INIO ASANO'S GOODNIGHT PUNPUN MANGA SERIES LAUNCHES FROM VIZ MEDIA

Poignant Coming Of Age Story By The Creator Of SOLANIN And WHAT A WONDERFUL WORLD! Debuts Next Month

In Print And Digital

San Francisco, CA, February 29, 2016 – VIZ Media, LLC (VIZ Media), the largest publisher, distributor and licensor of manga and anime in North America, introduces readers to an edgy coming-of-age story about the trials of adolescence from manga creator Inio Asano with the launch of GOODNIGHT PUNPUN on March 15^th.

Volume 1 of the series from the Eisner- and Harvey Award-nominated creator of SOLANIN, WHAT A WONDERFUL WORLD! and Nijigahara Holograph is rated ‘M’ for Mature Readers and will debut in print under the VIZ Signature imprint with an MSRP of $24.99 U.S. / $28.99 CAN. The series also launches digitally on March 15^th via VIZManga.com and will be available from the Nook, Kobo, Kindle, iBooks, comiXology, and GooglePlay stores. Future installments of the 7-volume series are set to be published quarterly.

Meet Punpun Punyama. He’s an average kid in an average town. He wants to win a Nobel Prize and save the world. He wants to go far away with his true love. He wants to find some porn. But Punpun’s life is about to unravel…

“Inio Asano is a unique voice of a generation and a luminary in the world of indie manga,” says Pancha Diaz, Editor. “GOODNIGHT PUNPUN captures the life of a boy during the turmoil of adolescence, as he struggles to deal with a dysfunctional family, first love, and an uncertain future. We invite readers to discover the poignancy, clarity and wit of this exceptional series.”

Inio Asano was born in Ibaraki, Japan in 1980. In 2001, his short story “Hello from Outer Space” won the first Sunday GX Rookie Prize. GX went onto also publish his series, Subarashi Sekai, which is available in English from VIZ Media as WHAT A WONDERFUL WORLD! (Rated ‘T+’ for Older Teens). His other works include Hikari no Machi (City of Light), Nijigahara Holograph and Umibe no Onna no Ko (A Girl on the Shore), as well as SOLANIN, which is published in English by VIZ Media (Rated ‘T+’ for Older Teens).

For additional information on GOODNIGHT PUNPUN or other manga titles published by VIZ Media, please visit www.VIZ.com.

About VIZ Media, LLC

Headquartered in San Francisco, California, VIZ Media distributes, markets and licenses the best anime and manga titles direct from Japan.  Owned by three of Japan's largest manga and animation companies, Shueisha Inc., Shogakukan Inc., and Shogakukan-Shueisha Productions, Co., Ltd., VIZ Media has the most extensive library of anime and manga for English speaking audiences in North America, the United Kingdom, Ireland and South Africa. With its popular digital manga anthology WEEKLY SHONEN JUMP and blockbuster properties like NARUTO, BLEACH and ONE PIECE, VIZ Media offers cutting-edge action, romance and family friendly properties for anime, manga, science fiction and fantasy fans of all ages.  VIZ Media properties are available as graphic novels, DVDs, animated television series, feature films, downloadable and streaming video and a variety of consumer products.  Learn more about VIZ Media, anime and manga at www.VIZ.com.