This past summer, Viz Media premiered their 10th exciting OVA (anime feature film) in the Naruto series, The Last: Naruto the Movie. The film was screened in limited fashion, as it was only shown on 465 movie screens throughout South America. Viz Media is one of North America's biggest publisher, and distributor of manga and anime. They have lead a strict campaign to popularize their most popular series, (which includes Naruto), throughout the countries of Argentina, Brazil, Peru and more. Due to Viz Media's hard work, a large contingency of fans have been amassed to include the 230,000 Naruto anime fans that attended the Naruto film opening.
Naruto is a Japanese manga and anime series written and illustrated by Masashi Kishimoto. The series lead character, Naruto Uzumaki, trains constantly to become the world's best ninja Hokage. A ninja hokage is recognized in his village as the strongest among them. He realizes that in order to achieve greatness, he must leave home so that he can truly push himself to his limits. This is so up on his return, he can be the leader and warrior he always dreamed to be.
It seems the Naruto and the show's supporting characters seems to really resonate with South American fans. Even Senior Animations Licensing Manager, Stephane Hellin, has taken notice. She states, "The Naruto character's resilience and determination, combined with the series' potent mix of action and adventure, have garnered legions of ardent fans and we see significant opportunities to grow the property across the entire region. We look forward to continuing to spread the popularity of the show and to developing additional new markets for NARUTO across Latin America." Viz Media has clearly taken notice at the fan power, and were able to seize the moment.
Viz Media has also licensed Naruto, and follow-up series Naruto Shippuden, to several prominent Spanish and Portuguese language TV stations across South America to include PlayTV in Brazil, Etc. TV in Chile, CityTV in Colombia, and TN8 in Nicaragua. This is in an attempt to localize the series for the Latin American market. The company will continue to grow the fanbase and viewership of Naruto. There are plans to add additional Television stations next year, in addition to offering a wide range of Naruto merchandise that will be available across the continent.
