Kickstart This: Chuya-Den- The Night and Day Chronicles

As Halloween approaches, many of out thoughts turn to things that go bump in the night. It's quite an appropriate time to launch a supernatural themed Kickstarter campaign, then. In this case we're dealing with Yokai, the Japanese name for spirits, demons, ghosts and other supernatural beasties. Basically, think the clientèle of the bathhouse in Spirited Away and you're not far off!

Chuya-Den is an original anime centring on a group of normal Japanese kids who get shrunk down and encounter a world of Yokai, and get caught up in the ongoing struggle between Day Yokai and Night Yokai. The project is the brainchild of creator Yoshiko, a veteran animator at the studio WAO World. The studio have produced several award winning films, but have not received much attention outside Japan up until now. The campaign is a collaboration between WAO World and Awesome Japan.




The goal is to raise $100,000 to produce a pilot film, with the aim to launch a four-part series off the back of it. You can get yourself a digital download for $25 or a Blu-ray and DVD copy for $45. The more extravagant perks, however, include an incredible looking copper plate pressed art print and a cameo appearance in the film itself. Stretch goals include an English dub.

It can be hard for creators to get funding for original ideas like this, when most anime and based on popular manga, games or novels with established fan-bases. Which is why it's so fantastic that platforms such as Kickstarter allow fans all over the world to help make them a reality.  This looks like an incredibly fun idea to us- it's Honey I Shrunk The Kids meets Spirited Away, essentially. Head over to the campaign page to find out more and pledge your support. The campaign will run up until November 14th 2015.