POCKET MONSTERS MEWTWO STRIKES BACK! (C)Nintendo・CREATURES・GAMEFREAK・TV TOKYO・SHO-PRO・JR KIKAKU (C) Pikachu Project 98

■Comment 東宝（株）, Akira Kawaguchi

Thank you for this great honor. Ordinarily, someone representing one of the ten companies involved in the production of Pocket Monsters would behere to receive this award, but they have already begun preparing for a sequel to be released next year. With everyone in the production end very busy right now, I have come on their behalf from Toho, the film's distributor . We at Toho are very proud of this award, which is our second one in a row now, as Princess Mononoke won the same prize last year. Looking at last summer's Toho movie releases, on one side we had Godzilla, a huge monster indeed, and on the other side we had these cute little Pocket Monsters, and all these monsters together brought everyone from children aged three and four to retired folks into the theaters. As I mentioned before, preparations are already underway for a Pocket Mnsters sequel to be released next year, so please look forward to seeing your favorite characters and their adventures up on the screen at that time. We hope for your support again next year. Thank you very much.

■Awards Screening Criteria

POCKET MONSTERS, which was an exceptionally long-running hit in the fi ckle world of video games, has also garnered a consistently high viewership as a television series. With character goods and other spin-off products enjoying enormous popularity as well, it today ranks among Japan's best-known animati oncontents. Behind this phenomenon lies POCKET MONSTERS' world view, which never stops tickling children's thirst for adventure, and its cast of fun characters. In addition to giving full expression to these elements, the remarkably entertaining feature film version is well-paced and firmly plotted, delivering a different level of excitement and wonder from the TV series. With a record number of people involved in its production as well, this work is, I believe, the most fitting of the nominations to receive the award for Best Feature Film.

Toshihiro Fukuoka Editor in Chief, Weekly ASCII Magazine