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Future Kid Takara, 'Hana, The Last Diviner' JETRO Collaboration Anime Projects Reach Kickstarter Goals

Studio 4°C's Future Kid Takara and Hiroki Taniguchi's Hana, The Last Diviner JETRO (the Japan External Trade Organization) collaboration anime projects ended their crowdfunding campaigns on Monday having reached their Kickstarter goals. Ekura Animal's Heike Monogatari Emaki cutout-style animation, Picona's Samurai Pirates children's anime, and Gorilla's The Top Loft anime ended their campaigns short of their respective US$22,896, US$76,327, and US$34,805 goals.

Studio 4°C announced the original anime film temporarily titled Future Kid Takara on January 1. The Kickstarter campaign launched on January 10 with a goal of 3,000,000 yen (US$23,097). 196 backers pledged 3,323,185 yen (US$25,141) to the campaign by the time it concluded. The proceeds from the Kickstarter campaign will fund a pilot video and help build a fan community for fans to share in the project. Studio 4°C stated investment in the film is steadily increasing, but it hopes to use the pilot video to better persuade investors.

Yuta Sano (Berserk: The Golden Age Arc - Memorial Edition, RedAsh -GEARWORLD-) is directing the film at Studio 4°C. Shinji Kimura (art director for Blood Blockade Battlefront, Dorohedoro, Tekkonkinkreet) is designing the original characters and is also in charge of worldview design. Author and climate documentarian Kyoko Gendatsu is the project adviser, and environmental scientist Seita Emori is the science adviser. Writer Yūya Takashima (Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin, Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch From Mercury) is the sci-fi supervisor. Shun Hasegawa is the animation producer and Eiko Tanaka is the producer.

The film will tackle the theme of global warming, and Studio 4°C is taking steps to reduce its carbon emissions in the production of the film. The studio cites the Sixth Assessment Report of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which has stated that it is only possible to avoid a warming of 1.5°C if the world acts fast with massive changes.

Studio 4°C plans to open the film in 2025, which it considers an important time where it is the "last chance to protect our Earth." Studio 4°C stated it wants to help people to understand the crisis not through a textbook approach, but through the approach of an animated film.

The family-oriented adventure film takes place in a dystopian future and centers on a young boy named Takara. A girl from the present named Sera travels through time to the year 2100, and she and Takara must survive the world of the future where global warming has wreaked havoc on the planet.

The Kickstarter campaign for creator Hiroki Taniguchi's Hana, The Last Diviner anime project launched on January 10 with a goal of 500,000 yen (US$3,849). 50 backers pledged 606,848 yen (US$4,591) to the campaign by the time it concluded. The campaign will fund a two-minute anime pilot episode that can be used to pitch and promote the series.

The eight-part action fantasy anime plans to tell the story of Hana, who is a self-taught onmyoji during Japan's Meiji Restoration. Taniguchi will produce the work and Ekura Animal will animate the work. Toshiyuki Honda will be the chief animator.

Pre-production for the project will begin this month and the team plans to begin final editing in July 2023. The pilot is slated to be completed in September 2023 at the same time as the delivery of the Kickstarter rewards.

Source: Kickstarter (link 2, link 3, link 4, link 5)