Japanese government-related organization JETRO (Japan External Trade Organization) is pleased to announce that they will be launching several crowdfunding projects to support Japanese anime production. This project will be a collaboration with Kickstarter that aims to bring Japanese anime to the world.
More and more OTT platforms are exploding, such as Amazon Prime, Disney+, and Netflix. This is one of the reasons the popularity of Japanese animation has increased substantially over the past years, even in the middle of the pandemic.
The Association of Japanese Animations estimated that the overseas market of Japanese animation had reached $10 billion in ten years, having expanded to over $7.6 billion.
To further bring unique and fun Japanese animation to the world, the Japanese government-related organization JETRO has initiated a project to support the launch of crowdfunding projects for animation production by Japanese animation studios. This will be accomplished through the help of Kickstarter.
This time, five (5) studios will launch their project on the crowdfunding platform from January 10 to February 13, 2023.
With this crowdfunding project, JETRO strives to raise support for every production of anime studios and thus establish a fan community exclusive to Japanese anime.
Five of the participating studios include STUDIO4℃ “Future Kid Takara,” Public Arts “Hana, The Last Diviner,” Picona “SAMURAI PIRATES,” Gorilla “The Top Loft,” and EKURA ANIMAL “Heike Monogatari Emaki.”
“Future Kid Takara” is the upcoming Japanese CGI animation movie produced and created by STUDIO4℃. While it’s still in the early phases, the studio film envisions it to be a rip-roaring time-traveling adventure intended for both adults and families alike.
To get the ball rolling, they have made their Kickstarter campaign to crowdfund the making of at least 15 seconds pilot clips and create and operate a fan community for the studio to share the film’s progress with fans.
Public Arts’ “Hana, The Last Diviner” is an eight-part anime series produced by Hiroki Taniguchi and animated by Ekura Animal. It tells Hana’s story, a self-taught “onmyoji” diviner making her way through the Meiji Restoration. Public Arts wish to crowdfund a two-minute pilot through Kickstarter and use it to market the series and collect funding for the 8 x 22 minutes episodes.
PICONA is an anime studio teaming up with a Canadian animation studio to co-produce a new anime for children featuring the “Samurai Pirates,” a girl’s pop group who have the capability to heal the hearts of monsters with dance and song performances.
Funders have been secured on their Canadian side, but the studio is struggling to get funds in Japan, where the industry is hesitant to take risks on new and unproven concepts such as Samurai Project. This is the reason for their Kickstarter campaign launch.
Meanwhile, Gorilla’s “The Top Loft” is a moving picture book for young children that will teach them how to problem, think, solve, and act on their own. It will be a story that children can easily go back to as they grow up, a reminder of the unique happiness found when playing as a kid.
So far, they have spent years planning and designing the characters, world, and storyline. But Gorilla’s goal is to create a 26-episode animated TV series.
Finally, Ekura Animal needs their supporters’ help to support their new animation project. Their studio has worked on various anime throughout the years, but now, they wish to try something different. They have partnered with a renowned artist famous for intricate cutout artwork to bring his collection of about 80 scenes from the “Heiki Monogatari Emaki” to life.
All five animation projects of the corresponding anime studios will be put on kickstarter.com/film on January 10, 2023.
