Hey fans and non-fans of Dropkick On My Devil! You may or may not have heard, but the series is applying to Guiness World Record for their recent campaign. The campaign featured staff and fans of the series raising funds that contributed to the title of the most money being raised by a single anime production project.
Staff members of the anime announced on Friday that the anime's crowdfunding project has raised over 100 million yen (about US$782,000). The campaign ended officially on Friday, raising a total of 115,964,266 yen (about US$907,000). The account had previously revealed that if the campaign raised over 96,560,858 yen (about US$756,000) then the show would qualify for the title. The current record holder is Dies irae anime, which had 96,560,858 yen raised through its crowdfunding campaign back in 2015.
Crowdfunding has become an increasingly popular option for shows to raise money and contributions for new seasons with. It was revealed that the team met 30,000,000 yen within 35 minutes of opening the campaign to the public for funding. This was launched back on November 30th.
The overall objective of the series is to raise enough money through crowdfunding to produce a whole fourth season with the title Dropkick on My Devil! The staff stated that the production expense for a one-cours (quarter of a year) animation is approximately 300 million yen (roughly US$2.153 million).
The first objectiveof the franchise was to start a crowdfunding campaign for a new episode because the staff explained that they do not have "the power to raise that type of funds." With plans to webcast the episodes and screen them at events, the crowdfunding effort will add one more episode for every additional 30 million yen raised. On May 4, 2023, a "Jashin-chan Festival" celebration is anticipated.
If they are able to get enough donations towards the crowdfunding for 12 episodes, they will compile the series into a complete fourth season for fans.
The first season of Dropkick on My Devil! was shown only on Amazon Prime Video back in July 2018 (worldwide). Dropkick on My Devil!! Dash was the second season premiering in April 2020, and then Dropkick on My Devil! X was the third, and most recent, season that premiered this past year on July 5th. The most recent third season was also crowdfunded and therefore proved that it was a possibility to get the funding from public donations for future seasons.
It will be interesting to see if the crowdfunding continues to be a popular option for other series as well.
Leave your thoughts in the comments below if you think more shows should, or shouldn't, be turning to crowdfunding as well!