Press Release

Central Park Media and The New England
Anime Society Celebrate 2006

CPM and the NEAS Ring in the New Year from Boston's Hynes Convention Center

BOSTON, MA (December 23, 2005) - Boston is home to America's longest running First Night celebration, and for the past two years, the city's New England Anime Society has proudly been a part of this tradition. This year, the New England Anime Society is back and hopes to have its largest and most successful First Night anime event yet. On December 31st, 2005, the New England Anime Society will be welcoming in 2006 -- this time with a little help from Central Park Media.

Boston's New Year's revelers will have their choice of parties and presentations to attend throughout December 31st, with the New England Anime Society a part of it. The NEAS seeks to invite anime fans and their friends and family to a day and night of some of the best of what Japan has to offer. "It is our hope to introduce Japanese animation to a whole new audience who may not be familiar with anime or may not be aware of the wide range of stories that have been told through this medium," a New England Anime Society spokesperson said.

Held in the Hynes Convention Center from 1 PM to 11 PM on December 31st, the NEAS will be showcasing a variety of titles including Central Park Media's Animation Runner Kuromi and Alien Nine. Further, CPM will be giving out free posters, buttons, and even DVDs to attendees throughout the event, and everyone who visits the New England Anime Society's First Night program will have the chance to enter a raffle for a CPM prize pack including Munto, Animation Runner Kuromi, Kakurenbo:Hide & Seek, Shadow Star Narutaru, and Descendants of Darkness.

Fans new and old are invited to join the NEAS and CPM as they celebrate the New Year. For more information, including the full First Night schedule and special 2006 desktop wallpaper from CPM, please visit http://firstnight.neanime.org/.

About the New England Anime Society:
The New England Anime Society, Inc. is a Massachusetts-based 501 (c)(3) non-profit organization. Its mission is to further American understanding of Japanese language and culture through written and visual media. Founded in 2001, The New England Anime Society, Inc. is also the producer of Anime Boston (www.animeboston.com), the sixth largest Japanese animation convention in the United States with an attendance of over 7,500 people.

About Central Park Media
Central Park Media is a 15-year-old Manhattan-based independent video and book publisher focused on Japanese and Korean animation and graphic novels. Central Park Media has been a leading supplier of anime in the United States since 1990, and a major publisher of manga since 1994. The company currently manufactures and distributes animated video programming under several label names, including U.S. Manga Corps, Be Beautiful, Software Sculptors and Central Park Media, as well as live-action Asian feature films under its Asia Pulp Cinema label.

With exclusive rights to hundreds of graphic novels, the company has become a leading North American publisher of Japanese manga and Korean manhwa. Among CPM's fan-favorite graphic novel titles are Lee Hyun Se's Nambul (the best-selling manhwa in Korean publishing history), and Kia Asamiya's Dark Angel. Under its Be Beautiful imprint, the company also publishes popular yaoi manga such as the best-selling Kizuna: Bonds of Love (the best-selling yaoi title in Japanese publishing history). Visit www.centralparkmedia.com, www.cpmpress.com and www.bebeautifulmanga.com for more information.