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Little Witch Academia by animation studio Trigger is a 2013 work in the Japanese Agency for Cultural Affairs’ young animator training project, “Anime Mirai.” Now, an investment initiative for a sequel has begun on the American crowdfunding site, Kickstarter.
Little Witch Academia is a short 26-minute animated film. Even after the package and project screening event went on sale, an uncut version of the work began being distributed on YouTube and Nico Nico Douga. After distribution began, it picked up overnight popularity within Japan and abroad. Now, production of a Blu-ray package and a sequel have been decided.
The project started on Kickstarter is looking to raise funds to create a 15-minute sequel called Little Witch Academia 2 (tentative title). The project, ongoing until Aug. 7, has an investment goal of $150,000.
The Kickstarter page for this project opened on July 8. Remarkably, as of July 12, just four days after the project began, it has already reached $372,046 in funding––more than twice their initial goal! Those who contribute to the project will receive bonuses depending on how much they invest. Bonus items that will make fans happy include a wallpaper, the standard and limited edition Blu-ray packages for Little Witch Academia 2 once it is completed, an art book, and more.
An example of a Japanese anime project that had success on Kickstarter is the production of an English subtitled Blu-ray version of Yasuhiro Yoshiura’s Time of Eve. This project reached its goal within 24 hours and ended up bringing in $215,433 in funding, more than 10 times its initial goal. Another such success was the project for Masaaki Yuasa’s short animated film Kick-Heart, which has already been completed and screened internationally. With almost a month left in its funding period, Little Witch Academia 2 looks like it will be just as successful as these past projects!
Source: Kai-You
Source article written by Satomi Takahashi
