News Reporting

Grant George To Play Sho Fuwa Skip Beat! Dub


Make way, for the sexiest man in show business (on the outside)! Well, if you don’t count Ren Tsuruga… and five other guys.

Skip Beat Sho Fuwa Gif 001 - 20160404

Yeah, he’s kind of awful. But anyway!

Earlier today, Pied Piper Inc. revealed the second member of the Skip Beat! English dub cast. The company revealed that Grant George will voice supporting character Sho Fuwa in the adaptation.

Grant George Headshot 001 - 20160404George has been active in the industry since 1996. His most notable roles include Chikage Rokujo in Durarara!!, Vyers in the Disgaea franchise, and Lancer in Fate/Zero. Outside of anime, he’s served on the ADR group for the 2004 Dawn of the Dead film, and voiced Luca in the English dub of Violetta.

Yesterday, Pied Piper revealed that Erica Lindbeck will play the role of Kanae Kotonami.

As of press time, the Kickstarter stands at 112,010 across 843 backers, with an average contribution of $132.87 per contributor. Pied Piper will reveal a new cast member when funding passes $120,000.

Pied Piper originally launched an IndieGoGo campaign on March 1, which had a funding goal of $210,000. This campaign, which reached $23,773 before Pied Piper ended the run and refunded all contributions to backers.

The new campaign does not guarantee a Blu-Ray release of the show, instead opting to make a Blu-Ray release a stretch goal at $185,000. In a comment to Anime News Network, Yamamoto noted that Pied Piper was able to bring the Blu-Ray stretch goal costs down by cutting expenses and making additional investments into the project.

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
  • $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.

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.

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