Fullmetal Alchemist Arrives in Canada on YTV

[JIVE News]

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Popular U.S. Anime Series From Navarre's FUNimation Entertainment Makes Its Canadian Broadcast Debut on March 3 --- FUNimation(R) Entertainment, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Navarre Corporation (Nasdaq: NAVR), and a brand management company and one of the nation's leading independent home video entertainment companies, announced today that the popular anime series Fullmetal Alchemist(TM) has been picked up by YTV for broadcast in Canada.

"This is great news for Fullmetal Alchemist," says Gen Fukunaga, president and CEO of FUNimation Entertainment. "Fullmetal Alchemist is one of the most popular anime series in the United States and our fans in Canada have been anxious for the series to be broadcast in their country."

Alchemy, the precursor to modern chemistry, is the science of matter and transmutation. The Fullmetal Alchemist series follows 15-year-old Edward Elric, a prodigy known as the "Fullmetal Alchemist." Due to an experiment gone wrong when they were younger, Edward and his brother Alphonse paid a heavy price for disobeying the natural laws of science. Now the brothers are on an adventurous quest of the utmost importance: to find the fabled Philosopher's Stone.

"Fullmetal Alchemist is one of those series that really captures its audience," continues Fukunaga. "It has an intriguing storyline, great content and incredible animation." Fullmetal Alchemist has already experienced broadcast success in the U.S. market as well as impressive home video success. The first DVD in the Fullmetal Alchemist series was released in the United States in February 2005 and there have been seven DVDs released to date. According to VideoScan reports for the week of February 05, 2006, all seven are in the top 25 of the best selling anime DVDs.

The Fullmetal Alchemist brand has also done well with a top-selling trading card game from RC2, character merchandise through Great Eastern, Fullmetal Alchemist t-shirts from ODM, Fullmetal Alchemist branded apparel at select retailers nationwide including Hot Topic and an upcoming line of Fullmetal Alchemist action figures from Southern Island.
Fullmetal Alchemist will air on YTV Fridays at 10:00 p.m., with repeat performances at 1:00 a.m., and the Canadian debut will be March 3, 2006. YTV is Canada's #1 youth network and is seen in over eight million homes across Canada.

Fans of Fullmetal Alchemist can check http://www.fullmetalalchemist.com for all the latest news and information on this very engaging series.

SOURCE FUNimation Entertainment
Web Site: http://www.navarre.com
http://www.fullmetalalchemist.com