Anime Limited Start Mai Mai Miracle Kickstarter for English Language Release
- Thread starter Just Passing Through
- Start date
jonno394
Za Warudo
Re: Anime Limited Start Mai Mai Miracle Kickstarter for Engl
Currently at just over $28k, it's moved fast.
hopefully Andrew and Co have an update ready for when they pass the $30k mark. The thing with kickstarters is to mantain the interest over a prolonged period of time to raise as much as possible. Regular and timely updates as well as additions of stretch targets etc will only see this become an even bigger success.
Even if the crowd funding details aren't nailed down yet, an update is needed as son as the $30k is reached, even if it is only to thank backers and advise when more information will be forthcoming.
Currently at just over $28k, it's moved fast.
hopefully Andrew and Co have an update ready for when they pass the $30k mark. The thing with kickstarters is to mantain the interest over a prolonged period of time to raise as much as possible. Regular and timely updates as well as additions of stretch targets etc will only see this become an even bigger success.
Even if the crowd funding details aren't nailed down yet, an update is needed as son as the $30k is reached, even if it is only to thank backers and advise when more information will be forthcoming.
st_owly (witch)
Time-Traveller
Re: Anime Limited Start Mai Mai Miracle Kickstarter for Engl
I pledged $55. Missed the $45 mark as I was at work. I'd like the artbook but I just can't afford $130.
I pledged $55. Missed the $45 mark as I was at work. I'd like the artbook but I just can't afford $130.
Re: Anime Limited Start Mai Mai Miracle Kickstarter for Engl
I picked the $55 one since I probably won't have the cash for the $130 artwork edition. Surprised kickstarters are paid via Amazon.
I picked the $55 one since I probably won't have the cash for the $130 artwork edition. Surprised kickstarters are paid via Amazon.
jonno394
Za Warudo
Re: Anime Limited Start Mai Mai Miracle Kickstarter for Engl
TARGET REACHED! and also Andrew updated the kickstarter:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/al ... acle/posts
The first stretch goal is a dub and it needs to get to $60k to do that. Kinda sad that we didn't get the option of what to go for first especially as they detailed it as "crowd producing" so we'd get a say in what we wanted, but alas
edit - my mistake I misread the kickstarter anyway, this point has been there all along.
If it fails to get to $60k I wonder if we'll get to have a say on what they do with the extra money?
TARGET REACHED! and also Andrew updated the kickstarter:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/al ... acle/posts
The first stretch goal is a dub and it needs to get to $60k to do that. Kinda sad that we didn't get the option of what to go for first especially as they detailed it as "crowd producing" so we'd get a say in what we wanted, but alas
edit - my mistake I misread the kickstarter anyway, this point has been there all along.
If it fails to get to $60k I wonder if we'll get to have a say on what they do with the extra money?
Re: Anime Limited Start Mai Mai Miracle Kickstarter for Engl
I actually said to andrew on twitter than i had a feeling it could hit it's original target within 24 hours and i was right. It's quite the achievement. I hope they do manage to hit their stretch goals as well, so will be interesting to follow this as things continue.
I actually said to andrew on twitter than i had a feeling it could hit it's original target within 24 hours and i was right. It's quite the achievement. I hope they do manage to hit their stretch goals as well, so will be interesting to follow this as things continue.
Genkina Hito
映画男！！！
Re: Anime Limited Start Mai Mai Miracle Kickstarter for Engl
Great news. It would be nice if the project broke $60,000. Even better is if the project gets 1,000 backers because then people who paid $45 and higher get the digital tier as well!
Great news. It would be nice if the project broke $60,000. Even better is if the project gets 1,000 backers because then people who paid $45 and higher get the digital tier as well!
jonno394
Za Warudo
Re: Anime Limited Start Mai Mai Miracle Kickstarter for Engl
So it's just ticked over $50k. Slowly making its way to the first stretch goal.
AL have updated with a post about teh artbook, it sounds rather good, deliberating upping my pledge
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/al ... acle/posts
So it's just ticked over $50k. Slowly making its way to the first stretch goal.
AL have updated with a post about teh artbook, it sounds rather good, deliberating upping my pledge
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/al ... acle/posts
We have had a number of questions about the Mai Mai Miracle Kickstarter Artbook so we thought we'd do an update answering your questions.
The biggest question about the artbook seems to be: what is the quality going to be like? Is it worth backing the $130 tier? In a word: YES! The artbook will be a 200 page hardback coffee table book unique to this Kickstarter campaign. With a ton of content and art already signed off, Katabuchi-san himself will be playing a big part in the design, layout and content selection of the artbook.
As for the quality itself, it'll be high. To demonstrate this, we've put together some images of an existing artbook by one of our favourite artists (you should check her out at http://www.naniiebim.co.uk/). We were so impressed with the quality of the book that we contacted the printers directly and, after discussions, decided that the Mai Mai Miracle Kickstarter Artbook could not be in safer hands.
What will the artbook be like?
It'll be hardback, similar to the one below with more colour and less spot UV. A solid spine and stitched binding - so you know it'll last. Scenes from the film, character design, line art and more will be included in the book - details have yet to be worked out but really a lot of it will be down to the director himself. Needless to say, we can guarantee a superb quality artbook well worth your pledge.
Have a look at the images below for a better, more practical idea of what the Mai Mai Miracle Artbook will be like
Re: Anime Limited Start Mai Mai Miracle Kickstarter for Engl
I don't accept that. If the ultra-niche T&A titles get dubbed and released here without having the few fans that would actually buy it paying for it to be released before hand with a "kickstarter" then there's no reason a title that is clearly for general audiences just like a Studio Ghibli film would be any higher a risk of not being profitable to licence and release with a dub as well. I'm starting to see a pattern with this concept of crowd-funding, or kickstarter and I don't like it not one bit. It's a common standard that if a craftsman want people to buy their craft, they make the product first to the best of their ability to persuade people that it's worth buying in the first place. That's worked for thousands of years and I'm not about to change to pay-now-for-pie-tomorrow.britguy said:
Ath
Pokémon Master
Re: Anime Limited Start Mai Mai Miracle Kickstarter for Engl
It's an interesting case. I really do believe that crowdfunding has made a positive impact. There are definitely examples of things that would not exist without Kickstarter, because companies have just become so risk-averse nowadays when it comes to producing entertainment. With so much content available to us nowadays, it's becoming more and more the case that being a well made product isn't enough to make financial sense any more. It's either got to have incredible mass appeal (which can result in samey, safe stuff), or it's got to be low budget enough that it can target a niche and still make a profit.
That being said, I think it is incredibly important to maintain a healthy dose of scepticism when it comes to Kickstarter and crowdfunding in general. After all, we take a bigger than usual financial risk when backing a project. I treat every single crowdfunding project as a sales pitch, looking at both the people involved and the way they present themselves. If they're not convincing to me then I won't back it, even if the final product could be quite appealing.
In this case, Anime Limited presented themselves very well, have clearly laid out why they're using Kickstarter (to offer Mai Mai Miracle to a wider possible audience by including the USA, which will enable them to offer a more premium product), the $45 pledge level was in my range, and I trust them to deliver it based on their track record. This made backing it a fairly easy decision. However, I didn't back Little Witch Academia 2, even though I liked the original and would like a sequel. I thought Trigger's Kickstarter pitch was poor and I thought the rewards for pledging weren't worth the money to me.
Ultimately, I can totally understand why you'd dislike crowdfunding Mohawk. It is a much bigger risk to us, and it can often go very very wrong. It definitely has considerable benefits when it does work though, and it provides an intriguing alternative financial model.
It's an interesting case. I really do believe that crowdfunding has made a positive impact. There are definitely examples of things that would not exist without Kickstarter, because companies have just become so risk-averse nowadays when it comes to producing entertainment. With so much content available to us nowadays, it's becoming more and more the case that being a well made product isn't enough to make financial sense any more. It's either got to have incredible mass appeal (which can result in samey, safe stuff), or it's got to be low budget enough that it can target a niche and still make a profit.
That being said, I think it is incredibly important to maintain a healthy dose of scepticism when it comes to Kickstarter and crowdfunding in general. After all, we take a bigger than usual financial risk when backing a project. I treat every single crowdfunding project as a sales pitch, looking at both the people involved and the way they present themselves. If they're not convincing to me then I won't back it, even if the final product could be quite appealing.
In this case, Anime Limited presented themselves very well, have clearly laid out why they're using Kickstarter (to offer Mai Mai Miracle to a wider possible audience by including the USA, which will enable them to offer a more premium product), the $45 pledge level was in my range, and I trust them to deliver it based on their track record. This made backing it a fairly easy decision. However, I didn't back Little Witch Academia 2, even though I liked the original and would like a sequel. I thought Trigger's Kickstarter pitch was poor and I thought the rewards for pledging weren't worth the money to me.
Ultimately, I can totally understand why you'd dislike crowdfunding Mohawk. It is a much bigger risk to us, and it can often go very very wrong. It definitely has considerable benefits when it does work though, and it provides an intriguing alternative financial model.
Re: Anime Limited Start Mai Mai Miracle Kickstarter for Engl
You just summed up my thoughts in a much, much fancier sounding way. I also didn't back Little Witch Academia 2 because to be honest, I enjoyed the first one but didn't really think it was anything remarkable.Ath said:
Re: Anime Limited Start Mai Mai Miracle Kickstarter for Engl
If we consider the current state of the anime industry, where sub-only is on its way to becoming the standard (even Funimation, staunch dub supporters, are now exploring the model), this kind of thing is probably the only way a lot of titles are going to get dubs. While I think families can and should enjoy MMM it's rather 'Japanese' in feel and doesn't come with the same Studio Ghibli name recognition - hardly anyone in the west has even been talking about it before now. It's unlikely it would get the same penetration as Miyazaki's hits if they took a gamble and put up the money for a dub in advance.
Now, this sea change doesn't bother me as I don't watch dubs anyway and neither do any of my friends. But I know it does upset a lot of other fans who have to either pass on anything that isn't projected to be a hit or put up with watching it in a way they don't find ideal. The Kickstarter model is really interesting because it means these titles which, traditionally, wouldn't ever have made it over here at all can now be given an all-singing, all-dancing dual language release (and on BD to boot) so that any English-speaking fan, whatever their preference, can enjoy the movie in the way they think is best.
The problem with traditional distribution here is that there isn't much opportunity for fans who really, really like something to support it (other than writing the distributor a cheque after they've announced an acquisition, and that won't help much with actual production as the UK studios rarely actually do anything other than rebadge foreign releases). With Japanese releases, you get regular people buying stuff and then you get the wealthier fans who really love a particular title pouring small fortunes into merchandise, events and the like. We've never had much success with that model over here when it comes to anime, so even the most ardent fan of a series can't do much more than preorder a disc and pay the full price on release. I sometimes see UK fans saying things like "Oh! Company X licensed my favourite show! I'm going to give them so much money!" when actually, they're only going to give Company X whatever small percentage goes back to them after the costs are deducted from the £25 they paid for it on Amazon. I should think that the streaming situation and contraction of the dub market over in the US would mean that finding new ways to get a shrinking number of people to voluntarily pay more for their anime is important - and that's something Kickstarter is very effective at doing. Many people seem to prefer the flexibility of the Kickstarter model to the unpopular (but undoubtedly successful) limited edition model that companies such as Aniplex USA have been reintroducing.
I'm happy to back this kind of project as everyone benefits: people like me get a BD, dub fans get to pick up a dubbed version one day and watch it with their families, the Japanese studios see that there's overseas demand for niche titles and Andrew gets to give the film a good release so people can check it out later on. There's certainly validity in an argument that money is being diverted into placed it oughtn't (like to Kickstarter or to trinkets that won't benefit a wider audience) and there are a lot of Kickstarters out there made by lazy wannabes trying to get people to fund vanity projects which will never amount to anything. Here though, they've already made the movie, allocated the rights and done their homework. We're just telling them that we want it to get a really nice release.
R
If we consider the current state of the anime industry, where sub-only is on its way to becoming the standard (even Funimation, staunch dub supporters, are now exploring the model), this kind of thing is probably the only way a lot of titles are going to get dubs. While I think families can and should enjoy MMM it's rather 'Japanese' in feel and doesn't come with the same Studio Ghibli name recognition - hardly anyone in the west has even been talking about it before now. It's unlikely it would get the same penetration as Miyazaki's hits if they took a gamble and put up the money for a dub in advance.
Now, this sea change doesn't bother me as I don't watch dubs anyway and neither do any of my friends. But I know it does upset a lot of other fans who have to either pass on anything that isn't projected to be a hit or put up with watching it in a way they don't find ideal. The Kickstarter model is really interesting because it means these titles which, traditionally, wouldn't ever have made it over here at all can now be given an all-singing, all-dancing dual language release (and on BD to boot) so that any English-speaking fan, whatever their preference, can enjoy the movie in the way they think is best.
The problem with traditional distribution here is that there isn't much opportunity for fans who really, really like something to support it (other than writing the distributor a cheque after they've announced an acquisition, and that won't help much with actual production as the UK studios rarely actually do anything other than rebadge foreign releases). With Japanese releases, you get regular people buying stuff and then you get the wealthier fans who really love a particular title pouring small fortunes into merchandise, events and the like. We've never had much success with that model over here when it comes to anime, so even the most ardent fan of a series can't do much more than preorder a disc and pay the full price on release. I sometimes see UK fans saying things like "Oh! Company X licensed my favourite show! I'm going to give them so much money!" when actually, they're only going to give Company X whatever small percentage goes back to them after the costs are deducted from the £25 they paid for it on Amazon. I should think that the streaming situation and contraction of the dub market over in the US would mean that finding new ways to get a shrinking number of people to voluntarily pay more for their anime is important - and that's something Kickstarter is very effective at doing. Many people seem to prefer the flexibility of the Kickstarter model to the unpopular (but undoubtedly successful) limited edition model that companies such as Aniplex USA have been reintroducing.
I'm happy to back this kind of project as everyone benefits: people like me get a BD, dub fans get to pick up a dubbed version one day and watch it with their families, the Japanese studios see that there's overseas demand for niche titles and Andrew gets to give the film a good release so people can check it out later on. There's certainly validity in an argument that money is being diverted into placed it oughtn't (like to Kickstarter or to trinkets that won't benefit a wider audience) and there are a lot of Kickstarters out there made by lazy wannabes trying to get people to fund vanity projects which will never amount to anything. Here though, they've already made the movie, allocated the rights and done their homework. We're just telling them that we want it to get a really nice release.
R
Re: Anime Limited Start Mai Mai Miracle Kickstarter for Engl
Fine. You guy's pay for it to be made, I'll pay for it when it's released and I like it enough to part brass for it. Everyone's a happy winner. Trouble is for Andrew I'll only have paid for it once, if at all, not twice and at a higher cost with no share of the profit, but complete loss if it crashes and burns. If this is the future of anime in the world, then I'm afraid it's doomed to relegation back to just Japan and fansubs. What goes round comes round.
Fine. You guy's pay for it to be made, I'll pay for it when it's released and I like it enough to part brass for it. Everyone's a happy winner. Trouble is for Andrew I'll only have paid for it once, if at all, not twice and at a higher cost with no share of the profit, but complete loss if it crashes and burns. If this is the future of anime in the world, then I'm afraid it's doomed to relegation back to just Japan and fansubs. What goes round comes round.
Re: Anime Limited Start Mai Mai Miracle Kickstarter for Engl
As long as releases are available via other means and being run by an distributor company - I don't mind releases being available from Kickstarter first. What I don't want is the more 'mainstream' titles being limited to a KS release only.
As long as releases are available via other means and being run by an distributor company - I don't mind releases being available from Kickstarter first. What I don't want is the more 'mainstream' titles being limited to a KS release only.
kuuderes_shadow
Thousand Master
Re: Anime Limited Start Mai Mai Miracle Kickstarter for Engl
What makes you think that people are paying for it twice? You pay once in the kickstarter and get the item. And if the product isn't funded you don't pay a thing.
It's just like a super-advanced preorder.
Mohawk52 said:
What makes you think that people are paying for it twice? You pay once in the kickstarter and get the item. And if the product isn't funded you don't pay a thing.
It's just like a super-advanced preorder.
jonno394
Za Warudo
Re: Anime Limited Start Mai Mai Miracle Kickstarter for Engl
I don't think there's any risk of the latter happening. I think the reasoning behind this we have a small company (AL) trying to release something in a massive market that they haven't tried before (America) and that is where the funding requirement is coming from. I highly doubt Anime Limited will get many licenses where they can distribute in America so perhaps this may well be a one off. The mainstream titles will probably be picked up and handled by one of the big american companies, and then AL will sublicense from them.
reborn said:
I don't think there's any risk of the latter happening. I think the reasoning behind this we have a small company (AL) trying to release something in a massive market that they haven't tried before (America) and that is where the funding requirement is coming from. I highly doubt Anime Limited will get many licenses where they can distribute in America so perhaps this may well be a one off. The mainstream titles will probably be picked up and handled by one of the big american companies, and then AL will sublicense from them.
Re: Anime Limited Start Mai Mai Miracle Kickstarter for Engl
Wait, are you saying no money is actually given, that it's just a pledge to give an amount of money if and when the product is released, like a pre-order? If no money is actually given how can Andrew go to a studio and commission a dub with just a pledge that he will have the money to pay for it when it's finished and everyone actually gives the money. ? Seems a bit dogey that, and if I was a studio rep hearing that proposal given to me I'd be raising an eyebrow, and maybe requesting that more sustained liquidity was established firstly before any contract was signed.kuuderes_shadow said: