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Crunchyroll States it Remains 'Fully Committed' to Dirty Pair Anime BD Release

Nozomi Entertainment's Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign for an English-dubbed Blu-ray Disc release for the Dirty Pair 1985 television anime posted an update on Thursday, stating the production is in post-production, but suffering from delays. The post assured backers that Nozomi Entertainment and Crunchyroll (which acquired Right Stuf, the owner of the Nozomi Entertainment label) are still "fully committed" to the project, and promised updates on the status of the project every two to four weeks.

Nozomi Entertainment will also begin shipping out available backer rewards on September 3.

The project has been a topic of concern from the English anime fan community over the past week due to a lack of communication from Crunchyroll or Nozomi Entertainment about the status of the project, despite the Kickstarter campaign ending successfully in November 2021, raising a total of US$731,406 from 3,303 backers. The campaign also funded all stretch goals, and previously had an estimated delivery date of August 2022. The project's previous update was on May 31.

Fans also expressed worry that Crunchyroll's acquisition of Right Stuf and Nozomi Entertainment may have adversely affected the project. AnimEigo and MediaOCD CEO Justin Sevakis stated in an X/Twitter post on August 20 that many former Right Stuf producers were no longer with Crunchyroll as of June earlier this year, casting yet more doubt on the status of the project.

ANN reached out to Crunchyroll for comment and the company provided ANN with the same statement it posted on the Kickstarter page on Thursday.

Both Pamela Lauer and Jessica Calvello will reprise their roles as Kei and Yuri from ADV's previous release of the anime for the new dub.

Right Stuf and Nozomi Entertainment describe the anime:

In the 22nd century mankind may be technologically advanced, but there are still some problems that can only be fixed by a couple of women who won't back down from a fight! These are the adventures of Kei and Yuri, two official Trouble Consultants for the World Welfare Works Association (WWWA) who use their brains, brawn, and looks to solve any problem. They call themselves the "Lovely Angels," but because their solutions often result in chaos and mass destruction, the rest of the universe has dubbed them the "Dirty Pair"!

For Kei and Yuri, no two missions are ever the same. As the WWWA's top Trouble Consultants, they take on all sorts of odd jobs, like chasing down treasure in high-tech ruins, fighting off political assassins, and even avenging the death of... a plaster statue? In the end, only one thing's for sure: anything that stands between these two and victory is sure to be destroyed!

The project's Kickstarter page states that Right Stuf and Nozomi Entertainment will utilize 75% of the funds collected for dubbing, production expenses, and acquiring rights clearances. The project will utilize 15% of the funds for the production of the materials, media, and packaging; and utilize 10% of funds for overhead, working capital, fees to run the project on the platform, royalties, and staff costs.

RetroCrush and Crunchyroll began streaming the anime in the U.S. and Canada in October 2021.

The anime adapts Haruka Takachiho's science fiction comedy novel series of the same name, with illustrations by Yoshikazu Yasuhiko. The series began in 1979, and the eighth novel in the series, Dirty Pair no Daichōyaku, shipped in 2018 as the first novel in 11 years.

Aside from the television anime, the novels have also inspired an anime film, as well as several video projects, manga, and American comics. The title duo made their first anime appearance in 1983's Crusher Joe: The Movie.

Sources: Email correspondence, Dirty Pair Nozomi Entertainment dub Kickstarter page