Viz Media’s VizKids line will be expanding in the coming months, adding new manga properties and more non-manga book publishing, as well as a new anime property (Blue Dragon), to the line. “We see a real need for all ages material, and for content specifically targeted at children so we’re now being more aggressive in our acquisitions and going after material that we feel is appropriate for the children’s market,” Viz Media Editorial Director Elizabeth Kawasaki told us.
One of Viz’s parent companies, Shogakukan, actually started as a children’s publisher and has a separate spin-off company that focuses on the educational market. Viz has also begun licensing titles from Poplar, a Japanese publisher that does a lot of kids content.
Four new VizKids manga series were recently announced. BakeGyamon, which inspired an anime series, trading card game, and DS videogame in
Happy, Happy Clover, which also inspired an anime and a videogame, will launch in May. The story is about a bunny who lives in a magical forest with his friends, and has adventures in which he discovers that the world isn’t always how it appears to be.
Leave it to PET, which launches in April, is a Poplar humor title about a plastic bottle who is really a robot that tries to repay a young boy who rescues him from the trash.
Dinosaur Hour volumes will include short chapters with gags about dinosaurs, as well as some dinosaur factoids and activities. The series launches in April.
The four new titles join Pokemon and Legend of Zelda (which launches in October, see “Viz Media to Publish Zelda Manga”) in the VizKids manga line.
Bookstore distribution accounts for much of the sales on the VizKids manga line, with stores that shelve the books in a separate kids manga area showing improved sales. Viz is getting some Pokemon manga titles into Wal-Mart, and is working on getting more of the VizKids line into mass merchant outlets. Libraries and schools are also target channels for the line.
A growing number of non-manga book titles are also in the pipe. Pokemon is featured in The Complete Pokemon Pocket Guide, which will cover all 491 Pokemon in two volumes, both slated for October. Let’s Find Pokemon, 8-5/8” x 12” hardcovers similar in format to Where’s Waldo will ship in September, November, and December, with more to come in 2009. Pokemon Fun with Mazes and Puzzles is being released this month, and Fun with Pokemon comes out in November.
Viz will also be continuing its series of Naruto Chapter Books, which launches with two volumes in October, two in November, and then continuing with one volume every two months beginning in January.
Viz releases some anime titles in its VizKids line, including Pokemon and Blue Dragon (which launches next month). Megaman NT Warrior and Beyblade are also sold as backlist manga and DVDs under the VizKids brand.
