News

Oban Star Racers Anime's Kickstarter Reaches Goal in Just Over 1 Hour

Sav! The World Productions Kickstarter campaign for a 15th anniversary Blu-ray Disc release of the Oban Star-Racers anime reached its goal of US$33,824 goal in just over one hour.

The campaign has reached four stretch goals, and as of press time, has made US$115,802. The campaign will end on March 8.

Sav! The World Productions itself secured the rights to release the anime on Blu-ray Disc after what it said was "several years of difficult and costly negotiations."

The release will include the entire 26-episode anime on five region-free Blu-ray Discs with 1080p, 24 frames per second, and 4:3 format. The release will also include 11 dubs, including: French, English, Japanese, German, Russian, Latin Spanish, Latin Portuguese, Italian, Dutch, Turkish, and Polish. The release will also have subtitles in French and English. A collector's edition will also include a 120-page mini artbook.

Savin Yeatman-Eiffel co-directed the Oban Star-Racers anime with Thomas Romain. The anime was a co-production between French animation studio Sav! The World Productions and Japanese anime studios Hal Film Maker and Pumpkin3D. The team at Sav! The World Productions lived and worked for two years in Tokyo to produce the anime, working with storyboard artists Kiyoko Sayama, Yoshimitsu Ohashi, and Sōichi Masui, as well as animation director Tetsuya Kumagai and editor Takeshi Seyama. Yoko Kanno composed the opening and ending theme songs. Taku Iwasaki composed the background music.

The series premiered in 2006. The anime aired in the United States on ABC Family and Jetix.

Sav! The World Productions describes the anime:

Every 10.000 years, champions from every civilization in the galaxy face off during a mystical and dangerous competition - the Great Race of Oban. Though shrouded in mystery, it is said the outcome of the race will completely redefine the balance of power within the Milky Way. For the Earth-Team, defeat is not an option as it may well spell the end of the fragile and embattled human race.

Too bad Earth's ace pilot falls victim to a terrible sabotage in the early stages of the pre-selection! With no other replacement available within a 25 light years radius, our last chance of victory now squarely rests on the shoulders of a rebellious 15-year-old mechanic, Molly, and her gung-ho copilot, Jordan. But the young woman is not prepared to shoulder such a huge responsibility. The only reason she joined the team (under an alias: her real name's Eva) was to confront her father, stern race manager Don Wei, the man who abandoned her in a boarding school ten years ago and never even bothered to call.

Will “Molly” manage to pilot under her father's harsh command, let alone survive the mad competition? Will she ever find the strength to tell him who she truly is, and grow past the wounds of her past thanks to her new friends: Jordan and Nourasian prince Aikka? Whatever happens, Molly's fate, as well as the future of the human race, are now inextricably intertwined!

Shout! Factory previously released the series on DVD in 2008.

Romain stated in 2017 that he is "seriously considering" working on a sequel or spinoff project for the anime.

Thanks to vi for the news tip.

Source: Kickstarter