Earlier today, a new crowdfunding campaign for the Bean Bandit anime opened its doors on Japanese site Campfire. The campaign, which runs through February 24, seeks to raise 5 million yen ($45,562.03 USD) to produce animated opening and ending sequences for the title.
As of press time, the campaign currently sits at 144,444 yen ($1,316.23 USD) across six backers, with an average contribution of 24,074 yen ($219.37 USD) per backer.
The page launched with new details on the main cast and crew for the project. We break the details down below.
Staff
Kenichi Sonoda will serve as General Director for the project, with Yū Aoki serving as director. Keizo Shimizu (Star Blazers 2199, Cobra The Animation) will provide character designs for the work.
Other confirmed crew members include:
- Animation Supervisor: Shujirou Hamakawa
- Production Supervisor: Showji Murahama
- Sound Director: Hisayoshi Hirasawa
Cast
The confirmed voice cast includes:
- Bean Bandit: Hidenori Takahashi
- Rally Vincent: Ayaka Asai
- Minnie May Hopkins: Hiromi Igarashi
- Becky “The Nose” Farrah: Eri Kitamura
Character design sheets for all four characters were also revealed, which you can check out below.
The visuals were previously released on the Bean Bandit Twitter account.
Kenichi Sonoda will attend Anime Central 2019 as a guest. He will host the world première of Bean Bandit Episode 0 at the convention.
The Kickstarter for Bean Bandit ran from May 8 through June 17. The project managed to bring in ¥23,343,872 ($210,229.39 USD) across 1,928 backers with an average contribution of ¥12,107.82 ($109.04 USD) per backer.
The campaign originally had a funding goal of ¥15 million ($135,086.46 USD), which it reached on June 3.
With the funding reached, Sonoda aims to make a five-minute film, which will be offered in both English and Japanese. According to their latest update, Sonoda will work with “authors of many transaction-proven English dubs” for the English audio.
Ultimately, Sonoda plans to finish the episode within one year of funding, so that it can be shown off at Anime Central 2019. He also intends to produce an artbook. He notes that, if possible, he’d like to include concept art, designs, and a newly drawn original color comic into the publication.
Kenichi Sonoda will direct the project. Other confirmed staffers include animator Shujirou Hamakawa and supervisor Showji Murahama.
Sonoda’s Riding Bean launched in the pages of Monthly Comics Noisy in 1988. The title ran for just four chapters, and remains unfinished.
The title was originally conceived as an OVA, which hit retailers on February 22, 1989. Yasuo Hasegawa (Ai no Kiseki – Doctor Norman Monogatari, Cosmos Pink Shock) directed the feature at studios AIC, ARTMIC, and Youmex, with Sonoda providing character designs and writing the screenplay.
AnimEigo released the title in North America on Blu-Ray, DVD, and VHS.
Following Riding Bean, Sonoda launched the Gunsmith Cats manga in Kodansha’s Monthly Afternoon magazine in February 1991. The series ran through June 1997, and spans eight collected volumes. A sequel, titled Gunsmith Cats BURST ran from September 2004 through October 2008 in Afternoon magazine.
The series received a three-episode OVA in 1995. The project was directed by Takeshi Mori (Stratos 4, Vandread) at Oriental Light and Magic, with Kenichi Sonoda (Bubblegum Crisis, Gall Force) and Norihiro Matsubara (Pokémon: Black and White, Berserk) teaming up to provide character designs. Atsuji Kaneko wrote the screenplay.
Jazz drummer Peter Erskine composed the show’s soundtrack.
ADV Films released Gunsmith Cats in North America on VHS in 1996. The series received a DVD release in 2001, followed by a re-release under ADV’s “Anime Essentials” imprint in 2004. The series has been out of print since the mid-2000s.
In December, AnimEigo announced that they acquired the license for the Gunsmith Cats OVA series. The publisher succesfully crowdfunded the title, raising more than $350,000 by the time the campaign closed on April 23.
ADV described the OVA as:
They’re here! Chicago’s most lethal ladies have finally made it back to DVD. Join the pistol-packing Rally Vincent and her partner, grenade happy Minnie May Hopkins, as they infiltrate a gun running operation at the “suggestion” of the ATF. Burn up the highway in Rally’s Shelby GT-500 as she chases a psychopathic Russian assassin who’s kidnapped Minnie. And then watch the bullets fly in a duel to the death with a cache of illegal weapons as the prize.
Source: Comic Natalie
