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Digital Manga President Comments on Kickstarter Reward Delay

Digital Manga, Inc. president Hikaru Sasahara posted a message about the company's active Kickstarter projects on Monday, apologizing for the delay and promising to fulfill all Kickstarter rewards.

"I am here to pledge that we will do our very best to fulfill our obligation and deliver your books and rewards as soon as we practically can," Sasahara said. "You will be seeing all of your campaigned books / rewards coming to your door slowly but steadily in the near future."

Digital Manga's funded Kickstarter projects that have yet to ship rewards include a print release of Delico Psyche yaoi titles (funded May 2017), a localization of Osamu Tezuka's Wonder 3 and other manga (funded March 2017), a localization of Kaworu Watashiya's Kodomo no Jikan manga (funded July 2016), and a re-localization of Izumi Matsumoto's Kimagure Orange Road manga (funded May 2016).

Sasahara explained, "Due to the fact that our Kickstarter-driven manga publishing was an unexplored project, that none of us had ever challenged before, we encountered multiple problems and difficulties that we could not fully foresee." He also noted that the company's financial situation has "weakened" after devoting resources to each campaign.

Digital Manga has been running Kickstarter campaigns to publish manga, primarily its catalog of Osamu Tezuka titles, since 2011. The company has run 16 successful campaigns, including the four listed above, and three unsuccessful campaigns. Backers have reported receiving rewards for the company's Under the Air campaign, which was funded in November 2016, after Kimagure Orange Road and Kodomo no Jikan.

For the Kimagure Orange Road campaign in particular, Sasahara reiterated that artist Matsumoto has been unable to sign shikishi boards and other backer rewards due to his medical condition. The company first shared this update in November 2016.

ANN reached out to Digital Manga about the status of its Kickstarter campaigns earlier this month, but did not receive a response.

Sasahara's full message is below:

Dear all our Kickstarter backers,

First of all, please accept my sincere apology for causing such a considerable delay in fulfilling your books and rewards. Since you put a lot of trust in Digital Manga when you pledged for this campaign, my heart truly aches. Due to the fact that our Kickstarter-driven manga publishing was an unexplored project, that none of us had ever challenged before, we encountered multiple problems and difficulties that we could not fully foresee. In regards to Kimagure Orange Road, we never would have expected for Matsumoto-sensei to be struck down by his life-threatening illness while the campaign was still ongoing and we ended up not being able to obtain his hand-drawn shikishi and other exclusive reward items as we had initially planned. Being, also, responsive to the needs and requests of all the backers, we have put a significant amount of our own resources into each campaign and that in turn has made our financial situation weakened.

Despite of all of the above, I am here to pledge that we will do our very best to fulfill our obligation and deliver your books and rewards as soon as we practically can. You will be seeing all of your campaigned books / rewards coming to your door slowly but steadily in the near future.

Thank you very again for your continuing support.

Sincerely,

Hikaru Sasahara
President
Digital Manga, Inc.

[Via Manga News USA]