Kimagure Orange Road Kickstarter

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Akage
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Re: Kimagure Orange Road Kickstarter

Post by Akage »

So here's the latest update to this and every other outstanding Kickstarter (KnJ, Psyche Delico, Wonder 3) DMP has..
Dear all our Kickstarter backers,

First of all, please accept my sincere apology for causing such a considerable delay in fulfilling your books and rewards. Since you put a lot of trust in Digital Manga when you pledged for this campaign, my heart truly aches. Due to the fact that our Kickstarter-driven manga publishing was an unexplored project, that none of us had ever challenged before, we encountered multiple problems and difficulties that we could not fully foresee.
In regards to Kimagure Orange Road, we never would have expected for Matsumoto-sensei to be struck down by his life-threatening illness while the campaign was still ongoing and we ended up not being able to obtain his hand-drawn shikishi and other exclusive reward items as we had initially planned. Being, also, responsive to the needs and requests of all the backers, we have put a significant amount of our own resources into each campaign and that in turn has made our financial situation weakened.

Despite of all of the above, I am here to pledge that we will do our very best to fulfill our obligation and deliver your books and rewards as soon as we practically can.
You will be seeing all of your campaigned books / rewards coming to your door slowly but steadily in the near future.

Thank you very again for your continuing support.

Sincerely,

Hikaru Sasahara
President
Digital Manga, Inc.
This entire message was copy/pasted into all 4 campaigns...which, was silly because this only applies to KOR.

I also do not approve of this line -

...we have put a significant amount of our own resources into each campaign and that in turn has made our financial situation weakened.

He's basically blaming Kickstarter supporters for the company being in financial ruin.
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PinkAppleJam
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Re: Kimagure Orange Road Kickstarter

Post by PinkAppleJam »

I just don't know what to think about this situation any more :? Heartbreaking to hear (or rather, not to hear anything?) about Matsumoto-sensei's condition.
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usamimi
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Re: Kimagure Orange Road Kickstarter

Post by usamimi »

PinkAppleJam wrote: Thu Mar 29, 2018 8:44 am I just don't know what to think about this situation any more :? Heartbreaking to hear (or rather, not to hear anything?) about Matsumoto-sensei's condition.
YEAH and they really could have worded it better--I had to read that line about Matsumoto being "struck down" by illness 3 times because I thought at first they were saying he'd DIED. :shock:

As much as I love KOR, I'm glad that I followed my gut and didn't pledge towards the KS. I'd already wasted my money on their poorly done KOR ebooks they put out, and their company has been a mess lately. I decided not to give them any more of my money until I saw some improvement. It sounds like I'll be waiting a while....

I do feel for the people who apparently had no idea DMP has had quality and internal problems, though. I hope they either get SOMETHING out of it or at least their money back. Putting the blame on the people who gave you the money to do the thing you promised isn't a good sign, though...
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Valand
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Re: Kimagure Orange Road Kickstarter

Post by Valand »

Is this illness they are talking about the same one he has suffered from for most of his life? I guess his previous tough period that rendered him inactive for years indicates that he may get better this time around as well, although it may take a very long time. I hope he does in any case.

Regrettably I haven't read KOR, but I've watched all of the anime and liked it a lot.
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DKop
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Re: Kimagure Orange Road Kickstarter

Post by DKop »

I got a stack of assorted early AnimEigo VHS tapes above my head right now, that ill check out one of these days... :roll:
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usamimi
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Re: Kimagure Orange Road Kickstarter

Post by usamimi »

Valand wrote: Fri Mar 30, 2018 4:33 am Is this illness they are talking about the same one he has suffered from for most of his life? I guess his previous tough period that rendered him inactive for years indicates that he may get better this time around as well, although it may take a very long time. I hope he does in any case.

Regrettably I haven't read KOR, but I've watched all of the anime and liked it a lot.
Yup. It's apparently gotten progressively worse for him. I'm hoping that he's doing ok, they're not really giving any updates about it. :/
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Akage
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Re: Kimagure Orange Road Kickstarter

Post by Akage »

usamimi wrote: Fri Mar 30, 2018 9:27 amYup. It's apparently gotten progressively worse for him. I'm hoping that he's doing ok, they're not really giving any updates about it. :/
His blog mentioned that he experienced a relapse towards the end of DMP's fundraising period in April 2015 when someone hit him and he fell at a train station in Japan. What angers people is that DMP knew about this but didn't mention the relapse to anyone until after the funds had been collected. Even if they didn't want to say what happened in 2015, a simple message advising backers that the signed tiers might not be fulfilled would have been better than the silent treatment.

I backed the highest tier and, after more than a month of paying for separate shipping and not hearing anything, I did receive the sketch. I'd still like to receive the books, but at least I have something to show for the money I spent.
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usamimi
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Re: Kimagure Orange Road Kickstarter

Post by usamimi »

Gonna put this here instead of making a new thread, since I feel like it's most relevant to this thread: DMI (DMP) has been suspended from conducting business in California due to not keeping their paperwork up to date. https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2 ... ia/.133721

Article says that they could get the suspension lifted by working with the secretary of CA to get the paperwork sorted, but this apparently happened a while ago (I'm assuming this article took so long because they had to confirm all this was correct)....which is odd, considering their most recent Kickstarter update was just last week? :? I looked up their twitter and it looks like they haven't updated in months, too, so I can understand why people are now really worried they're not gonna get what they paid for with this campaign (and other open ones they still hadn't fulfilled due to working on KOR). Yikes.
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