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Keiichiro Kimura's 'Go! Samurai' Kickstarter Campaign Reaches Goal

Awesome Japan's Kickstarter campaign for the "Go! Samurai" animated short film by animation director Keiichiro Kimura met its goal of US$10,000 on Tuesday. As of press time, the campaign has raised US$10,256.

The campaign,launched on October 21 and has 15 days left to accept backers.

The short film will consist of approximately five minutes, or 2,000 frames, of hand-drawn pencil sketch animation drawn by Kimura. The animation will depict a wandering samurai named Kei fighting for his life against 100 enemies.

The Kickstarter page describes why crowdfunding was chosen for Go! Samurai: "If we could see how much people are willing to want to see this artistic short film, that would be the ultimate motivation for Kimura. The inspiration and motivation received from each and every backer would become the ultimate force for his pencil to move."

Kimura joined Toei Animation in 1961 and worked as animation director on films and series such as Cyborg 009 and Tiger Mask, and worked as key animator on other works such as Speed Racer, Lupin the Third, and Casshern Sins.