The Ishibashi Brothers are ready to make their grand appearance… or get shot down again by Kyoko. Dealer’s choice.
Earlier today, Pied Piper, Inc. announced three new members of the Skip Beat! dub cast. The company revealed that Kyle McCarley (Durarara!! x2, Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans) will play Hikaru Ishibashi in the adaptation. Todd Haberkorn (Fairy Tail, Fullmetal Alchemist, Free! Iwatobi Swim Club) and Bryce Papenbrook (Attack on Titan, Sword Art Online) will play Shinichi and Yuusei, respectively.
Previously, Pied Piper unveiled the following roles:
- Kyoko Mogami: Caitlin Glass
- Sho Fuwa: Grant George
- Ren Tsuruga: Robbie Daymond
- Yukihito Yashiro: Vic Mignogna
- Kanae Kotonami: Erica Lindbeck
- Erika Koenji: Cristina Vee
- Maria Takarada: Mela Lee
- Lory Takarada: Richard Epcar
- Mimori Nanokura: Christine Cabanos
The company also revealed that Deborah Crane (Sailor Moon Crystal) is joining the production staff as ADR Script Supervisor. Yesterday, Pied Piper revealed that Taliesin Jaffe (Beck: Mongolian Chop Squad) will be the Supervising Director for the adaptation. The two join executive producers Mela Lee and Jason Charles Miller, as well as executive producer / casting director Cristina Vee on the production team.
Justin Sevakis is in charge of DVD and Blu-Ray authoring, menu design, and video upscaling on the project.
As of press time, the project stands at $198,750 across 1,438 backers with an average contribution of $138.21 per backer.
Pied Piper first launched an IndieGoGo campaign to fund the dub on March 1, which had a goal of $210,000. The drive reached a total of $23,773 before Pied Piper ended the run and refunded all contributions to backers.
The confirmed reward tiers on the campaign include:
- $1: Thank you message from the team, “Backer Badge” download
- $10: Weekly Behind-the-scenes updates, Name on “Backer Wall”, Wallpaper download, plus all rewards at $1 Tier
- $15: Access to monthly dub updates, plus all rewards at $10 Tier
- $25: Kickstarter Exclusive Embroidered patch, Can badges, & Stationery, plus all rewards at $15 Tier
- $35: Kickstarter Exclusive T-Shirt, plus all rewards at $15 Tier
- $60: Skip Beat! Seasons 1 & 2 on DVD, Vinyl Sticker, Digital behind-the-scenes booklet, plus all rewards at $15 Tier
- $80: Skip Beat! Seasons 1 & 2 on Blu-Ray, Vinyl Sticker, Digital behind-the-scenes booklet, plus all rewards at $15 Tier
- $100: DVD slipcover, Skip Beat! “True Love Certificate”, name in Special Thanks insert, exclusive TBA Reward, plus all rewards at $60 Tier
- $150: Chipboard Case, Art Booklet, 11″ x 17″ Poster, plus all rewards at $100 Tier
- $500: Skype access to dub sessions, Skip Beat! baseball jacket, plus all rewards at $150 Tier (Limited 5)
- $900: Private voice acting class with a cast member, plus all rewards at $150 Tier (Limited 1)
- $2,000: 1-Day visit to LA dub session, one-on-one voice acting class with a cast member, signed jacket, “Inner Circle” credit in the Special Thanks insert, plus all rewards at $150 Tier (Limited 1)
- $5,000: Speaking part in Skip Beat! dub, flight to LA to attend dub session, , plus all rewards at $2,000 Tier (Limited 1)
Skip Beat! is based on Yoshiki Nakamura’s manga of the same name. The 25-episode series originally hit Japanese TV in the Fall 2008 broadcast season. Kiyoko Sayama (Princess Tutu, Vampire Knight) helmed the project at Hal Film Maker, with Tetsuya Kumagai (Log Horizon Season 2, Slayers Premium) providing character designs. Mayori Sekijima (Saber Marionette J, CLAMP School Detectives) was in charge of series composition, while Akifumi Tada (Tokyo Underground, Tenchi Muyo! Ryo Ohki) scored the soundtrack.
Pied Piper announced that they acquired the series on February 16. In an interview with Otaku Review, Yamamoto commented on the company’s crowdfunding effort:
How to identify and evaluate unlicensed titles? I’d been having conversations with Time of EVE backers and talked with several of them about my predicament. Five of them joined me as Project Curators to scout out new titles, and so they sent me a stream of ideas. My next step was to contact the rightsholders. I got many, many rejections, which gave me the chance to refine my pitch. So I was in a much better position when I met with TV Tokyo. I saw “Skip Beat!” in their catalog, and my jaw dropped.
To be honest, it wasn’t my ideal title simply because 25 episodes increases the costs on all fronts – licensing, dub, authoring, and manufacturing. It is a huge risk. I was looking for a smaller-scale title. But, Kyoko is all about guts. I love the title, and decided to go for it.The TV Tokyo licensing team was open to letting me use crowdfunding, and I am profoundly grateful that the production committee allowed me to license the title.
[…]
We are bonded by our love of “Skip Beat!,” and I hope that comes through in the campaign.
Source: Kickstarter
Full Disclosure: Skip Beat! was featured as one of our “KickColle Profile” projects. Reporter Mike Ferreira is a backer on this project, who contributed after the publication of the profile piece. We are actively advertising this campaign on Anime Herald.