Tokyo Otaku Mode Hosts English "Kud Wafter" Crowdfunding Campaign

Key’s wafting away from Campfire as they try to fund this feature in the west.

Earlier today, retailer Tokyo Otaku Mode launched an official western crowdfunding campaign for the Kud Wafter OVA project. The campaign seeks ¥3,000,000 ($26,404.50 USD), which will be used to fund the English translation of the feature, as well as pay for backer rewards.

Funding will run through December 14. A ¥15,000,000 stretch goal is in-place, which would extend the feature’s length to 60 minutes.

As of press time, the campaign has raised ¥1,318,660 ($11,606.46 USD) across 50 backers, with an average contribution of ¥26,373.20 per backer.

Key released a trailer for the project, which you can check out below.

The current reward tiers include:

¥3,800 ($33.39 USD): Soundtrack CD and companion booklet
¥4,480 ($39.37 USD): Official Kud Wafter Tapestry
¥5,060 ($44.46 USD): Official backer T-Shirt
¥8,800 ($77.33 USD): Official Kud Wafter Beach Towel
¥18,000 ($158.17 USD): Official tapestry, backer T-shirt, and beach towel
¥7,400 ($65.02 USD): Soundtrack CD, Companion Booklet, Kud Wafter Blu-Ray
¥14,200 ($124.78 USD): Soundtrack CD, Companion Booklet, Kud Wafter Blu-Ray, “Fan Appreciation Version Deluxe Package”, Art Booklet
¥35,600 ($312.82 USD): Special numbered art box, Limited Edition print, name in credits (small), plus all rewards at ¥14,200 tier
¥64,800 ($569.40 USD): Name in credits (medium), Production cast & crew message, plus all rewards at ¥35,600 tier
¥200,000 ($1,757.41 USD): Signed Script, Name in credits (large), plus all rewards at ¥64,800 tier (Limited 25)
¥420,000 ($3,690.56 USD): Invite to advanced screening, Invite to “Secret Party”, Invite to Wrap Party, plus all rewards at ¥200,000 tier (Limited 10)

Kud Wafter completed a crowdfunding campaign on Japanese site Campfire in September. The drive raised ¥78,047,044 ($686,931.04 USD) across 3,934 backers, with an average contribution of ¥19,839 per backer. This was enough to ensure that a 40-50 minute theatrical feature would be produced, which is on track for a Fall 2019 release.

The Kud Wafter film will be directed by Yoshiki Yamakawa (Little Busters!, Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?) at J.C. Staff, with Haruko Iizuka (Little Busters!, School-Live!) providing character designs. Sakigake from Key will write the feature’s script.

Other confirmed crew members include:

Original work: Key
Screenwriter: Sakigake (VisualArts/Key)
Producer: Yoshiyuki Nogami
Assistant Producer: Youhei Suzuki
Storyboard: Yoshiki Yamakawa
Chief Animation Director: Masayuki Onji
Cinematography Director: Masayuki Onji/Takamitsu Satou/Miki Matsumoto
Key Animators: Chikara Sakurai/Hitoshi Miyajima/Hiroyasu Oda/Tatsunori Ozawa/Shiori Tanaka/Nobuyuki Mitani/Masahiro Sekino/Takamitsu Satou
Second Key Animators: Tsutomu Hashizume/Yurika Sako/TripleA/China Annick
Animation Inspectors: Ryo Naitou/Sayako Matsuzaki/Haruka Tsubata/Sayoko Shinohara
In-Betweeners: Yoshimasa Shinkai/Kanae Fukumoto/Mone Yokoyama/Natsumi Ōmae/Fumenjiri Ozawa/Sayaka Kashiwagi/Yuki Goto/Hikaru Saiki/Yuki Jinbo/
Nana Nakayama/Manaka Hatakeyama/Rina Miura/Mako Yamashita/Ryota Yamane/Mayu Yamamoto
TripleA/A-Real/Shinryū/Jumondo/reboot
Digital Animation Inspectors: Kouji Ukawa/Souki Okada
Digital Animators: Hiroki Okamoto/Sugita Yuka
Color Designer: Kyousuke Ishikawa
Color Coordinator/Inspector: Kyousuke Ishikawa
Digital Painters: Mayumi Tanahashi/Miyuki Ishida/Miho Kimura/Mai Nakamura/Ayaka Ichihara/Keishi Okada/Tomomi Shishido/Yuu Kubota/Yuka Tanimoto/Masaki Tagawa/Chiori Ikushima/Sato Mirai
TripleA/A-Real/Shinryū/Jumondo/reboot
3DCGI: Yuki Murakami/Yamada Kenya
Art Director: Yasuhiro Okumura
Backgrounds: Moon Flower/Eri Yamanashi/Chika Ishida/Ken Okada/Kin Teiren (金廷連)/Yuriko Satou
Cinematography: Hidenori Manaka/Yuki Hirose/Yoshihiro Togo
Special Effects/2D Design: Yoshihide Mukai
Editor: Shigeru Nishiyama
Assistant Editor: Michi Takigawa
Sound Director: Satoshi Motoyama
Sound Effects: Tsutomu Ueno
Audio Recording: Shuuji Imai
Sound Production: Magic Capsule
Sound Producer: Rie Tanaka
Animation Producer: Yuji Matsukura
Project Producer: Takaya Hinano （VisualArts/Key）
Executive Producer: Takahiro Baba （VisualArts/Key）
Animation Production Supervisor: Hikaru Matsuo
Animation Production Manager: Yui Sato

The confirmed voice cast for the project includes:

Kudryavka Noumi: Naomi Wakabayashi
Riki Naoe: Yui Horie
Rin Natsume: Tomoe Tamiyasu
Kyosuke Natsume: Hikaru Midorikawa
Masato Inohara: Nobutoshi Canna
Komari Kamikita: Natsumi Yanase
A-chan Senpai: Riko Hirai

Theme song Light a Way will be performed by Suzuyu.

Kud Wafter is developer Key’s eighth adults-only visual novel. The title hit Japanese PCs on June 25, 2010. Developer Prototype ported the title to Sony’s PSP and Vita handhelds, with both versions hitting stores in 2013.

Key also produced a manga adaptation with illustrator Bakutendō, which ran in ASCII Media Works’ Dengeki G’s Magazine, The series ran from May 2010 through February 2014, and spanned six collected volumes.

Kud Wafter is a spinoff of 2007 visual novel Little Busters!, which revolves around character Kudryavka “Kud” Noumi. The title is set shortly after the original Little Busters!, and focuses on the budding romantic relationship between Kudryavka “Kud” Noumi and Little Busters! protagonist Riki Naoe.

Key released several promotional stills to promote the Kud Wafter campaign, which you can check out below: