VIZ MEDIA TEAMS WITH IGN ENTERTAINMENT'S DIRECT2DRIVE TO MAKE DEATH NOTE™ ANIME SERIES AVAILABLE FOR DIGITAL DOWNLOAD

Broadband Availability Of Episodes Soon After Broadcast In Japan Sets A New Benchmark For The Anime Industry
 
VIZ Media, LLC (VIZ Media), one of the entertainment industry's most innovative and comprehensive publishing, animation and licensing companies, has announced the availability of Death Note™ anime series via digital download on Direct2Drive, IGN Entertainment's premiere digital retail store. The subtitled version of the series will debut May 10, 2007 and fans may go to www.direct2drive.com to download the first episode.

VIZ Media secured the rights to Death Note from Nippon Television Network Corporation (NTV) and anticipation for the launch of the series has built steadily since the company first announced it earlier this year. The launch is also significant because it marks the first time a well known anime property will be made legally available to U.S. audiences for download while the title still airs on Japanese television.

Above is a promo image for the anime from photobucket.com, but not part of the original press release.

"The technology for delivering digital content quickly, securely and with the highest possible quality has come of age and we see DTO as an important extension of our video business," says Daniel Marks, Senior Vice President, Strategy & Business Development, VIZ Media. "Death Note is a smash in Japan and we very much appreciate NTV providing us with the opportunity to make episodes available so soon after broadcast in Japan. We see this as an important first step in getting our content to fans where, when and how they want it."

"VIZ Media is one of the most technologically savvy and forward-thinking anime companies in the industry and we are pleased to team with them to make a hot property like Death Note available via digital distribution on Direct2Drive," says Jamie Berger, Senior Vice President of Consumer Products for IGN Entertainment.

Death Note, based on the Shueisha manga series of the same name, is currently one of the hottest anime titles in Japan. Licensed in North America by VIZ Media, it depicts the adventures of Light Yagami, an ace student with great prospects but who is bored out of his mind. All of that changes when he finds the Death Note, a notebook dropped by a rogue Shinigami death god. Any human whose name is written in the notebook dies, and now Light has vowed to use the power of the Death Note to rid the world of evil. But when criminals begin dropping dead, the authorities send the legendary detective L to investigate, and he is soon hot on the trail of Light, who must now reevaluate his one noble goal.