In October 2017, 325 international backers (including myself) raised ¥8,980,540 to support the localisation of the feature film Kud Wafter Returns, an anime adaptation of the Little Busters! spin-off visual novel. Although initially expected to ship in September 2019, as crowdfunding campaigns tend to do, the deadline came and went without a peep about the product being delivered.
Come September 2020, and we finally received a late November 2020 release window, which was met in Japan at least. Now in January 2021 we finally have word on when Blu-ray’s and other rewards will be rolling out to backers.
In an announcement made by Tokyo Otaku Mode (TOM), who hosted the crowdfunding campaign, they have confirmed that they intend to begin shipping out copies from Friday 15 January 2021. According to them, “there ha[d] been a delay in preparing the rewards for shipping, resulting in an overall delay in the shipping period”.
No information is known about which form of shipping will be used to get rewards out to backers. Depending on what is chosen, backers in some countries may be unable to receive their packages due to COVID-19 restrictions.
We’re very sorry for making you wait for your rewards. We apologize for the trouble and the inconvenience, and we thank you for your patience.
Statement from Tokyo Otaku Mode
Kud Wafter Returns is animated by the studio J.C. Staff, with many of the Little Busters! cast members reprising their original roles including Yui Horie as Riki Naoe and Naomi Wakabayashi as the titular character, Kudryavka Noumi.
