Viz Media, LLC, headquartered in San Francisco, California, United States, is an anime, manga and Japanese entertainment company founded in 1986 as Viz, LLC. In 2005, the Viz, LLC. and ShoPro Entertainment merged to form the current Viz Media, LLC which is jointly owned by Japanese publishers Shogakukan Shogakukan, Shueisha Shueisha, and Shogakukan's licensing division Shogakukan Shogakukan Productions (ShoPro Japan).
Viz Media translated and localized the Dragon Ball manga from start to finish. However, starting from what would be volume 17 of Dragon Ball, they began labeling the books Dragon Ball Z for the consideration of the American anime viewers who may not have been familiar with the original Dragon Ball series.
They have also published a number of other popular Japanese manga, such as Naruto and Bleach.
Editing[]
Viz Media has released all the volumes of Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z; however, they have edited and changed a few scenes to make it more child friendly. For example, Viz, while keeping some nude pictures in (such as Bulma in the shower, and Goku nude in volume 1), puts a bra over a nude Bulma in Volume 9. Viz also edits out a gun that Android 17 is holding up to a man.