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Viz Media Acquires RWBY Series, Will Explore Production of New Chapters

ANN's coverage of Anime Expo 2024 sponsored by Yen Press and Ize Press!

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Viz Media announced during its panel at Anime Expo on Friday that it has acquired the RWBY series following Rooster Teeth shutting down. Viz Media owns the rights for future distribution, production, licensing, and consumer products. The company is exploring the production of new chapters in the series.

Viz has published manga for the RWBY franchise, including Shirow Miwa's adaptation of the web animated series in Shueisha's Ultra Jump magazine from November 2015 to February 2017. Viz Media published the manga in its English edition of Weekly Shonen Jump magazine beginning in October 2017, and also published the manga in print. The company also published Bunta Kinami's RWBY: The Official Manga manga. Kinami launched the manga in Shonen Jump+ in December 2018, and ended it in June 2020. Additionally, Viz Media published the RWBY manga anthology series.

The original RWBY web animated series by the late creator Monty Oum follows four girls with unique weapons and powers who are training to hunt supernatural "Creatures of Grimm." Rooster Teeth produced nine volumes and 117 episodes. The ninth volume began in February 2023 and ended on March 30.

Shaft's RWBY: Ice Queendom television anime for the RWBY franchise premiered in Japan in July 2022. Crunchyroll streamed the series as it aired in Japan, and it also streamed an English dub.

Rooster Teeth (RWBY, gen:LOCK) revealed in March in a memo from general manager Jordan Levin to its staff that, after 21 years, it was shutting down "due to challenges facing digital media resulting from fundamental shifts in consumer behavior and monetization across platforms, advertising, and patronage." Rooster Teeth had stated at the time that its parent company Warner Bros. Discovery would explore options for its IP such as RWBY and gen:LOCK.

Source: Email correspondence