VIZ MEDIA ANNOUNCES AVAILABILITY OF DIGITAL MANGA LIBRARY FOR KOBO.COM READERS IN NORTH AMERICA
More Than 500 Volumes Debut Today, With Library Of Over 1,500 Manga Volumes Across 130 Different Series Coming Soon To North America
San Francisco, CA, July 16, 2013 - VIZ Media, LLC (VIZ Media), the largest publisher, distributor and licensor of manga and anime in North America, brings its massive digital manga (graphic novel) library to Kobo, a global leader in eReading. Starting today, Readers across Canada and the United States can access Viz Media's manga titles at Kobo's eBookstore and enjoy a seamless eReading experience with the company's E Ink eReaders, the award-winning Kobo Arc Android tablet, and top-ranking free apps for iOS, BB10 smartphones and Android devices.
Supporting Fixed Layout ePubs, Kobo provides comic-lovers with a responsive reading experience that allows users to zoom and pan into scenes and images effortlessly with a simple double-tap of the screen as well as seamlessly swipe through titles with no delays. With a highly responsive experience, Kobo is dedicated to providing Viz Media customers with the best platform for reading comics and manga.
The Kobo eBookstore offers VIZ Media's most popular titles including over 500 volumes across 60 different series made available at launch, quickly expanding to the full digital manga catalog of over 1,500 volumes and 130 series. The launch list includes the latest volumes of blockbusters like NARUTO (rated 'T' for Teens), BLEACH (rated 'T' for Teens), BLUE EXORICIST (rated 'T+' for Older Teens), ONE PIECE (rated 'T' for Teens) and VAMPIRE KNIGHT (rated 'T+' for Older Teens). VIZ Media has also synchronized its digital publishing schedule for future manga titles to have near-simultaneous domestic release of their print counterparts, closing the gap between print and digital manga formats. The complete library of VIZ Media manga titles is available at www.kobo.com/viz.
New series and volumes from popular VIZ Media manga imprints such as Shonen Jump, Shonen Jump Advanced, Shojo Beat, and VIZ Signature will be added regularly on Tuesdays.
"Kobo users will be thrilled to have direct access to the world's most popular and acclaimed manga titles delivered through their family of sleek and compact eReading devices," says Gagan Singh, Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer, VIZ Media. "Manga continues to be one of the fastest growing and most popular segments of the digital publishing market and we are very pleased to continue to expand the range of integrated delivery models available to fans. Check out Kobo.com today and discover an array of VIZ Media manga series that are now available for download!"
"We're thrilled to bring VIZ Media titles to Kobo's growing catalogue of manga and to be expanding our diverse content catalogue for our most passionate Readers," says Nathan Maharaj, Director, Merchandising, Kobo. "Together with Viz Media's collection of titles and our crisp, dynamic and colorful reading experience, manga fans will fall in love with the digital reading experience."
For more information on VIZ Media manga titles, please visit www.VIZ.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.
