Press Release

IT’S FUCCON TIME!

Super Cheap Introductory Disc Meet the Fuccons On Sale December 20
 

HOUSTON, November 8, 2005—ADV Films, the number one producer-distributor of anime in North America, is pleased to announce a special addition to it’s holiday slate. America, prepare yourself for The Fuccons, a funny, irreverent, totally off-the-wall live action comedy starring… mannequins. The first introductory disc, Meet the Fuccons, will go on sale December 20.

The Fuccons is nothing short of a full-blown pop culture phenomenon in Japan, where it’s not only taken over TV but inspired scads of licensed products – and even its own themed restaurants! The series has already been licensed to a number of markets in Asia and Europe. Now it’s America’s turn!

The allure of The Fuccons is hard to describe. It’s a series of short films about an American family that’s been transplanted to Japan. The fact that mom, dad, and son are 50’s-era mannequins only begins to describe The Fuccons’ overall weirdness. It’s something you have to see to believe, but you can start getting the flavor of the show right now at the brand new show site www.fuccons.com!

The Fuccons originally began as a segment on the Japanese variety show Vermillion Pleasure Night, where it became such a hit that it was spun off into its own TV program (known there as “Oh Mikey!”). At about three minutes an episode, it runs as an interstitial or “bumper” between other programs. The short program has since become one of the biggest phenomena on Japanese TV!

The Fuccons is going to be big here too, and that’s why ADV Films is conducting a special two-step rollout to introduce them to an American audience. Before we begin the DVD series proper, we’re marketing the special low-priced preview disc Meet The Fuccons on December 20th. This eight episode disc features some of the weirdest, wackiest highlights from the series and has a suggested retail price of just $5.98. It also includes screensavers, clip art, sound files, and other goodies to Fucconify your computer, making Meet The Fuccons the ultimate impulse buy of the holiday season!

Our rollout event for The Fuccons will take place February 17-19th at the New York Comicon in the Jacob Javits Center in Manhattan. Fans can come out and meet Mikey, the Fuccons’ #1 son, “live” and in person. Fuccons fans can also take part in giveaways and prize drawings throughout this thoroughly Fucconified event!

The first full DVD of The Fuccons will be released February 22nd and will feature a full hour of episodes and special features, plus the original Japanese version with English subtitles, for a suggested retail price of just $19.98. The second and third volumes will go on sale approximately every eight weeks.

Synopsis: Get ready America! Japanese filmmakers have captured the American family on video and the picture isn’t pretty. Meet the Fuccons, a typical 2 ½ person family inexplicably transported to the land of the rising sun. Okay, maybe they’re not perfect: Dad is a bit stiff and wooden, Mom is plastic and empty headed and Mikey’s… well, Mike’s just a little dummy. But when it comes to standing firm in the face of this new and alien environment, the family that’s made together stays together, and it certainly doesn’t hurt that the Fuccons are as thick skinned, rigid and inflexible as they come. Go Fuccon crazy as the International Smash Hit that’s taken the world by storm is finally reverse imported to America in The Fuccons!

The Fuccons: Meet the Fuccons (SRP $5.98 DVD) is a DVD-only release including eight hilarious episodes presented in both English 2.0 and Japanese 2.0 with English subtitles. Extras are so awesome we’re not even going to detail what they are, except that they’re hilarious and far more than you deserve for just $5.98.

About ADV Films:

In the 13 years since its inception, ADV Films has become the #1 producer-distributor of Japanese animation (“anime”) for the North American market and has also developed a leadership position in the UK. With best-selling titles such as Neon Genesis Evangelion, RahXephon, Robotech, Full Metal Panic, Hello Kitty and Azumanga Daioh, ADV Films' extensive catalog is fueling the popularity of anime around the globe. Always on the forefront, ADV is introducing North America to bold new anime franchises such as Gantz, Elfen Lied, Chrono Crusade, Peacemaker and DNAngel. ADV Films' library also includes popular live-action science fiction programs such as The Jim Henson Company's Farscape, the nationally syndicated Gene Roddenberry’s Andromeda and the Saturn Award-nominated Mutant X. In 2005 ADV Films was voted “Best Anime Company” in the SPJA awards, presented at Anime Expo, North America’s largest anime convention.

Parent company, A.D. Vision, Inc., encompasses a multitude of complementary media divisions, spanning publishing, television, licensing and merchandising and continues to expand into new areas. Its Anime Network™ is America's first and only television network dedicated to bringing anime and anime-related programming to consumers nationwide via digital cable 24 hours a day. The company has two publishing arms: Newtype USA, the premier anime and manga monthly magazine, and ADV Manga™, dedicated to publishing graphic novels. Headquartered in Houston, the company has offices in Europe and Japan. For more information, visit www.advfilms.com.