News Reporting

Pied Piper’s Skip Beat! Kickstarter Closes With $224,546


At last, Kyoko’s revenge is complete!

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Earlier today, Pied Piper, Inc.’s Kickstarter to dub and release Skip Beat! on DVD and Blu-Ray completed its run. The campaign pulled in $224,546 across 1,646 backers, with an average contribution of $136.42 per backer. Because the Kickstarter passed $185,000, Pied Piper will produce a Blu-Ray release for the title.

To celebrate the news, Cristina Vee, Mela Lee, and Erica Lindbeck published a short video thanking Kickstarter backers for their support.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MoKAl1gzo7U

Over the past two weeks, Pied Piper has unveiled the English cast and crew for the project. The confirmed voice cast includes:

  • 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
  • Hikaru Ishibashi: Kyle McCarley
  • Shinichi: Todd Haberkorn
  • Yuusei: Bryce Papenbrook

Taliesin Jaffe (Beck: Mongolian Chop Squad) was tapped to be the Supervising Director for the adaptation, while Deborah Crane (Sailor Moon Crystal) handles ADR Script Supervision. Mela Lee, Charles Miller, and Cristina Vee are all serving as executive producers on the project.

Justin Sevakis is in charge of DVD and Blu-Ray authoring, menu design, and video upscaling on the project.

©YOSHIKI NAKAMURA-Hakusensha / Skip Beat! Production Committee
©YOSHIKI NAKAMURA-Hakusensha / Skip Beat! Production Committee

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 actively advertised this campaign on Anime Herald.

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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