Following the success of other animated films on Kickstarter such as Little Witch Academia, Creative Intelligence Arts have announced that they are crowdfunding the pilot for a science fiction action thriller titled Under the Dog, which they claim will explore what it means to live and die well, testing the limits of all that we hold dear. The aim is to carry an atmosphere similar to that of older and renown series like Akira and Ghost in the Shell through complex settings, storytelling and characters.
The animated pilot brings together talents from around Japan. Under the Dog’s staff includes Jiro Ishii, who wrote the original story and whose extensive experience includes directing video games like the visual novel 428: In a Blockaded Shibuya and producing Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors. The anime will be directed by Masahiro Ando, whose directorial credits include Sword of the Stranger, Hanasaku Iroha, and Blast of Tempest. He has also worked as an Episode Director on Fullmetal Alchemist, did storyboarding for Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex and Wolf’s Rain, and was a Key Animator on the original Ghost in the Shell and Neon Genesis Evangelion. The main character designer is Yusuke Kozaki, who designed the characters in Fire Emblem: Awakening and No More Heroes. Finally, the animation will be by 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 and has had experience working on titles like Ghost in the Shell: Arise, Tiger & Bunny, Infinite Stratos, Last Exile, Macross Frontier, Code Geass, and the Evangelion Rebuild movies. Not an insignificant filmography by any means, with much talent signing up for the new project.
By using Kickstarter as their funding platform, Under the Dog’s production team hopes to sidestep the traditional method of obtaining funding from production committees and retain full creative control of the anime. The team is seeking $580,000 to fund the production and artistic development of the film. Backers are of course being offered a number of lucrative perks including copies of the film, helping choose the voice actors, autographed products and the usual trip to the development team that a lot of crowdfunding campaigns offer as a top-tier perk.
Under the Dog takes place in 2025 in Neo Tokyo, five years after a devastating terrorist attack at the Tokyo Olympics. In the wake of the tragedy, the U.N. formed a covert ops unit dedicated to seeking out, then eliminating those responsible for the attack. Anthea Kallenberg, a girl of Scandinavian descent is a member of this elite group. She has honed her combat abilities and has become a deadly assassin, but must come to terms as to who she really is.
Sound interesting? Check out the Kickstarter campaign page HERE.