News Reporting

Riding Bean Kickstarter Launches, Blows Past Funding Goal

Written By Samantha Ferreira

Much like the Bean Bandit, this Kickstarter has rocketed off the starting line.

Earlier today, AnimEigo launched its Kickstarter for their Riding Bean “High Octane Edition” Blu-ray release. The campaign kicked off at 4:00PM eastern, and reached its $30,000 funding goal within an hour. The first stretch goal of $40,000 was reached within two hours.

As of press time, funding stands at $49,984 across 503 backers, with an average contribution of $99.37 per backer.

With the project funded, AnimEigo estimates a December release for the final product. Fans who wish to back the project have until April 5 to contribute.

Riding Bean 001 - 20160303The current list of reward tiers includes:

  • $5: Digital materials access
  • $25: Blu-Ray with patch, plus Digital materials access
  • $50: Blu-Ray with artbook in chipboard box, plus Digital materials access
  • $75: Blu-Ray with artbook in chipboard box, keychain, on-disc Rally Vincent digital certificate, and Digital materials access
  • $110: Buff the Roadbuster model, on-disc Bean Bandit digital certificate, plus all bonuses at $75 tier
  • $200: Pre-load credits mention, plus all bonuses at $100 tier (Limited 50)
  • $300: Receive check discs prior to release, plus all bonuses at $200 tier (Limited 5)
  • $999: Riding Bean production cel, plus all bonuses at $200 tier (Limited 9, separated into separate tiers)
  • $2,016: Custom character sketch by creator Kenichi Sonoda, plus all bonuses at $200 tier (Limited 3, separated into separate tiers)
  • $3,000: Name on package, four additional Blu-Ray copies, plus all bonuses at $200 tier (Limited 1)
  • $4,000: Receive the original illustrations used for the chipboard box, plus all bonuses at $200 tier (Limited 1)

The current stretch goals for the project include:

  • $40,000: New Kenichi Sonoda artwork for the Blu-Ray case (Funded)
  • $60,000: New 4-Page Riding Bean manga
  • $90,000: Japanese commentary by Kenichi Sonoda and 1-2 other guests

Three more goals were proposed, in the case that the three stated stretch goals are funded:

  • Expand Riding Bean manga to 8 pages
  • English commentary by Gilles Poitras
  • Reprint original Riding Bean manga in the artbook

Riding Bean is a 1989 OVA, which is based on Kenichi Sonoda’s Riding Bean manga. Yasuo Hasegawa directed the feature at AIC and Artmic. Kenichi Sonoda provided character designs and wrote the story for the project.

The release was one of the first to be released by AnimEigo in North America, hitting subtitled VHS on January 15, 1991. The title shipped roughly nine months after the company’s début release, Metal Skin Panic MADOX-01.

Source: Kickstarter

Filed Under:

Tag(s): , ,

About the author

Samantha Ferreira

Samantha Ferreira is Anime Herald’s founder and editor-in-chief. A Rhode Island native, Samantha has been an anime fan since 1992, and an active member of the anime press since 2002, when she began working as a reviewer for Anime Dream. She launched Anime Herald in 2010, and continues to oversee its operations to this day. Outside of journalism, Samantha actively studies the history of the North American anime fandom and industry, with a particular focus on the 2000s anime boom and bust. She’s a huge fan of all things Sakura Wars, and maintains series fansite Combat Revue Review when she has free time available. When not in the Anime Herald Discord, Samantha can typically be found on Bluesky.

Anime Herald

Support Anime Herald

Anime Herald is brought to you through our Patrons and Ko-fi supporters. Consider backing us for as little as $1 a month to help us keep the site ad-free and pay a fair rate to our writers.

Patrons and backers can access several benefits, including Early Article Access, our members-only Discord, and the ability to suggest articles for our team to write on your behalf.

Become a Patron
Support us on Ko-Fi

Latest Posts

See all Articles