quality, including a couple omnibus for added value.

The new volume of Viz Media‘s 20th Century Boys and Digital Manga’s Black Sun are my must-haves this week. It’s hard to believe I reviewed Black Sun (Vol. 01) back in December 2008! You can see the full list of this week’s releases over at Otaku USA in my On The Shelf article.

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Categories: News, On The Shelf, Release Lists
Tags: 20th Century Boys, 801Media, DMP, June, Kodansha Comics, Manga, Naoki Urasawa, Otaku USA, Seven Seas, Viz Media, Viz Signature

NYAF 2011: Viz Media

By Lissa Pattillo on Monday, October 17, 2011

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Manga programming was light after Friday at NYCC, but Sunday had Viz Media‘s panel with a big announcement to share and some licenses worth getting giddy for. I’ve included the full write up of the panel in my post here, including the anime-related news instead of just the manga. Since the post is so lengthy, however, here’s a quick summary of the event manga-wise:

New licenses:

Jiu Jiu – Toya Tobino
Loveless – Yun Kouga

Announcement:

Shonen Jump print magazine to be discontinued in March 2012; replaced by digital edition that will come out weekly and feature new chapters of titles from Japan within weeks of their release. Graphic novels of these titles will be released digitally to allow readers to get caught up before the new chapters begin. Viz Media is calling this their ‘digital warp’.

You can read the full details and anime news under the cut!

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Categories: Licensing, News
Tags: Bakuman, Bleach, Boys' Love/Yaoi, Conventions, Loveless, Manga, Naoki Urasawa, Neon Genesis Evangelion, NYAF 2011, NYCC, Omnibus, One Piece, Shoujo Beat, Skip Beat, Toriko, Viz Media

Otaku USA: On The Shelf – October 5, 2011

By Lissa Pattillo on Monday, October 10, 2011

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Better late than never? My On The Shelf article went up last week on Otaku USA so check it out to see what new books you can expect to see on bookstore shelves right now. It’s the beginning of the month so that means lots and lots of Viz Media!

My top picks for the week are My Boyfriend is A Vampire from Seven Seas and Bakuman (Vol. 07) from Viz Media. The first sounds a lot like Until the Full Moon from Kodansha Comics, only with a manhwa and street-gang twist. It’s an omnibus too so ‘yay!’ for more manga for my money.

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Categories: On The Shelf, Release Lists
Tags: 20th Century Boys, Bakuman, Kodansha Comics, Manga, March Story, Naoki Urasawa, Omnibus, Otaku USA, Seven Seas, Viz Media

Swag Bag: Samurai, Incubus, Rabbits and Tyrants

By Lissa Pattillo on Sunday, August 21, 2011

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My bedroom is finally under control! A week of vacation as I transition to a new job plus a very release-heavy month, not to mention a few trips to my local library, have ensured every inch of my desk, floor and shelves were littered with material waiting to be read and watched. Upside to cleaning your room at least is there’s almost always something you’ll discover you haven’t read yet, or perhaps just want to revisit. Naturally among the now organized chaos are a bunch of the things I bought this past week:

For my birthday I received a gift card to Chapters. While I avoid buying from there in-store (too expensive!), their online prices are still pretty good, especially for the more niche material and some harder to find titles. Thus, it was just that I filled my digital shopping cart with.

Boys’ love made up the bulk of my online purchase with my most eagerly awaited purchase being the hardcopy edition of Digital Manga‘s Rabbit Man, Tiger Man (Vol. 01). Second to that fun and charming tale of yakuza/doctor love, was Tyrant Who Falls In Love (Vol. 03). Never enough Hinako Takanaga on the bookshelves! Even Yen Press had some boys’ love to offer me with Tale of the Waning Moon (Vol. 02) and I picked up an older title I missed from Deux Press called Mister Mistress (Vol. 01). It’s almost unfortunate I enjoyed it so much since volume two is looking very tricky to find.

Using up the last pennies of my credit, I bought One Pound Gospel (Vol. 04) which is the end of the series. On the other end of series collection, I bought Descendants of Darkness (Vol. 01) which finishes off my collection of that series as well.

Next up it was into my local comic store, Strange Adventures, where I picked up the new releases (which if you’re curious about the complete recent lists for, check out my Otaku USA articles, On The Shelf). Viz Media dominated my purchasing stack, which I suppose by now should stop seeming like an anomaly.

I was really excited to get my hands on Kaze Hikaru (Vol. 19) – it’s one of my favourite series but there’s a long wait between books. It’s a really long series too so I’m always worried Viz Media will drop it. Everyone buy the series so this doesn’t happen! It’s really charming and wonderfully drawn.

Also in the pile of awesome swag was 20th Century Boys (Vol. 16), Otomen (Vol. 11), Tenjo Tenge (Vol. 02) and Natsume’s Book of Friends (Vol. 08). A pleasant surprise was the size of Pokemon Adventures (Vol. 14). It’s notably thicker than past volumes and works really well with the content considering it’s the huge climax of all the plot lines coming together since volume one. Pokemon and trainers everywhere!

And lastly, to make my shopping bags all the heavier, a got a few volumes of manga from the library. Looking for something lighthearted and fluff-heavy, I borrowed Fall In Love Like A Comic (Vol. 01). A really fun discovery though was Saint Young Men (Vol. 01-03). I can’t read Japanese but that didn’t stop me from borrowing the books so I can oogle the amusing pictures and hope all the more someone licenses it. Buddha and Jesus living together in an apartment – how could you not be curious?

That was my Swag Bag this week – what about you?

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