Kimagure Orange Road Kickstarter

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Akage
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Re: Kimagure Orange Road Kickstarter

Post by Akage »

I'm assuming that, in addition to the pre-existing tiers, a new tier will be added featuring volume 1 & 2 now that the second volume's been unlocked.

Kickstarter-funded releases have been DMP's game as of late. The only non-KS funded releases have been under their Juné yaoi brand. Most of these get pushed back from their initial release date by months, and it's gotten to the point that the only way to get the new releases is to buy it off Akadot. I got so tired of waiting for Amazon to get them in stock (and DMP claims that they sent Amazon an allotment), that I don't even bother to pre-order it anymore. Their recent release of Even So, I Will Love You Tenderly finally shipped from Amazon this week; I purchased the copy off Akadot over 2 months ago.

With Kickstarter, you rarely receive a comparable amount of goods for what you've paid. I've been burned by a lot of campaigns, most of which were being run by AwesomeJapan. I agree that the Madoka figure is overpriced, but then again, that's Kickstarter for you.

usamimi wrote:With the Funi missing sketches, I can at least imagine it was one or two jerks who decided they wanted to take em & ruined it for everyone.
Ah, so, I have an update.

After three weeks of being ignored via e-mail and Twitter, I thought, for S&Gs, to tag Make-A-Wish on the most recent tweet. That seemed to light a fire under someone's rump, and I received the yearly thank you call from MAW for my earlier charity auction purchase. After I personally spoke with a representative at MAW, they contacted SakuraCon, who in turn, after e-mailing them a second time, responded. They were very upset that I had exposed the 'disappearance' to Make-A-Wish and went so far as to claim that they didn't receive the artwork until the day after the convention. Considering that Yamada tweeted the picture of the sketches around 2:30p Sunday, while the charity auction was still ongoing, this makes me not give their story much credence. I was given some sappy song-and-dance about how hard it is to run a convention, how they don't check their Twitter feed and how volunteers handle the e-mail, but that still doesn't explain why a cursory "We're forwarding this to the proper department" response was not provided in the three weeks since I initially sent them an e-mail. Although I offered to buy the artwork at a (likely) higher price than it would have fetched at auction to make things right and so that the funds could help children this year, they refused to sell it to me, citing some vague policy of not being able to sell it to a private party. So, I sent them a short response, thanking them for their time and that I would look forward to bidding on them next year.

TBH, it still sounds shady. I received a very angry e-mail, not the e-mail that someone who was genuinely concerned about the disappearance should have received. My guess is that I exposed an often practiced and kept hush-hush practice of conventions taking artwork slated to be sold for charity but instead will end up on the office glory wall. Either way, this has hopefully been resolved, and I'll see them for sale next year.
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usamimi
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Re: Kimagure Orange Road Kickstarter

Post by usamimi »

I noticed I couldn't find DMPs last few Tezuka KS titles on Amazon, which makes me think they either didn't print many, or they're not gonna send any more books to Amazon. Which is kind of a bummer--casual manga readers aren't gonna know to look at Akadot.

Good for you for digging deeper on that sketch. I hope this might help tighten up security around charity auction items. It's definitely not fair, to the artists, the charities, and the fans who want to bid.
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usamimi
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Re: Kimagure Orange Road Kickstarter

Post by usamimi »

Interesting update to the KOR Kickstarter:

Apparently "due to the creator's request", the whole series is no longer stretch goals. Now you can add on every volume & get the whole series. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/di ... ts/1556100

It's $85 for the whole series digitally, or $170 for just the printed books.

This is def a good step in the right direction, tho it makes me wonder if Matsumoto knows the books won't be widely available if he hadn't even been told that the books after vol 2 were merely stretch goals at first. :? I'm still disappointed they aren't going to be making the books more widely available, but maybe they will if this starts getting more people to fund the KS? Who knows.
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usamimi
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Re: Kimagure Orange Road Kickstarter

Post by usamimi »

Err, forgot to mention, it still sounds like they'll only print all the books if their funding matches the stretch goals. So it's still not 100% guaranteed, but it's easier to donate towards that goal.
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Akage
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Re: Kimagure Orange Road Kickstarter

Post by Akage »

The Kickstarter ended with more than 154K earned, exceeding the last stretch goal by over 30K. I'm really happy to see so much support for such a classic series.
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Re: Kimagure Orange Road Kickstarter

Post by PinkAppleJam »

Long time no post! I backed this (I chose the Beach set + Vol 1 in print, then they released the rest of the volumes), I am dreading import/tax as it's all shipping to the UK next year. Disappointing to hear of the bad communications as well :c

Very sad to hear of Matsumoto's health issues (I've also seen the other thread, I must send something), 2016 has not been easy.
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usamimi
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Re: Kimagure Orange Road Kickstarter

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Yeah, 2016 has been.....pretty rough!! :cry:
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Akage
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Re: Kimagure Orange Road Kickstarter

Post by Akage »

So apparently DMP will be unable to fulfill the autograph portion of the pledge because Matsumoto-sensei is still sick and unable to sign/draw.

While I realized that this was likely going to happen as he was having a relapse of the condition that has impaired him for the better part of the last 20+ years, it frustrates me to no end that DMP couldn't acknowledge that this might be an issue until yesterday. They've known about his condition since April 2016, and announced it on their KS page in July.

Their whole update reads more like "We tried but we're still keeping the money" and is frustrating to no end. Why DMP didn't create a contingency plan for those backers, especially at the highest tiers, is beyond me.
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Akage
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Re: Kimagure Orange Road Kickstarter

Post by Akage »

Because Matsumoto-sensei will be unable to sign all the items promised in those tiers, DMP is offering 'digital autographs', which from their description, is nothing more than a sticker with a copied autograph on it. Needless to say, a lot of backers are incredibly ticked off and have asked for a full refund. DMP is only offering to give them 10% back.

The e-mail response that those who have asked for a refund is concerning to me. The head of DMP, Hikaru Sasanaga, went to the hospital where Matsumoto-sensei is staying/recovering and personally asked him for a resolution to all this. Assuming that the severity of his illness is the same as it was before, Sasanaga asking for a resolution when Matsumoto-sensei has difficulty even minimally functioning does not sit well with me. DMP should take responsibility for their inability to offer their backers the promised goods and should, if the backer wishes, provide them with a full or partial refund.
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usamimi
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Re: Kimagure Orange Road Kickstarter

Post by usamimi »

Wow....yeah, I agree Akage. If they can't do something they promised, refunds should be in order. Poor Matsumoto sensei...I know this must be so hard for him, he really loves his fans. I hope he can make it through this ok. :( Did DMP ever even update on if they gave him all the postcards people sent in??
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