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Yasuhiro Irie's 'Halloween Pajama in Seattle' Anime Kickstarter Fails to Meet Goal
posted on by Rafael Antonio Pineda
Anime director Yasuhiro Irie's (Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, Scorching Ping Pong Girls, Code:Breaker) Kickstarter campaign for his "Halloween Pajama in Seattle" anime project failed to reach its 20 million yen (about US$178,600) goal on Wednesday. The campaign ended with funding of 6,598,984 yen (about US$58,600) from 501 backers, but the project is an "all or nothing" project where the campaign either reaches the goal or receives no money at all.
In an interview with Anime News Network, Irie said that if the campaign does not succeed, he will begin offering his original Halloween Pajama manga on Kindle. The manga is already available in English, Italian, and Japanese. He added that he is "not thinking about bringing the idea to any production or sponsoring company," and noted that if the Kickstarter fails, he will consider drawing more chapters of the manga.
Irie thanked backers for their help on Tuesday, and added "Next projects coming soon!! Please wait for March 2018."
The project sought to raise funding for a 20-minute anime plus opening and ending sequences. The anime would have been based on the "Halloween Pajama in Seattle: The Dream Catcher" chapter of the manga, and it was planned as a musical that would have featured the characters singing. Irie has made the manga chapter available in English on Kindle and PDF.
Irie previously ran a successful Kickstarter campaign from March to April to translate the manga into English. The campaign describes the manga:
When 10 year old Jackie O'Wisp dreams, she encounters the strangest type of people. She comes to find out that those people are wandering ghosts, still with attachments to this world who can't go to heaven. In her alter ego, Halloween Pajama, she helps see the ghosts on their way to heaven. Jackie O'Wisp eventually learns that the devil exists in the depths of the dream world, a devil which she will confront. But will she be able to overcome it?
Irie launched the manga in 2013, and has already drawn over 400 pages for the story. Irie has also been posting animated and voiced promotional videos for the manga on his YouTube channel since 2014.
Irie recently visited Seattle as a guest at this year's SakuraCon event, which took place from April 14-16.
