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Skip Beat! Anime Kickstarter Needs Final Backers

April 10, 2016

The Skip Beat! anime English dub by Pied-Piper is on its final stretch this week. The Skip Beat North American Official Release Kickstarter campaign was launched on March 17 and has less than a week to go with it ending at 10:58 am CST April 16th.

I love Skip Beat! and the biggest factor in that devotion is the main character, Kyoko. When I first started reading manga, Kyoko was a character that stood out to me because she was a strong female. The story is about her journey to find herself while working in the world of show biz. There are many relationships she develops along the way, but she is always working hard and striving to improve. She stands up for herself, and does things guts first. I love seeing that type of female character in any form of media.

I’ve been watching this campaign closely, as Skip Beat! is so dear to me. Of course I would want this anime campaign to succeed. It is surprising it has taken this long to get the anime over here, especially considering the reviews it’s gotten while running on Crunchyroll. But as Ann Yamamoto explained in her interview with Justin at the OASG, the anime was required to get an English dub in order for licensing. TV Tokyo who owned the property, is requiring the English dub as a condition of release. Although they’ve had offers for subs, no one wanted to dub it, until now.

Considering this has to be a dub, the most exciting part of the campaign has been the unveiling of the voice actors for the project. Being a backer, I have been getting emails on a daily basis the last few days as more pledges are collected. With each increase in goals, a new voice actor has been announced. As of this writing, the following voice cast has been revealed.

The reaction to announcements has been overwhelmingly positive. I was very pleased with the reveals as the cast does contain some of my favorite North American voice actors. 🙂 I’m highly anticipating the final two cast members, Maria and Kyoko. Sites like Anime News Network have continued to cover the campaign as each voice actor is listed.

The campaign goal is $155,000.00. The project already has over 1,000+ backers. Just in the couple hours I’ve been writing this the pledges have gone up $1,000, so I’m hoping this trend continues for the next few days. But it is a short few days left, and with the goal about $15,000 short as of now, I’m keeping my fingers crossed that more backers will show up and help fund this project. How about you, can you be a backer?

I feel it’s important to support this project, not only because it’s a favorite anime of myself and others, but also because it’s a chance for fans of shoujo to stand up and say, “We matter! We want our shoujo anime, too!”. Too many times licensors pass over shoujo projects because they won’t take a risk on the fan base. Excuses like, “The fan base is too small” or “The fans won’t buy it”, are things I’ve seen from consumers as well as producers of the media. I think it’s time for shoujo fans to make a point that we ARE here and we ARE willing to fund and buy our favorite media. The Skip Beat North American Official Release Kickstarter is a great way to prove to the naysayers that they are WRONG about shoujo fans.

I know, some of you are thinking, “I’m a poor student, how can I pledge my money to an anime campaign?” The question to ask then is if you would buy it if it was out on disc today. If it was in the store, would you save up for it? Ask for it for a gift? Then there’s your answer. One of the rewards of the backer pledges includes the whole 25 episode series on DVD – for a price that covers what it would cost coming from a retail store. Really, it’s just like pre-ordering your favorite anime series. 🙂 If the project doesn’t reach its goal, then you don’t pay anything. But if it does, you are guaranteed your own personal copy. If you’ve never watched it – – – wait, what’s wrong with you?!! Click yourself over to Crunchyroll and marathon the thing. IT’S THAT GOOD.

I’m hoping this post will at least convince a few more backers to show up. I really want Ann Yamamoto and Pied-Piper, Inc. to succeed!