Pascal Bonnet, EMEA Director of Licensing and Brand Management at Viz Media Europe, said “Italy was chosen as the first country for the European relaunch of Inuyasha’s licensing program” and that Viz Media is “very pleased to be working with Starbright. Inuyasha is a truly unique and exciting property, we are delighted to be working with such a proficient partner."

Giada Paterlini, Managing Director of Starbright, commented: “We are genuinely happy to be working with Viz Media Europe and represent such a unique property as Inuyasha. We believe that there are currently good licensing opportunities for this property, especially for consumer products targeting teenagers and young adults. Inuyasha has everything a successful brand requires: content, value, creativity, and a very high awareness among the target group.”

Inuyasha is based on a manga series of the same name written and illustrated by Rumiko Takahashi, which has sold more than 30 million copies worldwide. Aired on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim, Inuyasha has proven to be a big hit with American audiences, with ratings among the top of all age groups.

The anime is comprised of 167 episodes, based on the first 36 volumes of the manga. Set in the Sengoku Period of Japan (a period of domestic turmoil about 500 years ago), Inuyasha is a time travel fantasy adventure. It tells the story of Kagome, a very strong, compassionate, charming girl, who discovers that she can travel back and forth between the present and the Sengoku Period through a well at the shrine near her house. As she is drawn to another time, she is also drawn into a quest with InuYasha - the half demon, half human character male protagonist - for a powerful, sacred stone. However, many enemies hinder their way to success and while Kagome becomes aware of powers within herself that she never imagined existed, InuYasha discovers that he has feelings for Kagome as they search for the stone together.

In Italy, the anime television series has been aired periodically on MTV since 2001 and it is one of the channel’s hits in terms of ratings. A new release of 26 episodes x 26 minutes “Inuyasha: The Final Act “ is currently scheduled to premiere on MTV in the fall 2010.