AnimEigo’s 3rd kickstarter project has now gone live! This time for the “High Octane Edition Anime Blu-ray” of Riding Bean! More details after the cut.
With two successful kickstarter projects done already, Robert J. Woodhead of AnimEigo has launched the 3rd kickstarter project for a much loved Kenichi Sonoda anime OVA classic; Riding Bean.
Link to the Riding Bean AnimEigo Kickstarter
Dubbed as the “High Octane Edition Anime Blu-ray”, the project aims to gather enough crowd funds of $30,000USD to create an English blu-ray release for this anime classic using “the same uncompressed HD transfer as the recent Japanese release, but using a BD50 instead of BD25 for a higher bitrate.”
Furthermore, “It will contain both the original Japanese soundtrack and the English dub, plus English subtitles in multicolor, greyscale and SDH variants (or you can watch with no subtitles if you prefer). The disc will not be region-coded, and we can ship it anywhere in the world except for Japan, China and Taiwan.”
There will be a number of bonus materials planned for this release including “a 9-panel insert sheet with mini-poster, printed program notes and other cool stuff, as well as color artwork, line art (settei), after-recording script, and more.”
Like their previous kickstarters, a number of reward levels are available for pledge that can be viewed from the image below (courtesy of their kickstarter page).
In addition to that, there are “Special Limited Reward Levels”. These include:
Cel Backers: Cel backers get everything a Patron gets, plus one of 9 original Riding Bean production cels. Each Cel Backer Reward slot starts at $999USD.
Sonoda Sketch Backers: Gets everything a Patron gets, plus they get a sketch of their favorite Riding Bean character or scene — personally inscribed if desired. Sonoda Sketch Backer Reward slot starts at $2016USD
Criminal Mastermind Backer: Gets everything a Patron gets, plus he/she gets listed as the Criminal Mastermind on the packaging! Plus receives 4 extra sets as well. This Criminal Mastermind Backer Reward slot starts at $3000USD
Illustration Backer: Gets everything a Patron gets, plus they also get a full-color B4-size (250 x 353mm / 9.8 x 13.9″) original illustration Mr. Sonoda is creating for this release — personally inscribed if desired. Illustration Backer Reward slot starts at $4000USD.
While I have never seen the Riding Bean anime before, I might consider backing this project having backed AnimEigo’s Bubblegum Crisis & Otaku no Video blu-ray kickstarter projects and have had a good experience with them (would be my 3rd overall for AnimEigo!). I backed both the Bubblegum Crisis & Otaku no Video ones as a Patron getting to see my name on the list on the screen when the disc starts up, however, for this one I’m thinking about just backing the Nitrous-Injected reward level because I’m fond of the physical bonuses and don’t feel the need to be listed on the startup screen! XD
And with a goal of just $30,000USD for this to come into fruition, there’s a high chance it will succeed given the previous two projects ended up getting double the goal amount. It’s nice to see the AnimEigo company succeeding a lot with kickstarter giving me hope that someday they will look into starting up kickstarter projects for titles that still don’t even have a blu-ray release in Japan (such as Scramble Wars, Bubblegum Crash! and the Vampire Princess Miyu OVAs). I am looking forward to their AD Police OVA blu-ray kickstarter project later in the year though! Definitely want to back that one as it will complement the Bubblegum Crisis blu-ray boxset, that and the fact that it may be released on blu-ray in the western market before Japan even gets it! 😛
Walk Of Darkness 