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Himote House Anime Gets Unaired OVA Episode Through Crowdfunding
posted on by Egan Loo
The staff of the Himote House anime launched a crowdfunding campaign for an unaired original video anime (OVA) episode on Saturday, and the campaign already met its goal on Sunday. As of Monday, the campaign surpassed the 3,500,000-yen (about US$31,000) goal for "episode 10.5 at the same level of quality as the previous ones" on DVD, plus the 5,250,000-yen (about US$47,000) goal for that episode on Blu-ray Disc.
The new episode will have three parts: "Gokuburi Taiji-Kai" (The Cockroach-Extermination Episode), "Mikōkai PPP" (Unreleased PPP), and "Mikōkai Enishi to Nyarin no O-Sanpo" (Unreleased Enishi & Nyarin's Walk). The audio for "Gokuburi Taiji-Kai" was previously recorded for the anime's promotional radio program.
If the campaign raises 14 million yen (about US$125,000), the staff will ask "a certain famous animation studio" to produce the episode in "high-quality CG." If the campaign raises 35 million yen (about US$313,000), the staff will ask "a certain famous animation studio" to produce the episode with hand-drawn frames instead of CG.
The 12-episode television anime premiered on October 7 and concluded on December 23. Crunchyroll streamed the anime as it aired in Japan.
The anime's staff announced on December 17 that they changed the contents of the 12th and final episode into a flashback special. For the series finale, the staff had planned as recently as December 14 to air a regular episode with voice actor Kōichi Yamadera cast as Ibuki Himote, the Himote sisters' father who lives overseas as an archaeologist. However, instead of airing this originally planned episode, the staff aired a "Special episode! A high-profile cast reflects on three months of Himote House" as the 12th and final episode "due to production issues."
The comedy anime centers on five girls and one cat all living as housemates in Nakano, Tokyo: the three Himote sisters (Tokiyo, Kinami, and Kokoro) whose family manages the "Himote House," Kokoro's classmates Tae and Minamo, and the cat Enishi. The girls live their daily lives trying to figure out ways to be popular, and they (and the cat) all possess a mysterious secret power ….
Kōtarō Ishidate (gdgd Fairies, Tesagure! Bukatsu-mono, Naria Girls) directed the anime at the studio Bouncy, and was also credited for the original idea and series composition as well. The artist booota (Seven Senses of the Re'Union novels) designed the characters. Mikinori Suzuki (Bakuon!!, Yowamushi Pedal 3DCG animation) was credited as the animation director. Jun'ichi Inoue (Minarai Diva, Tesagure! Bukatsu-mono) and Hajime (Minarai Diva, Q Transformers: Kaettekita Convoy no Nazo) composed the music.
