Broken Frontier

VIZ Media, LLC (VIZ Media), one of the entertainment industry's most innovative and comprehensive manga and animation licensing and publishing companies, today announced a master licensing agreement with Bandai America for video games on Sony-based platforms and trading card games for VIZ Media’s new hit series, Shonen Jump’s NARUTO.

Targeting tweens and teens, NARUTO takes place in a world where ninjas hold the ultimate power.  Infused with the spirit of a once fearsome nine-tailed fox, Naruto Uzumaki is a ninja-in-training who is learning the art of Ninjutsu with his classmates Sakura and Sasuke.  The trio studies under the instruction of their teacher, Kakashi, who helps the group face a series of dangerous and daunting tests and challenges.  Through their adventures, the young ninjas learn the importance of friendship, teamwork, loyalty, hard work, creativity, ingenuity, and right vs. wrong.

“We are so excited to be working with Bandai America on NARUTO, they have a very deep understanding of the property and have been key partners in NARUTO’s enormous success in Japan. We are confident that Bandai will develop video games and trading card games that provide a superior game experience for NARUTO’s demanding audience,” said Cynthia Money, vice president of consumer products for VIZ Media.

“NARUTO has achieved immense success in Japan. As a master licensee for NARUTO, we are now thrilled to be collaborating with VIZ Media in North America. By combining the rich story of NARUTO with Bandai products that have very unique and exciting game play, we expect huge results!” said William Beebe, senior vice president of sales and marketing for Bandai America.

NARUTO, the animated series, will launch on Cartoon Network this fall. The series is co-produced by Shueisha, Inc., PIERROT CO., LTD. and TV TOKYO and debuted in Japan in October 2002 on TV TOKYO. NARUTO quickly established itself as one of TV TOKYO’s highest rated animated series. Today, it is considered one of the most popular animated shows in Japan’s history and it has achieved immense success as a manga and TV title as well as a licensed property for toys, trading card games and video games.

First introduced into the Weekly Shonen Jump magazine in Japan in 1999, NARUTO by revered creator Masashi Kishimoto, quickly became Japan’s most popular ninja manga. In 2000, Naruto was expanded into a series of graphic novels and is currently in its 28th volume, with nearly 50 million copies sold in total in Japan. Weekly Shonen Jump is published by one of Japan’s largest publishers, Shueisha Inc., is considered the world’s most successful comic magazine with almost 3 million copies printed weekly in Japan alone.