zCreative Journal

UNDER THE DOG

The first anime that got funded by Kickstarter. They got 800,000 dollars from it. That is a REALLY big number for an anime production. So naturally, some anime communities are abuzz with this news, saying how cool it is and all that.After watching it, I don't get what's all the buzz about. Story and concepts was nothing revolutionary. Other than the fact it was funded via Kickstarter, it was nothing to shout about in my opinion.









I'm not that impressed from the trailer, sure, it's not another high school, fan service laden harem adventures, but the trailer looks like any other sci-fi movie out there (fancy tight suits, fancy vehicles, fancy fights and explosions, the works). On the contrary, the plot (which you can read on their official site linked below) seems, quite interesting and managed to get pique my interest and the backgrounds and scenery art is very nice. I won't say much more, it's just a trailer, we'll wait for the final product.

But the the thing I want to talk about is about anime production via Kickstarter. Kickstarter is a popular funding platform for creative stuff (though it's popularly used for game projects). So I was surprised that an anime is using Kickstarter for funds.

Why am I surprised? Well, the Anime industry over there don't really give a damn about overseas market. They really focus on the local market, ESPECIALLY the otakus. Sure, they give licensing and stuff to overseas companies for a Western release, but most of the time, it's just an afterthought (except those HUGELY popular series/titles like Evangelion. The release their movies in a lot of places other than Japan.). In other words, they're not too fond of outsiders So I'm surprised that they're using Kickstarter, a western funding platform, that is mostly funded by people NOT in Japan (I'm not saying Japanese don't visit this sites, I'm just sure a lot of them don't visit western sites)

In other words, in my view of it, these people are, for once, trying to cater to an audience other than the Japanese. I'm not saying they're producing it exclusively for the western audience, but I guess they're opening up to it. Hopefully my guess is right.

Another thing, in the video, the producer, Hiroaki Yura said how the production committee restricts the creativity of the creators. These are probably true. Like everything else, everything boils down to about getting profits. And of course these committee, where most of them are business-minded, only green lights ideas that will promised a decent amount of returns. Hence why the anime industry is overrun with generic anime catered for otakus. I've heard stories of how many writers and mangaka are forced to change their stories as ordered by the higher-ups.


Now with Kickstarter, they can skip all the executive meddling and stay true to their vision! You see, as bad as most anime are now, I still can see some genuine ideas and concepts that is very interesting to see. And unless they are some big named established person in the industry, many won't have the chance to show their ideas to the world. So hopefully, more of them will make good use of Kickstarter to make better quality (animation and story-wise) anime that is funded and approved by a broader audience. And hopefully, anime industry will acknowledge the existence of the evergrowing overseas demography and not just cater to the local audience.

Before I go, I want to congratulate their success on Kickstarter and wish them luck producing Under The Dog.

Here are some related links:Official Site
                                              Kickstarter