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Wao World, Yoshiyuki Kaneko Launch Chuya-Den Anime Kickstarter

Wao World and Awesome Japan launched a Kickstarter campaign to fund Yoshiyuki Kaneko's (YOSHIKO, no relation to the voice actor of the same name) Chuya-Den original video anime (OVA) project on Thursday. The campaign seeks to raise US$100,000 by November 15 at 12:02 a.m. AWST (November 14 at 12:02 p.m. EST). As of press time, the project has earned US$3,380.

The campaign describes the anime project:

Unlike the weather forecast of our world, the world of the Yokai has a forecast for both day and night. Today, day might be 14 hours long. Tomorrow, night might 14 hours long. The next day, there may be 6 hours of day and 9 hours of night. In this world the days and nights are always changing.

What is cause of the time shifts? The Yokai Chanbara—the epic battle for control of time between the Day Yokai and the Night Yokai.

Now, the world is faced with the extraordinary disappearance of the sun.The world will be covered in darkness. A night without end.

All that stands in the way are three human children. Shu, Yuna and Kenta have been swept up in the Yokai Chanbara and must fight to bring back the day!

Kaneko is helming the project. Kensuke Ishikawa drew the original character designs, while Shouta Ueno designed the characters for animation. Yutaka Matsubara is credited for yokai design. Ben Tomita is credited for the design of the Night and Day Device. The overall goal of the project is to create four 24-minute original anime episodes. The first goal of the project is to attempt to complete the first episode. The project's ultimate goal is to produce a feature film version.

The campaign is also streaming trailers for the anime's main characters with both Japanese and English audio.

Japanese Main Cast

English Main Cast

The anime's Japanese cast includes:

• Yū Kobayashi as Shu
• Yui Horie as Yuna
• Ayumi Fujimura as Kenta
• Misato Fukuen as Tsuchi-gumo
• Motomu Kiyokawa as Nurarihyon
• Nobuyuki Hiyama as Kurama-Tengu
• Norio Wakamoto as Sanmoto-Gorozaemon

The anime's English cast includes:

• Brittany Lauda as Shu
• Amber Lee Connors as Yuna
• Daisy Guevara as Kenta

The anime project previously streamed a trailer in February that previewed the anime and its Japanese voice acting.

The project's backer rewards — aside from digital, DVD, and Blu-ray Disc copies of the anime itself — include the Chuya-Den manga and Kaneko's spinoff manga; animation model sheets; illustration collections; key frame sheets; copper plate-pressed print art (with the engraved copper cast also offered); the storyboard for the pilot and first episode signed by Kaneko; portraits of backers drawn in the anime's style; signed illustrations by the Japanese voice actors; a minor cameo in the anime as a classmate, day yokai, or night yokai (which can include spoken lines); a Skype chat with Kaneko; a tour of Wao World studios; a theater preview invitation along with a dinner with Kaneko; and an offer to be the project's assistant director.

The project's campaign page shows some of the backer rewards, including storyboards, model sheets, the copper plate-pressed art, and the manga.