Forum - View topicNEWS: Digital Manga President Comments on Kickstarter Reward Delay
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catbot158
 Posts: 232 Location: United States |
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As one of the backers for the Kimagure campaign, I can at least say that we waited 30 years for this manga. A few more years isn't going to hurt.
Although I'm not sure how much longer I can wait tbh. It has been two years now...it might be rough trying to get some of the more exclusive items, but it shouldn't be this long of a wait for the smaller rewards. |
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Idgal
Posts: 169 |
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I supported some of their kickstarters and can say I might not do so again. Their problem is that they can't fulfill any of the recent projects before starting another one. All the staff members keep leaving also, i think 2 of the projects I supported, there was like 4 staffs changes, hence the delay updates.
They just have bad operations. |
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razisgosu
Posts: 657 |
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I'm calling this nothing more than a PR stunt. He's probably had some unpleasant visits as i know some people from the Kodomo no Jikan kickstarter have been reporting the company to authorities for fraud and scam activities. Or maybe the swarm of bad comments on various social media sites has finally got to the point he wants to try and save some face.
I'll certainly tell them good job if I get my products, but i am sincerely doubtful at this point. |
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wastrel
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Cynical translation: "Please don't sue us until I have time to hide what little money is left and disappear."
As a contributor to one of their Kickstarter projects, I no longer expect to receive a damn thing from them, nor do I expect a refund. This won't be the first Kickstarter I've chipped into that failed, but it will be the most expensive for me personally. Although even in my cynicism, I don't think they set out for this to be some sort of a scam. I think they just had a multitude of bad business decisions finally catch up to them. I expect them to be in bankruptcy court fairly soon. I'd love to be wrong, though, and get all my stuff, and see them go on to a glorious future. I just won't be holding my breath. |
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Utsuro no Hako
Posts: 1034 |
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Kickstarter has nothing to do with them dropping series after a couple of volumes, or their shoddy ebook formatting (why call themselves DIGITAL Manga if they don't know how to handle the digital part?) And even with KS being a new experience for them, common sense should've told them to use the the crowdfunding to finance a full print run that could be distributed to bookstores instead of making products exclusive to backers.[/url] |
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Mewzard
Posts: 186 |
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I've backed six of their Osamu Tezuka kickstarters, from Ludwig B on, and have received the stuff from five of them. Just waiting for the Wonder 3 Kickstarter, which I was the first person to back, and went in quite heavily on.
After that one Crater Kickstarter from another group failed me, DM fulfilled all their stuff to me, even got me a copy of the Crater that I waited for four years for...I'm willing to give them a few months to see if they can deliver on their promises. Even though my first ever KS backing failed me completely, nothing else since then has. I'll hold out hope for a bit longer if nothing else. |
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R. Kasahara
 Posts: 655 |
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It's been funny seeing the range of responses to the message in the different Kickstarters, from the Tezuka backers just relieved to hear something, to the KOR backers all but calling for blood. Only currently waiting on the Wonder 3 Kickstarter rewards myself, thankfully. If they do as good a job with those as the Under the Air campaign books, I'll be happy, though I'd still be reluctant to back any project of theirs ever again.
Given these updates and the recent rumors about DMP's finances, my guess is that they do have books ready to print, but no money to, y'know, actually get them printed. At least 2/3 of KOR is supposedly printed, but apparently they've been reluctant to get even those out to people. I'm a very patient person, so I'm fine with waiting a little longer, but more frequent and detailed updates in the future would be appreciated. Not holding my breath, though... |
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Loveless100
 Posts: 82 |
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I supported the Psyche Delico KS. I got the small items (keychains, printed bookmarks and w/e) at Yaoi-Con, but otherwise about half of the books are still being translated from the update we got before this one. I wonder what Psyche Delico and the rest of the BL industry in Japan think about this...curious if anyone has alerted them of these issues from the fan side.
I've written this KS off as a loss and don't really expect it at this point, but what I'm more disappointed on is what I assume is the loss of Yaoi-Con, which they took control over from another group. It was a fun targeted event that was pretty chill, but since the majority of the con was run by DMP related folks, there's basically no staff to take it over. The funding is basically gone from what I can see. |
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TsukasaElkKite
 Posts: 3950 |
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I’m honestly doubting that they’re gonna send us anything and just take our money and run. Which really sucks because I put quite a nice chunk of change into two campaigns that they haven’t fulfilled yet.
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Mewzard
Posts: 186 |
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I genuinely don't think they're the "take your money and run" group. Their first Tezuka Kickstarter was put out in late 2011, and they've done over a dozen Kickstarters since then. Until their financial issues came in, they were pretty consistent in releasing the books eventually (more and more started getting delayed, which in hindsight is probably a sign they were struggling). I imagine either A, they'll get us our books, or B, their financial status will end up so poor they just can't do it and will have to go full bankruptcy. Obviously, I'm hoping for A. |
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AJ (LordNikon)
 Posts: 504 Location: Kyoto |
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The only thing I hate more than upstarts who can get a loan, beg for free money from people is when large established companies with access to credit and finance beg for money. In this case, I assume Digital Media is more along the liens of an upstart.
TBH (as my grandson loves to type), I have never heard of them, and their Wiki page looks like it was written by someone from the company itself so I can't really tell who these guys are. But, from what I can tell from a Google search and about fifteen minutes of research, I likely would not have had the confidence to invest in them as anything other than a sympathy donation with zero exception of any ROI. To be frank, for those who think crowdfunding is just anther e-commerce or storefront for purchasing products, I feel bad for ya, but this is no surprise at all. |
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Nadare Xizos
 Posts: 115 Location: The Heero Hole |
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As another Psyche Delico KS backer, I'm willing to give DMP the benefit of the doubt. I've waited this long, I can stand to wait a bit longer. But if they're having that much trouble getting these projects finished, DMP really should take a step back and reevaluate where the company is heading, or whether they even have a future. It's sad since they started a pretty strong contender in the market.
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katscradle
Posts: 469 |
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I’ve talked about Digital Manga and their bad business practices, disappointing books, and mistakes or failures in proper due diligence with Kickstarter projects more times than I can count.
This statement while needed, was classic in shifting blame.
This was the last one I blessedly backed. DMP started shipping in July 2017 but, still haven’t finished shipping to all backers of Under the Air. Nor given updates about it in five months. So if anybody wants to know what Sasahara means by "slowly but steadily". It also speaks volumes to me that the Tezuka projects are further along and that Sasahara also responded to a concerned Tezuka backer over a week before making a statement in updates. It’s a shame DMI manage to license some good titles. But, then I also wonder who would bring over some of those if they didn’t. 
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Triltaison
 Posts: 724 |
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They're not really an upstart at this point. They've been around for well over a decade, and I remember first purchasing their books in Borders and Barnes and Noble circa 2005 (so they printed enough to be stocked in major booksellers even then). Lately, they've been weirdly focusing on doing Kickstarters, but they didn't really have a whole lot of issues until 2016 beyond the slight delay. So they had a lot of good faith and do produce a decent quality physical product, but this total dropping of the ball is relatively new. You used to be able to rely on getting the KS book(s), but just probably not on time as the years went on. This current state is quite unsettling, though. I definitely breathed a sigh of relief when my Crater shipment came in belatedly at the end of September. I'm still in it for the Wonder 3 campaign, but I am REALLY glad I decided to hold off on KOR at the time. I just hope they actually keep us updated on what's happening now that a magnifying glass is being shined on them. |
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NeoStrayCat
 Posts: 610 |
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Speaking of Cons however, they're not even listed as exhibitors for AX 2018. Neither their imprints too (like June Manga and others). I do have my AX program guide from 2017 and they're listed there. Not this year, of course. (Unless otherwise noted.) http://www.anime-expo.org/explore/exhibitors/ |
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