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Pied Piper Licenses Skip Beat! Anime, Plans Crowdfunding for Release With English Dub

Pied Piper, Inc. (Time of Eve) announced on Tuesday that it has acquired the North American home video rights for the Skip Beat! television anime series. The company plans to run an Indiegogo campaign from March 1 through March 31 to fund the release on both DVD and Blu-ray.

The campaign's goal is US$210,000 for localization costs, including a basic English dub. The company has also set stretch goals to enhance the quality of the English dub by bringing notable voice actors, ADR directors, and scriptwriters on board. Stretch goals also include behind-the-scenes videos.

Voice actors Mela Lee, Cristina Vee, and Jason C. Miller are producing the English dub.

Pied Piper describes the series:

In the 25-episode shojo series, 16-year-old Kyoko Mogami is devastated to learn that her long-time crush Sho Fuwa has been using her as a servant while he waltzes to stardom. She vows to beat him at his own game and joins a rival talent agency, and in the process transforms from a docile people-pleaser to ingenious creative talent. The anime's riveting story arcs include Kyoko's discovery of friendship with fellow actress Kanae (“Moko”) Kotonami and her tumultuous relationship with romance-challenged star Ren Tsuruga, who slowly leads her away from revenge and returns her to the path of love.

The television version of Yoshiki Nakamura's Skip Beat! shōjo manga premiered in Japan in October 2008. The series is available streaming on Crunchyroll. Viz Media publishes the original manga in North America.

In 2013, Pied Piper collaborated with Directions and Studio Rikka to successfully run a Kickstarter for a Blu-ray release of the Time of Eve anime film. The project earned US$215,433 in total, 1,196% of the original funding goal and enough to fund an English dub produced at NYAV Post.

Update: Pied Piper opened an Indiegogo page accepting e-mails prior to the campaign's launch. Thanks, meruru.