VIZ Media Taps Bandai for Blue Dragon

NEW YORK, June 19: As Licensing
Show kicked off in New York today, VIZ Media announced that it had named Bandai
America as the toy licensee for the new anime series Blue Dragon.

The show is based on the
popular Microsoft Xbox 360 role playing game. Earlier this year, VIZ Media was
named the master licensor for the television, home video and non-video game
merchandising rights for Blue Dragon by
a consortium including TV Tokyo Corporation and Shueisha, for the Americas,
Europe and Oceania. The TV show made its debut in Japan on TV Tokyo in April.
It is produced by Studio Pierrot.

The Xbox 360 game was developed
by Hironobu Sakaguchi (the creator of Final Fantasy) and also features character designs by Akira
Toriyama, the creator of the Dragon Ball series of manga, which is published in North America by VIZ Media. The
video game will be released in North America and Europe in August.

“Bandai America will bring its
extensive design and manufacturing resources to bear to develop an exciting and
must-have line of toys and products to support Blue Dragon,” said Shodo Omatsu, the president and COO of Bandai
America Incorporated. “This property extends the most exciting attributes of
video gaming and anime and represents a wide range of possibilities for the
development of products designed for fans of all ages.”