Kickstart This: Go! Samurai

When animators turn to crowdfunding to get their projects off the ground, they're often independent animators at the start of the career. But much more rarely, sometimes more established names turn to this new method to make dream projects they otherwise might struggle to raise the funds for. Such is the case with Go! Samurai, a hand-drawn action short from Japan.

Keiichiro Kimora is a veteran of Japanese animation, who has worked in the industry for well over 40 years. He's worked as animation director on classic anime such as Cyborg 009, Tiger Mask, and even worked on the US 80s production Inspector Gadget. This is a much more personal production though- a 5 minute short featuring a samurai battling over 100 enemies. It's how it will be produced that'll really draw your attention though. Kimora intends to produce the entire work in black and white pencil sketches, giving it a unique look. Even more impressively, the 76-year-old will draw every single of the 2000+ frames himself. The experimental nature of the short means it would be more difficult to raise the money to produce it in the traditional manner... Which is where you come in.

The Kickstarter, in collaboration with Awesome Japan, seeks $10,000 by November 20th 2014. A paltry $5 will net you a high-def download of the finished project which is projected to be available from April 2015. If this sounds like a project you'd like to get behind, head over the campaign page now for more details.