GUTSOON! ENTERTAINMENT TO INTRODUCE RAIJIN COMICS TO NORTH AMERICAN MARKETPLACE

First Weekly Serial Manga Comic Book Set For U.S. Launch In November 2002

For Animé Expo 2002 - As a result of the explosive growth in the anime genre, Gutsoon! Entertainment, Inc. plans to launch a new product line, Raijin Comics, a weekly manga comic book anthology based on Japanese stories and characters, translated for the North American market. Retail sales will begin in November 2002.

Raijin, which translates as "Thunder God", best describes the power of the product line, and represents the flagship publishing property for Gutsoon!'s U.S.-based publishing division. Gutsoon!'s sister company, Japan-based Coamix, introduced the Raijin Comics to Japanese consumers in May 2002 with immediate success, due in part to a unique bilingual supplement that accompanied each release. Japanese readers have used the supplement as a learning tool to improve their English skills, allowing them greater understanding of animé and manga-style titles published in Japan and abroad. Unique to the North American Issue of Raijin Comics will be Fujin, a special supplement included in the weekly issues, will provide readers up to the minute details on anime, videogames and trends in Japanese culture.

"Animé and manga titles are gaining significant momentum worldwide, giving creators opportunities to introduce new, original content on a regular basis to meet the demand of readers," said Nobuhiko Horie, Gutsoon! Entertainment, Inc.'s Chairman. "The introduction of this Japanese phenomena in the U.S. has been very successful, and we are encouraged by the response to date for our existing properties."

Gutsoon! Entertainment's anticipates initial circulation for Raijin Comics to be 15,000 copies per week. Following the lead from it's Japanese counterpart, Gutsoon! plans to introduce an expanded character line in the weekly anthology, which will initially feature leading manga artists Hojo's City Hunter, Hara's Fist of the Blue Sky, Inoue's Slam Dunk, and Niwano's Bomber Girl . The key demographic for the company's product remains 15 to 34 year old males, however, the increase in story lines with strong female characters has generated equal interest among female readers.

The "Pokemon cruise" service commemoration event was performed by the passenger liner "a royal wing" which has put out to sea from the Yokohama large pier on the 30th. In the "PIKA * PIKA starlit sky camp" by which a simultaneous show is carried out with "Guardian deity RATIASU of the capital of theater version Pocket-Monsters water, and RATIOSU", four members of Hiroyuki Miyasako and others (32) "POKEMON 5", who sings a theme song, attended cutting ribbon for celebration with the onboard deck. A movie is July 13 public presentation.

It challenges the first in a voice actor by Takako Uehara "glad [ to become in a dream ]" movie DEJIMON. it turns out on the 28th that the singer of Origin SPEED and Takako Uehara (19) challenge a voice actor for the first time in the open TOEI animation fair "DEJIMON frontier ancient-times DEJIMON revival" (others -- two works) on July 20 That Uehara performs is Darckmon which is the leader of DEJIMON whom five children who entered the digital world and were involved in argument of digital monsters meet. There is feminine beauty in costume in the character which made Female fighter of France, and Jeanne d'Arc the model.

For everyone attending Anime Expo (July 4-7, 2002 -- Long Beach, CA), don't forget to visit Viz (booth # 219) to check out our giveaways, buy product and talk to Viz staff! In addition to the booth, you can find Viz at the following con events:

VIZ PANELS
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Parents and Anime Panel Thursday July 4th, 2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. - in LP 3 Viz, Bandai and Pioneer sit-down to help parents make good anime choices for their children. Hear what's new and hot with kids today, and stop by to hear more about the popular Hamtaro!

NGE Panel with Carl Gustav Horn Thursday July 4th, 3:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. - in LP 2 Half a decade after the end of Evangelion, it is clear the Eva phenomenon is far from over, as the industry still looks for another anime that can so capture the imagination of the larger Japanese public, and American fans at last get to see the DVD release of the film. Come discuss Evangelion with Viz's editor of the English edition of co-creator Yoshiyuki Sadamoto's manga and other Evangelion fans.

Viz Panel with Jason Thompson, Carl Gustav Horn and Toshi Yoshida Saturday July 5th, 11:00 a.m. 12:00 pm - in LP 3 Join Viz staff to talk about our manga and anime releases for Fall and Winter of 2002.

VIZ SCREENINGS*
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Main Events (Terrace Theatre) Friday 1:00 p.m. to 2:00 pm Hamtaro Screening Subsequent screenings will take place in the children's programming area

Main Events (Terrace Theatre) Saturday 1:00 p.m. to 2:00 pm Inu-Yasha Premiere Screening Con attendees will get a preview of the anime fans have been waiting to see!

* Will also have various product screenings in the video rooms.

Animefringe is back again with a July 2002 issue packed full of reviews and other cool stuff. Oh, the biggest news of the month is: THE ARCHIVE IS BACK!!! That's right, a the little bugs have been fixed and now you can catch up on the past 30 issues while checking out what the latest one has to offer. http://www.animefringe.com/

Features:

- Quack Experimental Anime: Excel Saga - Excel Saga may just be the most insanely funny and off-the-wall series ever conceived. It takes the fun characters of Slayers, dashes them with the campiness of Nadesico, and crams in more references than Otaku no Video. From sight gags to spoofs, Excel Saga is like watching the anime version Tiny Toon Adventures. So take a few minutes and join us as we take a totally off-the-wall and unconventional look at a truly original series. http://www.animefringe.com/magazine/02.07/feature/1/index.php3

- Hellsing - Looking for something a little juicy to sink your teeth into? Better watch your back though, there's a rouge vampire and an undead cop lurking the streets to put an end to any nasties out there. And if you've got a taste for blood, then you better beware. "In the name of God, impure souls of the living dead shall be banished into eternal damnation. Amen." http://www.animefringe.com/magazine/02.07/feature/2/index.php3

- Read or Die - You wanna see action? You wanna see fly honeys? How about, fly honeys getting kicking some you know what with super-powers? Read or Die is sure to satisfy all any fans gullet with its Asian twist of the classic super-hero adventure tale. This is one three part OVA series is to be taken shaken, not stirred. http://www.animefringe.com/magazine/02.07/feature/3/index.php3

- NieA_7 - A Look Back - Remember that series about that overactive alien and the earthling forced to put up with there hijinks? No, we're not talking about My Favorite Martian, we're talking about NieA under Seven. You know, NieA_7? That series from the creators of Lain. If you forgot it or haven't ever seen it, then shame on you. Animefringe reviewed all four volumes as they came out and now we've decided to point a few things out in a retrospective of the series. http://www.animefringe.com/magazine/02.07/feature/4/index.php3

The Rest: It's another huge issue and no where is that more appearant than in our reviews section. We've proud to present 14 killer reviews covering such cool stuff as: Escaflowne: The Movie Ulitmate Edition DVD, the Gundam Movie Trilogy DVD Box Set, The Happiness of the Katakuris, Ichi the Killer, Chobits Vol.1, Final Fantasy XI Original Soundtrack (LE), and a ton more.

Gallery of Fantastic Art: The GoFA 9/11 Charity Auction Exhibition

This year's professional art exhibition will feature an unrivaled collection of art work from 7 prominent & cutting edge illustrators, artists and character designers from Japan. TAKADA AKEMI, KIA ASAMIYA, SHOU TAJIMA, YUTAKA IZUBUCHI, YUJI KAIDA, RANGE MURATA and YOSHITOSHI ABE will all be displaying some of their most popular characters, many for the first time in the United States. This exhibition will feature lithographs, serigraphs and CG prints; 35 - 40 pieces total. Most all items will be For Sale. All sales for the exhibition will be handled by J.A.M. The exhibit will also include original illustrations & sketches by TAKADA Akemi. This will be the first time that Ms. TAKADA has agreed to sell her original artwork at an art exhibition.

Twenty pieces of artwork will be donated by GoFA to Anime Expo/Anime Expo New York as direct donations for the 9/11 Charity Auction. GoFA will also be donating a percentage from the proceeds of the art exhibition sales to help the victims of 9/11.

Last year, Anime Expo raised money for the City of Hope's 'Heroes For Hope' charity. This year, the proceeds from the both the Anime Expo and Anime Expo New York auctions will go to helping the victims of the 9/11 tragedy.

Scans of the actual images can be viewed at: http://www.axny.org/events.html#msg

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Introduction by Gallery of Fantastic Art:

When GoFa began planning the GoFa 9/11 Charity Exhibition, we were overjoyed at the amount of cooperation we received from prominent and cutting edge illustrators, artists, and character designers from Japan. Now, we would like to thank you, the participants, for your support in this endeavor.

This Charity Exhibition was originally the idea of Mr. Mike Tatsugawa. After the tragedy of 9/11, Mr. Tatsugawa wanted to find a way to help disaster victims and aid in the reconstruction of New York City.

Prior to this exhibition, GoFa had dedicated its art shows and exhibitions to one artist at a time, focusing on only that artist's work for a period of one year. However, this year, inspired by Mr. Tatsugawa's idea, GoFa is presenting the works of seven artists - TAKADA Akemi, Kia ASAMIYA, Shou TAJIMA, Yukata IZUBUCHI, Yuji KAIDA, Range MURATA, and Yoshitoshi ABE - who represent the best and brightest of the Anime, Manga, SFX, and Gaming Industry of Japan. GoFa is pleased to announce that it will be donating twenty artworks (lithographs, artgraphs, etc) to AX for the charity event.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank Ms. Hideko (Dinah) Watanabe of JAM for her generous donation of artwork from her personal collection. We would also like to thank Mr. Rick Alonso for his help in operating this event.

We at GoFa pray for the reconstruction of New York City, and we would like to give our heartfelt thanks to all of the people who gave their time, energy, and effort to make this exhibition a success.

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Following are some previews of the works being displayed along with artist backgrounds:

Yoshitoshi ABE
Yoshitoshi Abe was born in 1971, Tokyo. When he was a college student, he started to publish Doujinshi, and won the Summer Contest of the Afternoon Four Seasons in 1994. In 1997, he entered graduate school, and began to publish the serial "Lain" in AX (Sony Magazine) in 1998. In July of the same year, the TV animation version of "Lain" began. In 1998, he was in charge of design for "Wachenröder", a Sega Saturn game. In November, the Playstation game version of "Lain" was released. After his graduation in 1999, he began to publish the serial comic "NieA_7". It was announced in the September volume of Monthly ACE NEXT, and appeared monthly from October on. In April 2000, the TV animation version of "NieA_7" premiered. Yoshitoshi worked on the jacket of the sound track and illustrations, the jacket of the video and DVD version 1 through 5, the illustrations of the back cover, and the design of the DVD case. The first version of Under Seven (Kadokawashoten) was released. As an illustrator with a wide-range of abilities, he also designed the cover illustrations of the novel The Genealogy of God 2 - True Jaguar (Tokumashoten), illustrations for the Comickers (Bijutsusyuppan), and the cover illustrations of the novel Don't Forget (Kawadeshobo). The various collections of his works include, "Furumachi", "Lain", Yoshitoshi ABE collection named "An Omnipresence in Wired" (Sony Magazine), "Yoshitoshi ABE Edition NieA_7SCRAP" (Kadokawashoten).

Kia ASAMIYA
Kia Asamiya was born in 1963. He made his debut with the comic "Vagrants", which ran in the February volume of Monthly Comptiq (Kadokawashoten) in 1986. He also extends his work to other areas, such as covers of magazine and novels, illustration and animated films. By the planning and production of STUDIO TRON, Kia Asamiya uses a mix of media for his own works and is charting new directions in comics. With his variety of talents, this super multimedia creator's currently published works include "Steam Detectives" in Ultra Jump, "Dark Angel" in Monthly Newtype, "Silent Möbius" in Monthly Comic Dragon.

Yutaka IZUBUCHI
Born in December 1958, Yutaka Izubuchi moved to Yokohama when he was seven and lived there during his youth. He graduated from the Senior High school of Yokosuga Gakuyin. He made his debut as mechanical designer by "Daimos" in 1978 (without credit). His important works are the mechanical design and design works of various animation such as "Aura Battler Dunbine", "Panzer World Galient", "Mobile Suit Gundam: Char's Counterattack", "Mobile Suit Gundam: War in the Pocket", "Mobile Patlabor", "Gasaraki", character and the concepts for "Lodoss War". After starting the illustration of "RPG Replay Lodoss War" in the Monthly Comptiq (Kadokawashoten), he continues working on the illustrations of the novelizations of Lodoss War and New Lodoss War.

Yuji KAIDA
Born in Hyougo, Yuji Kaida graduated from Kyoto City University of Arts. He mainly works in the production of character illustration in the motif of monsters and robots for magazines and packages. In 1997, Yuji Kaida opened "Monsters Museum", which covered all his own works in Kawasaki City Museum. Collections of his works include "Monsters Gallery" (Media Works), "Monsters Gallery", "Meganix", "Works" (Bandai), and the CD-ROM collection "Chronicles". Recently, he published Ultra Q (Kadokawashoten).

Range MURATA
Range Murata's important works include software for "Groove On Fight" (Atlas), "Wachenröder" (Sega), "Eternal Chain" (Victor) as well as character design for the video series "Blue Submarine No.6". He is also known for his novel illustrations and the cover illustrations of Kailakuten and Ultra Jump. He has also done collections including "Like a balance life", and has planned and edited "FLAT".

Shou TAJIMA
Born in 1966, Shou Tajima started publishing the series "MADARA" which made him popular. He published a collection of artworks titled "SHO-U". In 2001, the limited version of "MADARA" was released. He was in charge of the character design of the Playstation game soft "Galerians". Currently, his work "MPD?PSYCHO" appears serially in Monthly Shonen ACE.

JAPANESE ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY TOASTS ADV

HOUSTON, June 20, 2002 – The #1 distributor of Japanese animation in North America, A. D. Vision (“ADV”), celebrated its tenth anniversary recently with a formal event held at the Star Room in the Westin Hotel, Tokyo.

On hand for the festivities were ADV President, CEO and Founder, John Ledford; Senior Vice-President, CFO and COO, Kevin Corcoran; Chief Technology Officer Mark Williams; President of ADV-Tokyo, Toru Iwakami; and representatives from Japan’s top entertainment companies, including Bandai Visual, Bones, Broccoli, CoMix Wave, Daiei, Dynamic Planning, Enoki Film, Gainax, Gonzo, JVC, Kadokawa Shoten, Kodansha, KSS, Mad House, SME Visual Works, Space Shower Network, Sunrise, Suplex, TBS, Toei, Toho International, Victor Entertainment and many more.

The esteemed guests, who were proud to see ADV grow into an entertainment powerhouse during its first decade of business, brought along dozens of beautiful flower arrangements as gifts, which were placed at the entrance to the grand ballroom for decoration.

The highlight of the evening was a toast from Satoru Terada, the Managing Director of Toho International, the legendary producers of the “Godzilla” movie franchise, and co-producers of “Akira” and “Spriggan.” ADV and Toho have enjoyed a long, fruitful partnership over the years. ADV’s first licensed title for home video was Toho’s “Devil Hunter Yohko” anime; and ADV has released other Toho properties such as “Spriggan,” “Destroy All Monsters!,” “Kimera” and more.

“I’m delighted ADV has developed into the big company we know today,” Terada toasted. “I wish you great prosperity for many years.”

“It was truly a special evening for ADV Films,” Ledford said. “Celebrating this milestone in the company of so many of the people who helped make it possible was a special moment for me, one I know I’ll never forget.”

About ADV Films: