Otaku USA Magazine
Anime crowdfunding site AniCool launches

Crowdfunding, crowdfunding, crowdfunding. Ain’t a week goes by we ain’t reporting ‘bout the stuff. What are those crazy Kickstarting kids up to this time?

Sorry, this isn’t Kickstarter – it’s a new original site devoted to crowdfunding independent anime projects. And it is called… AniCool (is it just us, or is putting “cool” in your name a surefire sign you’ll never actually be thought of as cool?).

Okay, so we’re not a huge fan of the name, but the concept makes sense. Basically, it’s not a whole lot different from Kickstarter, but it’s devoted entirely to anime, natch, and there are no fees taken off the top, so 100% of donations go to the animators. We also like this awkward but charming sentence from their “about” page: “You can help the birth of cool animes previously unseen, by warming their eggs as parents.”

Oh, the other thing we like – the relatively modest sum of money they’re asking for. The first project on AniCool, a 30-40 minute short called Serendipity, is looking for 1,000,000 yen – about 10,000 bucks. Compare that to the $500,000 goal for Harmony Gold’s 24-minute Robotech Academy pilot. Okay, they’re totally different projects and not really comparable. But, you know, just sayin’.

AniCool’s not the first anime crowdfunding site, though. Remember Anipopo? Haven’t heard a peepo from them in a while.

Source: ANN

Matt Schley

Matt Schley (rhymes with "guy") lives in Tokyo, and has been OUSA's "man in Japan" since 2012. He's also written about anime and Japanese film for the Japan Times, Screen Daily and more.

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