FUNimation's Dragonball Still at the Top on Lycos; Popular television series in Top 10 on The Lycos 50 for 200 Weeks

Business Wire, June 26, 2003

Entertainment Editors/Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

FORT WORTH, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 26, 2003

Today, FUNimation Productions, Ltd. announced that Dragonball(R) is celebrating its 200th consecutive week of ranking in the Top 10 most-searched terms on The Lycos 50(TM) (http://50.lycos.com), a weekly list of the most popular people, places and things Lycos users are searching for online. Because of its popularity, the term "Dragonball" has been at the top of the weekly report since August 1999. It is the only topic that has been in the Top 10 for 200 consecutive weeks.

"This truly is a momentous occasion for the Dragon Ball franchise. It shows the incredible popularity of this franchise in North America," exclaims Gen Fukunaga, president of FUNimation Productions, Ltd., the U.S. producers of Dragon Ball(R), Dragon Ball Z(R) and Dragon Ball GT(R). "Not only is this the 200th week that 'Dragonball' has been in the Top 10 on The Lycos 50, but Dragon Ball is also the only franchise with this kind of stamina and proven popularity on the Internet, TV, home video, video games, action figures, collectible card games, apparel and much more."

"The popularity of 'Dragonball' has really shown remarkable consistency over the past four years," said Aaron Schatz, writer of The Lycos 50. "Trends have changed, other animated programs have moved up and down in popularity, and short-term fads have faded away, but 'Dragonball' continues to be one of the Web's most-searched terms week after week."

The Lycos 50 is a weekly list of the top search terms from the Lycos search engine. Each day, more than 12 million search queries are entered into this popular search engine and every Tuesday, the searches are tallied to create The Lycos 50. The Lycos 50 just celebrated its 200th week of counting search terms and 'Dragonball' has been there since its inception in August 1999. 'Dragonball' has been described by Lycos as the topic that "may be the most popular item in the history of The Lycos 50."

To celebrate this outstanding achievement and to show appreciation to fans, FUNimation will be giving away 200 videos from the Dragon Ball franchise. Check any of the Dragon Ball Websites (www.dragonball.com, www.dragonballz.com or www.dragonballgt.com) for details on the 200 Weeks of Dragon Ball Sweepstakes.

    Other highlights from Dragonball's history on The Lycos 50:

    --  Web's Most Wanted in 2001

    --  Web's Most Wanted in 2002 (becoming the only topic to repeat
        as the most- searched-for term on Lycos)

    --  The only television series that has been in the charts for 200
        weeks, not to mention the Top 10.

The Dragon Ball franchise is tremendously popular in North America. It has top-rated shows on Cartoon Network, over 15 million home videos have been sold, its home videos are consistently in the Top 20 sales charts and the Dragon Ball brand is a merchandising gold mine with over $3 billion in sales worldwide. And, this powerful brand is not done yet. Dragon Ball GT(R) is tearing up sales charts and BROLY(R): The Legendary Super Saiyan (the eighth feature film for Dragon Ball Z(R)) is scheduled to hit the streets on August 26.

About FUNimation

FUNimation(R) Productions, Ltd., is a powerhouse in the brand management industry. With in-house production, licensing, Internet, and home video distribution, the company produces high-quality entertainment programs. In addition to Dragon Ball(R), FUNimation also produces Dragon Ball Z(R) and Yu Yu Hakusho(R), both top-rated shows on Cartoon Network; Dragon Ball GT(R), the highly anticipated sequel to Dragon Ball Z(R); Movies for Lupin the 3rd(TM); Fruits Basket(TM); and Blue Gender(TM), a sci-fi anime heading to Cartoon Network's Adult Swim in August. For more information on FUNimation or any of its properties, contact Jeff Dronen at (817) 788-0627, ext. 251, or jeff.dronen@funimation.com.

(C)2003 Lycos, Inc. Lycos(R) is a registered trademark of Carnegie Mellon University. All other product or service marks mentioned herein are those of Terra Networks, S.A., Lycos, Inc. or their respective owners. All rights reserved.