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Answerman - Why Aren't There More Classic Anime Kickstarters?

But when companies start leaning on Kickstarter as their main method of publishing/ gauging interest/ funding, then I start to get concerned about the companies future.

With other words: International crowdfunding is possible IF you have the region rights for it.

Kickstarting an entire anime production isn't exactly feasible. Under the Dog kind of proved that way too much money is required to get even one episode funded, let alone a movie.

TheMorry wrote:

If Funimation just started creating a new dub and none was interrested in it then they throw away a lot of money if the sales failed. With this they basicly had people preordering it. I really dont understand people like you having a problem with it.

I know that classic Sailor Moon is a way bigger title than Escaflowne, but Viz decided to create a new dub for a 200 episodes show that first aired 24 years ago without a Kickstarter.

Funimation fooled fans with their Escaflowne Kickstarter. And because of that I am kind of glad that Funimation is not having a fun time fulfilling the rewards for it.

I bet Funimation will start a kickstarter for banner of the stars 1 and 2 + crest of the stars. Because the current dub is just so bad while the anime itself is amazing. I think somewhere in 2017 Funimation will start a KS funding campain.

Gauge. They wanted to gauge interest.

angelmcazares wrote:

TheMorry wrote: If Funimation just started creating a new dub and none was interrested in it then they throw away a lot of money if the sales failed. With this they basicly had people preordering it. I really dont understand people like you having a problem with it. I know that classic Sailor Moon is a way bigger title than Escaflowne, but Viz decided to create a new dub for a 200 episodes show that first aired 24 years ago without a Kickstarter. Funimation fooled fans with their Escaflowne Kickstarter. And because of that I am kind of glad that Funimation is not having a fun time fulfilling the rewards for it.

I think that's the answer right there. Sailor Moon is extremely bigger than Escaflowne, and on top of that Viz has a brand new Sailor Moon Crystal to piggyback it together with. Escaflowne is old and has nothing new in the works and didn't run nearly as successfully on US TV. If they had planned on using the old Bandai dub, which they said became difficult with the new blu-ray remastered materials, then they probably would have done just a normal release, whereas making the new dub they needed to know if the show was still "hot" enough.

I don't see how they fooled anybody. Though it's true they should have posted a Kickstarter update that all the DVD sets that were bonuses at some of the higher tiers were shipping separately right after the main reward sets went out. That would have been really easy since they didn't have any trouble sending out relatively regular kickstarter updates.

That was all the sort of nitty-gritty that I needed. The other big question is, of course, is the intention to get back and rerecord that dub with those actors, or are we gonna get a fresh cast?

Lauren: So we don't have a cast at this point, we're still obviously looking into that. That's something we'd really have to wait until it's funded before we start really sort of casting and testing that part out.

Kickstarting an entire anime production isn't exactly feasible. Under the Dog kind of proved that way too much money is required to get even one episode funded, let alone a movie. However, I do see a lot of potential in crowdfunded English dubs. Dubs make anime more accessible, but some series release with less than stellar dubs due to budget constraints and some don't even get dubs at all for one reason or another. Crowdfunding a dub takes all the financial burden off of the Licensor(Licensee? I always get them mixed up.) and if people are willing to throw enough money at it then higher quality dubs can be produced.

Fox Kids aside, Escaflowne wasn't an unsuccessful title in the US. It was one of Bandai's best sellers and is still a well regarded show. Its HD debut was always going to sell.

The Escaflowne Kickstarter was a fairly weak showing from Funimation, with a severe lack of transparency. In fact, I'd say if they weren't an established company, I might have thought it was a scam. Before the KS even went live, the original dub was already set to be included in the UK BD (authored by the Answerman himself), so the excuse that it wouldn't work in HD was always poor. Funimation unofficially admitted that themselves when they included the first dub as a bonus on all of their Escaflowne releases. They also promised a funding breakdown (last paragraph) that never happened during the campaign and only confirmed that they were recording the new dub internally after the project was a success. The latter might sound like a no-duh, but when the project launched they were not firm on whether they'd bring the old cast back or not:

Quote:

That was all the sort of nitty-gritty that I needed. The other big question is, of course, is the intention to get back and rerecord that dub with those actors, or are we gonna get a fresh cast? Lauren: So we don't have a cast at this point, we're still obviously looking into that. That's something we'd really have to wait until it's funded before we start really sort of casting and testing that part out.

Then two weeks later, after the campaign was successful and funding was guaranteed (Kickstarter rules mean that once you hit the basic goal pledges can't be withdrawn to make it go below), they started announcing cast members. Given they mapped actor reveals at every $10k interval, they either cast the entire show quickly, or had already begun work before the campaign went live, which meant they could've ruled out Ocean on day-1. I'm basically implying they intentionally went for plausible deniability to not hurt initial funding. I'll admit that is tinfoil hatty, but even if it is 100% conspiracy, they really should've had a cast list on day-1. The campaign was to fund a new dub and they didn't tell you who'd be making it, or who would be in it until they had a lock on the money.

Then there were the fulfillment issues ... If Funimation does another Kickstarter, I hope they've kept some notes from this one.

Nyren wrote:

Kickstarting an entire anime production isn't exactly feasible. Under the Dog kind of proved that way too much money is required to get even one episode funded, let alone a movie. However, I do see a lot of potential in crowdfunded English dubs. Dubs make anime more accessible, but some series release with less than stellar dubs due to budget constraints and some don't even get dubs at all for one reason or another. Crowdfunding a dub takes all the financial burden off of the Licensor(Licensee? I always get them mixed up.) and if people are willing to throw enough money at it then higher quality dubs can be produced.

Unfortunately, a bigger budget doesn't always equal a better dub. The Kickstarter for a Wakfu dub hit 600% of its goal, and frankly isn't very good. Though, in that case I suspect they probably severely underestimated costs.

The Escaflowne Kickstarter was a fairly weak showing from Funimation, with a severe lack of transparency. In fact, I'd say if they weren't an established company, I might have thought it was a scam. Before the KS even went live, the original dub was already set to be included in the UK BD (authored by the Answerman himself), so the excuse that it wouldn't work in HD was always poor. Funimation unofficially admitted that themselves when they included the first dub as a bonus on all of their Escaflowne releases. They also promised a funding breakdown (last paragraph) that never happened during the campaign and only confirmed that they were recording the new dub internally after the project was a success. The latter might sound like a no-duh, but when the project launched they were not firm on whether they'd bring the old cast back or not:

I think that's the answer right there. Sailor Moon is extremely bigger than Escaflowne, and on top of that Viz has a brand new Sailor Moon Crystal to piggyback it together with. Escaflowne is old and has nothing new in the works and didn't run nearly as successfully on US TV. If they had planned on using the old Bandai dub, which they said became difficult with the new blu-ray remastered materials, then they probably would have done just a normal release, whereas making the new dub they needed to know if the show was still "hot" enough.

I don't see how they fooled anybody.