New Anime Under the Dog on Kickstarter

TOKYO... Hideo Kojima announced today his very moving and humbling endorsement of the Under the Dog anime Kickstarter project. We are honored to receive such words.

Coming with the permeation of the internet [in our daily lives], “creating” and a production's “financing” structure have changed significantly.

Now, new methods of “creating” are being put to the test, where direct communication between the creator and the global user has become the norm and the creator is not bound by the former traditional investor or clientele. In such circumstances right now, a writer with remarkable talent, Jirō Ishii, who brought to the world numerous renowned adventure games during his “salary man” days, has now taken up the torch in order to challenge the traditions and establish this new future of “creating.” This is “Under the Dog,” the crowdfunding effort for an indie anime based on Jirō Ishii's original story.

One cannot help but pay close attention to this project. One cannot help but cheer on this project. In particular, how can this creator who garners cult-like popularity catalyze a new chemical reaction [in the industry] by putting an emphasis on “creating,” which stands apart from the typical commercial oriented projects? One cannot help but look forward to this succeeding.

Jirō Ishii's indie challenge will not only change the path for “creating,” but at the same time declare the answer for the question: Can game designers be accepted by the world as storytellers in [other mediums] as well?”

These kind words from Kojima-san come on the heels of UTD announcing late last week that it would be allowing backers who pledge at the $20 tier or higher will not only have access to the digital version of the first OVA but also digital access to any future Under the Dog animations. If the UTD meets its goal at any point of producing a trilogy of films, backers who pledged $20 or more will have them.

About Under the Dog
Under the Dog is a Kickstarter project for an independent anime being developed by anime veterans. Founded in Tokyo, Japan in 2013 and based on material written in 1994-1995, Under the Dog will bring the science fiction setting to life, releasing it to worldwide audiences by late-2015. Visit www.under-the-dog.com and Facebook: www.facebook.com/Underthedogpr and Twitter: @underthedogpr for more information.

About the Team
The original story comes from writer/producer Jirō Ishii, Character Designer Yūsuke Kozaki (Fire Emblem: Awakening and No More Heroes), and Producer Hiroaki Yura (Steins;Gate and The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya) who is also involved with the successful Project Phoenix Video game. In addition to these veterans, Under the Dog will be directed by Masahiro Ando, whose credits include Sword of the Stranger, Hana-Saku Iroha, and Blast of Tempest and will involve the animation studio Kinema Citrus, which has worked on anime like Tokyo Magnitude 8.0, Black Bullet, Barakamon, and the Eureka Seven movie, and Orange Co. which handles the CGI for titles like Ghost in the Shell Arise, Macross Frontier, Code Geass, and the Evangelion Rebuild movies.

Kickstarter Link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1300298569/under-the-dog

©2014 Creative Intelligence Arts, Inc.
©2014 Jirō Ishii
©2014 Yūsuke Kozaki
©2014 Hiroaki Yura