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Red Ash Anime Kickstarter Campaign Reaches US$150,000 Goal

Comcept's Kickstarter campaign for it and Studio 4°C's Red Ash -Magicicada- anime project reached its initial goal of US$150,000 on Monday at 9:12 p.m. Japan Time (8:12 a.m. EDT). As of press time the campaign has raised US$151,348. The campaign will end on August 3 at 2:30 p.m. EDT.

Each stretch goal will "unlock" a new minute of the story, with the ultimate goal of US$2,480,000 for a full-length film. The project added a seven-minute prologue and a six-minute special ending to the anime film's runtime on July 22.

Yuta Sano (Berserk: The Golden Age Arc III - The Advent storyboard) is on board to direct. The anime will not use cel-shading, instead using 2D painting in conjunction with 3D animation models. Rashad Haughton will produce the anime's main theme song. Haughton, an American filmmaker and music industry veteran, previously collaborated with Studio 4°C and Shirogumi for the six-minute CG-animated short film "Love Like Aliens."

Comcept launched the Kickstarter campaign alongside another campaign for the Red Ash: The Indelible Legend video game. The story of both follow treasure hunters who also seek out lost technology in order to help rebuild humanity in the wake of the "Robot World War." Feral robots still hunt humans in this world. The Kickstarter page for the game states that the goal is to create a story with a "grand scale," and that the ending is already planned.

Comcept announced on Wednesday that Chinese digital entertainment company FUZE Entertainment will fund the game.

Comcept will develop the game's prologue "The KalKanon Incident" to completion, and it will release the prologue for the PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One platforms. The Kickstarter campaign had originally offered only a PC release, with a PlayStation 4 release promised if the campaign met a US$1 million stretch goal.

The game campaign originally sought to raise US$800,000 in funding, and as of press time, the campaign has raised US$504,878. The game Kickstarter campaign will end at the same time as the anime campaign. Comcept stated in the FUZE Entertainment announcement that, with the project now funded by FUZE Entertainment, the funds raised through the campaign will go toward more content and stretch goals. Comcept did not specify these stretch goals.

Update: The anime's campaign ended with US$162,882 in pledges, while the game's campaign ended with US$519,999 in pledges which will not be collected.