ADV FILMS SETS RELEASE DATE FOR NOIR: THE HIT LIST

SECOND EXTRAORDINARY VOLUME OF ANIME SERIES TO BE AVAILABLE APRIL 8, 2003

HOUSTON, January 8, 2003—ADV Films today announced a release date of April 8, 2003 for NOIR: The Hit List, the second DVD volume of the widely acclaimed anime thriller.

The series, which premiered in Japan in 2001, was directed by Koichi Mashimo (Dirty Pair, Dominion). Viewers praise NOIR’s spectacular animation, the use of music, its exotic settings (largely in western Europe) and an enduringly complex storyline, based on a relationship between a duo of female assassins who cannot trust one another, but who need each other to survive. Critics have favorably compared NOIR to such genre-defining live-action suspense films as The Professional and La Femme Nikita.

The story:
The mysteries deepen as professional assassins Mireille Bouquet and Yuumura Kirika, now working together under the code name “NOIR”, ply their chosen trade even as they search for the mysterious link that connects them. Is there someone out there who already knows? And if so, is it the same mysterious person—or people—who’ve been playing a deadly game of cat and mouse with them since they first met? Secrets wrap around secrets and the body count continues to rise in the second stunning volume of NOIR.

NOIR: The Hit List (SRP $29.98) is a DVD-only release including four complete episodes. DVD offers both English- and Japanese-language versions, with English subtitles. Extras include production sketches, clean opening and closing animation, original Japanese promo spots and ADV previews.

About ADV Films:
In 1992, ADV Films (ADV) began to forge the international market for Japanese animation (“anime”) by combining unique titles, outstanding production values and efficient large-scale distribution. Today, ADV is the #1 producer-distributor of Japanese animation to the North American market, with the firm’s holdings including such premier titles as Spriggan, Sailor Moon, Samurai X, Medabots, Robotech, Gasaraki and Neon Genesis Evangelion. ADV has also expanded into other forms of genre programming, including live-action science fiction programs Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda and Farscape, and classic science fiction such as Gamera: Guardian of the Universe. ADV’s corporate parent, A.D. Vision, Inc., publishes Newtype USA, the premiere anime and manga monthly in the English-speaking world, and operates The Anime Network, broadcasting anime and anime-related programming via digital cable, 24 hours a day. Headquartered in Houston, Texas, USA, with additional offices in the EU and Japan, and distribution on four continents, ADV is fast becoming an international entertainment powerhouse. For more information, visit ADV on the web at http://www.advfilms.com.