On Saturday afternoon, Viz began its industry panel which is filled with lots of news and announcements. We here at the beat took note of all the juicy news and announcements that afternoon, so here is the scoop on everything during the Viz Industry Panel.
We start the panel off with announcements of various merchandise available at the booth during NYCC. These would be the Manga Destroy all Humans, I’m the Grim Reaper, X-Men: The manga, DanDanDan volume 1, and Kagurabachi volume 1. This would be immediately followed by an PV for Kagurabachi volume 1. After that would be the Blu-ray announcements which would include the Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War part 2 Limited Blu Ray and Naruto Shippuden Set 1 Blu-ray.
Then it’s time for the exclusives from Viz which are the Naruto blind bags, Naruto Skateboard decks for your skateboards and even Naruto desk mats. The booth will also offer freebies to those attending NYCC which include Beyblade samplers and Bleach: Thousand Year Blood War coasters with various characters from the anime on each coaster.
Next is that there is a Shonen Jump pop up store in Soho for those in New York City who wish to stop by during the remainder of NYCC.
Another trailer would show, this time for Vagabond: Definitive edition volume 1 which would be soon after followed by the second trailer for the Ranma 1/2 anime by studio MAPPA.
Naruto time! There is a pop up booth at NYCC to take photo opportunities with Gamakichi, 12 inch Naruto action figures available on Amazon, Banpresto Naruto figures will also be available through Amazon, Transformers x Naruto crossover toys with one being based on Kurama, and the other being based on Gamakichi. Still on the topic of Naruto: TMNT x Naruto comics by IDW coming out on November 13th of 2024. Union Arena would be briefly talked about, a new card game that launched on October 4, 2024, with attendees of this Viz Panel given a Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War demo deck with a HunterxHunter deck available at the Viz booth. This would then lead into a brief promo for the Card Game Fest in Orlando, Florida which will run from January 4th to the 5th, where union Arena will be one of the card games that can be played there.
Image of an unopened Demo Deck which was given out to attendees at the Viz Industry Panel.Now for the Big announcements! pre-recorded video featuring The Legend of Zelda mangaka Akira Himeyaka would debut with her talking about the premise of her upcoming Manga that has been in the works for several years under Shogakukan and Viz. That manga is Kamudo, it is a action-fantasy story set in a world of half-human, half-beast beings with the fate of the world hanging in the balance as an egg hatches, birthing the very first human in existence, as we wonder if this will lead to disaster or salvation. A PV on Kamudo would play after the initial announcement. displaying the art style and a taste of what to expect from this Manga. The first chapter is available for free right now on Viz Manga! with new chapters on the first and third Thursdays of every month.
Next we have the announcement for Yaiba: Samurai Legend, an anime produced by studio Wit based on the Manga by Case Closed creator, Gosho Aoyama. The announcement would follow this up with the official trailer for the upcoming anime which will be coming soon. No release date confirmed at this time.
Lastly for the big announcements, we have a teaser trailer for the Rooster Fighter anime, with no release date confirmed yet. What is confirmed is the voice cast for Rooster Fighter as we are shown a pre-recorded message from Kenta Miyake (My Hero Academia, JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders) who will voice will voice Keiji, Mariko Honda (Tower of God, Robot Girls Z) as the voice of Elizabeth, and Shiori Izawa (Chainsaw Man, Made in Abyss) as the voice of Piyoko. speaking of Rooster Fighter there was a brief trivia/giveaway break including various rooster themed trivia in exchange for prizes. There would be a short announcement for a Rooster Fighter fan art contest for the chance to have your art featured within the manga and/or anime.
Bleach time!! We got a trailer for Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War part 3 which is now streaming on Disney+/Hulu. This section of the Viz Panel would be dedicated to Bleach as two special guests would take the stage alongside our panelists. These would be Masakazu Morita, the Japanese voice of Ichigo Kurasaki, and Noriake Sugiyama, the voice of Uryu Ishida. The two voice actors would discuss how this is their first time in the U.S in what they consider to be a Bleach World Tour while also reminding attendees of the panel that NYCC is where those who were lucky to attend the Bleach panel, got to see Episode 29 of Thousand-Year Blood War before anywhere else in the world, including Japan. Both VA’s would feel that NYCC is the highlight of their travels here within the United States as they love meeting all the fans and the energy at the convention.
The voice actors would briefly hint that while Part 3 of Thousand-Year Blood War is streaming now, that part 4 is in production with no current estimate of a release date just yet. Next came one of the highlights of the show, with Sugiyama and Ishida saying their character’s respective and iconic moves using their in character voices. These moves would be Ichigo Kurasaki’s Getsuga Tensho! and Uryu Ishida’s Leaf Dragon! causing the crowd to erupt in cheer and applause, even i got chills hearing it in person during the panel.
Another trivia break for prizes, this time Bleach related as it Segways into the final portion of the panel with the third special guest of the panel, the little Final-Fantasy playing, elven art gremlin, Graveweaver!!
Image source @GraveweaverShe is the creator of the hit WEBTOON original, I’m The Grim Reaper, which has gone on to have its very first volume published by Viz. During her appearance at the panel, Graveweaver would promote her comic, even showing off her old Bleach fan comics and fan art from many years back during her early years as an artist. One of them being a fan comic involving the characters Grimmjow and Ulquiorra in a battle against each other.
After this would be a PV for I’m The Grim Reaper to promote volume 1 of the comic. The Last few minutes of the panel would be dedicated to a live drawing session as Graveweaver would do the line art on a pre-made sketch of the lead character, Scarlet. The artwork would then be auctioned off at the end of the panel before she would be at Hall 1A for signings.
That about is all that has happened during the Viz Media panel, a lot of merch, crossovers, new anime, manga reprints, manga debuts, Bleach love, and Graveweaver with her comic getting the spotlight during the panel too! (Proud of you, Grave!!)
So what do you think about all the news from the Viz Panel? Any announcements that caught your interests? anything worth being excited for? Let us know down in the comments!
Stay tuned for more NYCC ’24 coverage from The Beat to come!
English (US) · 