We want to publish Osamu Tezuka's The Crater in a Limited Edition, individually numbered (out of 2000) high quality hardcover format.
[UPDATE] TO ALL CURRENT AND POTENTIAL BACKERS PLEASE READ: We had a terrible mishap with our shipping estimates and must request that domestic backers add $5 to their pledge amount to account for shipping. A number of backers requested that they receive a discount off of shipping rather than receiving the "free" t-shirt, so we have arranged for an alternative. If you would like to receive the "free" t-shirt (I apologize about this because I guess at this point it is no longer free) please add $5 to your order for a total of $40. If you would like to opt out of receiving the t-shirt, please add $2 to your order for a total of $37. This was a horrible rookie mistake on our part and we beg for your understanding and forgiveness.
Backers Located Outside of the US - please see the chart contained in the link below for information regarding the cost of shipping abroad.
Our first mistake was putting a $35 MSRP on this book rather than a higher amount ($50 or $60). We do not have the ability to change this as per our contract with Tezuka Productions.
Once we realized that we could not afford to pay for all domestic shipping, we had to make a choice. Our options as we saw it were to either (1) make a lesser quality book, (2) restart the Kickstarter campaign to account for shipping expenses, or (3) ask that backers add money for shipping. For this first book, we did NOT want to compromise the quality, as our vision was to literally publish one of the highest quality manga ever released in English. Also, we have put way too many hours into this Kickstarter campaign and received too much support from the online community of Osamu Tezuka fans to start it all over again.
Please read updates #2, #3 and #4 for more details. Feel free to send us a message or email me personally at andrew@thekansaiclub.com with ANY questions or concerns. I will respond as soon as possible. Thanks for your amazing support!
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We would like to bring the joy of owning one of Osamu Tezuka’s most charming and powerful collections of short stories to American Tezuka aficionados. Of the numerous short story collections created by the late and great “Godfather of Japanese Comics,” “The Crater” stands out as the perfect blend of mystery, suspense, horror, fantasy and comedy. This is the first time that one of Tezuka-sensei’s short story collections will be published in English.
“The Crater” first appeared in Japan’s “Weekly Shonen Champion” and ran from August 10, 1969 to April 1, 1970. It has since been reprinted in Japanese on numerous occasions, but this is the first time that “The Crater” will be published in English. Kansai Club will be publishing a SINGLE EDITION of this amazing book which will include all 17 short stories from the original publication. We are ONLY printing 2,000 copies of this book and each book will be individually numbered out of 2,000. Any books not sold on Kickstarter will be sold at our booth at the upcoming Florida Supercon in Miami, Florida from July 4-7th. If there are any books still available after the convention, we will be shipping the remainder to select comic book and specialty book stores throughout the country (where they will likely charge more than $35 a book). The books will be printed in a large high quality Hardcover format (7 x 10 inches) and will come with 3 different 7 in x 10 in art prints inspired by content from “The Crater" (see pictures below).
I am incredibly PROUD to announce that the books will also include a foreword by the award winning historian and author, Frederik Schodt, as well as an introduction by renowned historian and manga academic, Dr. Ada Palmer.To learn more about Frederik Schodt and his newest book, "Professor Risley and the Imperial Japanese Troupe: How an American Acrobat Introduced Circus to Japan - and Japan to the West," check out his website at http://www.jai2.com/. To learn more about the fascinating world of Dr. Ada Palmer, please visit http://www.adapalmer.com/ and http://tezukainenglish.com/.
Ada is also currently running a Kickstarter campaign of her own, promoting her musical group Sassafrass' newest album/play, "Sundown: Whispers of Ragnorak - Norse Myth Song Cycle." Sassafrass is an a cappella group, specializing in sci-fi, fantasy and mythology-themed songs, and complex polyphony. Sounds interesting right? Everyone should check out their Kickstarter campaign at http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/648994832/sundown-whispers-of-ragnarok-norse-myth-song-cycle?ref=live.
Any person who pledges any amount of money for this Kickstarter campaign will automatically gain membership to our "Kansai Club." You will receive access to an invite only message board on our website where we will be holding regular contests with prizes and you can communicate directly with Andrew and Yuka. Members of the "Kansai Club" will also receive our quarterly newsletter and be privy to promotional offers, discounts and be the first to hear about our future projects.
We will also be randomly including a T-shirt inspired by content from The Crater for every 50 books sold through Kickstarter. If we reach our extended goal of selling 1,000 books through this campaign, then EVERY person who pledged $35 or more will receive a FREE t-shirt with their order. If your pledge amount already included a t-shirt then we will send you 2! If we reach our super-duper-God-bless-the-internet goal of selling 1,500 copies of our book through Kickstarter, then we promise that the Kickstarter campaign for our next book will include 2 different books!
This project of ours is all or nothing. It took us over 6 months to convince Tezuka Productions to allow us to print The Crater. As an upstart publishing company with no street cred, we were required to pay the royalties for each of the 2,000 copies of the book in advance. It took us another few months to come up with this money. Almost $25,000 and well over 1,000 hours of sweat equity later, the project is just about reaching the end. This book will be published regardless of Kickstarter; too much time and money have already been invested into this project. At the same time, as a brand new publishing company, we NEED Kickstarter and the support of Osamu Tezuka fans in order to make our first project successful. If we are forced to sell this book through Amazon we may actually lose money on each book sold.
Everyone needs to start somewhere and this is where it begins for us. EVERY penny made through the sales of this book and ALL related goods will go right back into our next project. If this Kickstarter campaign fails, then we will likely become defunct, never to see our dreams realized. However, if we succeed, then our future holds no boundaries. We have faith in you, so please have faith in us.
If you have any questions or concerns, you can post them on this Kickstarter page and our website, or feel free to email me personally at andrew@thekansaiclub.com.
Information to Take Into Consideration:
- This book is not intended for young children. There are a few short stories that are appropriate for children under the age of 13, but the majority of them are not. Some of the stories include brief nudity, graphic scenes of violence, and content that children may have trouble understanding. However, all of this is done very tastefully. The short stories in The Crater bring to mind episodes of the original Twilight Zone series. Most are thought provoking, some contain political/social messages, and others are downright creepy. All of the stories contain Osamu Tezuka’s signature sense of humor.
- This book reads from right to left. Why did we do this? Because we prefer to read manga this way (and we also realize that many people would be angry with us if we printed left to right).
- EVERYTHING offered in the reward categories are EXCLUSIVE to this Kickstarter campaign. Once the campaign ends, these items will no longer be available for sale anywhere.
Art Print #1
Art Print #2
Art Print #3
T-Shirt
Sticker
Risks and challenges Learn about accountability on Kickstarter
We don't foresee the possibility of many setbacks to this project. The worst case scenario is that this book will not be published until August (rather than July), and the only reason for this would be if Tezuka Productions takes too long to approve our copy of the book for publication. Similarly, we are still waiting on approval from Tezuka Productions for the content on the t-shirts.
FAQ
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At this time, we do not have an exact page count because we are still waiting for the Foreword and Introduction. However, we can say for certain that our translation of The Crater will be somewhere between 520 and 550 pages long.
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Nope. Sorry everyone, this will be way too difficult for us to arrange. We can, however, promise that your book will be numbered somewhere between 1 and 2,000 :)
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Yes! We will be happy to provide you with multiple books. Just change your pledge amount to reflect the price of the total number of books you would like. Then, send me a private message (through Kickstarter) telling me the number of books you would like. I will attach a note to your account and edit the total number of books left. We apologize, but as our profit margin is incredibly slim as it is, we will be unable to provide discounts. Each additional book will be $35. Also, if you would like to purchase more than 10 copies of this book, you must shoot me an email rather than pledge directly through our Kickstarter page as Kickstarter guidelines dictate that we are not allowed to sell any individual backer more than 10 copies of our book.
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Here is the complete list of backers who will be receiving the Ambassador Magma animation cel (as of 06/02). This list will change if any of the first 500 backers (who purchased a book) cancel their pledge. Please send us a message if you would like your name to be removed from this list (you will still be receiving an animation cel, your name just will not appear on this public list).
515
Lee Saenz514
Marty Trengove513
Gary T.512
John St. John511
Brandon Archer510
Adrian B509
Ian Bjerggaard Nielsen508
Mike Ostrow507
Utter Fool506
Landon Fry505
Mark Petz504
Travis Prow503
Karl Reinsch502
Elijah501
Chris Hooson500
Helen Bui499
Hannah Lee498
Mackenzie497
Kevin Ng496
Franklin Hamilton495
Chris494
Scott493
Maxim Kolbowski-Frampton492
Christopher Tonge491
Ada Palmer490
Adrian Ortiz489
Kelly488
Spencer Young487
James Lucas Jones486
Todd485
Car50n484
J. Ryan Pas483
Paul H482
Jeff481
Bradley Clifford480
Robert Matz479
Jeffrey Dym478
Ian Harper477
scott476
Scott Cederlund475
Ryan Stegman474
Monte Goode473
Christian Birk Sørensen472
Mark Katzoff471
Bryan Sem470
Isaac Leung469
Ahmed Al Naqbi468
Evan Ritchie467
Jesse Dlugosz466
Todd Little465
Gaelon Ratel464
Justin barber463
Alan Sparrow462
Arthur Bond461
neuroticmonkey460
Bonnie Gormley459
Rudee Wongsa458
Amos Goh457
Marcial Cavazos456
Sean Brady454
Nayef453
Lukas Chen452
hakoMike451
Ian Wolf450
mamath449
Alister Higson448
Sam Gibbins447
J L Rico446
Dave Lanphear445
Patrick Mohlmann444
Jason443
Petri Hänninen442
Craig Fotheringham440
evonfreeman439
Shane Calvert438
Dennis Platt437
Daniel Kberg436
Dean Pfeiffer435
Bruce Ellman434
lolitsundere433
Brooke Jones432
Riley King431
Joshua Munro430
Adil Surowidjojo428
Matt Romein427
Bob Bretall426
Alexander Volman425
Tyler Butterfield424
shanti diane423
Seth Goonetilleke422
Jordan Khan421
Nathan Welchert420
Jason Polensky419
Moahmmed Kalkattawi418
Anthony Gonzales417
Benjamin416
Jim Zawierucha415
Scott Iskow414
Linnea Harper413
Arety Jameson412
Alan V.411
Jose Sagastume410
felipe garza409
Jacob Welch408
Vinícius Braga de Andrade407
Barry Enright406
John Pamperin405
Jonathan You404
Andrew Sanford403
Jack Waitkus402
Matthew Rogers401
Jason Wood400
Christina399
Rajiv Miller398
Vadim Popkov397
Ben Le Foe396
William Conde395
Christopher Walker394
Timothy Farmer393
Shaun Manning392
Lucerito Martinez391
Joshua Keeler390
Henry Mendoza389
Melinda Beasi388
Matthew Plummer387
Jonathan Eaker386
Forest Horvath385
Philip Housler384
Medford Matthew383
Reid Johnson382
Matthew Haasch381
Robert Crockett380
Chris Taran379
Alex Burkhart378
Nic Dekany377
Rob Stockdale376
Tye Allum375
Gary Thompson374
Patrick Fenton373
Eddy Yue372
David Rapp371
Sean Mallari370
Jonathan Flores369
Andrew Porretta368
Robert Colin367
Ryan Settle366
Jason Glick365
Andrew Partridge363
Sambo Touch362
matt wells361
Apollo Lemmon360
Russell Martens359
piecar358
nycwerewolf357
Randy Yamauchi356
Heather Skweres355
Julian Wu354
Tom Pearcey353
Tom Fuchs352
Uri Cohen351
Tiffani Hernandez350
James Austin349
Thomas Harvey348
StDogbert347
Sean Sallis-Lyon346
Adam F345
Sarah Liberman344
Daniel Dames343
Phoenix Hammer342
Caity341
Carlos Escalante340
Ivan Cardenas339
Peter Munford338
Ethan Zlomke337
Guilherme Reghin Gaspar336
James Hoff335
Stanley Chu334
Diana Divine333
Steve Flack332
Jarred331
Will Stocks330
Tim Maloney329
Treven Bulluck328
Kellie Roach327
Neil Ennever326
Sean Koopman325
Allen Capitano324
Bryan Lee323
Justin Palmer322
David Price-Hughes321
omegajimes320
Joseph319
Joshua Lew318
Stephen Rooney317
Adam Randis316
Zack Sauvageau315
Kory Cerjak314
Bill Boehmer313
Michael Niederman312
Justin Ryan311
Kathryn Montgomery310
Tobias Lind309
Barbie Anderson308
Stephen Aguila307
Ian Green306
Joey Chiu304
Charles Dunbar303
Helena302
Jeff Deskins301
Jeffrey Pidgeon300
Jared Walske299
Omar Valdivieso298
David Workman297
Raven Hats296
Kristen Toohill295
Knight of Words294
Jeff Brackett293
SK292
Attila Dogan291
Gary Owen290
KingBork289
James D White288
Jason Hsu287
Evan Minto285
R. Wilkins284
Otaku News283
Joshua Hoagland282
Daniel Taylor281
Joe279
Peter A. Rose278
Carl Sterner277
Michael Maroon276
Luis Ignacio Perez275
Brandon Telg274
Courtney Hahn273
Riccardo "Hammer" Nauti272
Nick Hines271
Gina Fusco270
Sherwin Abesamis269
Michael A. Erazo268
Wilson Yeo267
Mel Smith266
Jeremy Teo265
Lara Pascoe264
Niall Smith263
James Weber262
Highlord Tamburlaine261
Tariq Khonji260
MaartenBerns259
Audrey Claire Tichanuk258
Andrew Coutu257
Arvan256
Nate255
Zee Vee254
Jason Y.253
Aubrey Chambers252
Jacob Kesinger251
Uncle Bob250
Andrew Wreschnig249
Jing Lee248
Michelle Smith247
Robert Farley246
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James Whittaker244
Margaret Kunz243
Sean Kim242
Wade Woodson241
Forgerelli240
Juan Rojas239
Dan Grendell238
Tom Wood237
Erwin Rosales236
SD Lockhart235
Thomas Ogden234
The Pandas233
Alex Martin232
Vince Bonavoglia231
Andrew wooda230
Valerie Burns229
Kurt Culler228
Dustin Williams227
Hayley225
Shane Hutchison224
Aaron W223
latasha n harris222
Nadine F.221
Cory MacDonald220
David Tai219
Laura K Dailey218
chebron217
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Michael Martin215
Daniel Theodore214
Konrad Debowski213
Le212
Thomas Lloyd211
Big Planet Comics210
Thor Deacon209
insanity prawnboy 23208
Sean G207
Corinna206
Kevin Derendorf205
Nate Olson204
R.A.L.203
I.Sinai202
Alexis Krone201
Nicholas R. Rowe200
Bonnie Turner199
Kent Anderson198
Rose Moran197
John Michael Brady196
Brandi Swenson195
karl richards193
Daniel Bailey192
aziesel191
Rachel Tougas190
Daryl Jenkins189
Hoyt Hill188
Hunter Clark187
Todd DuBois186
Phillip185
kenneth wu184
David W. Tripp183
fgutowski182
Stephen J. White181
Patrick McClafferty180
Gerry Formby179
Yin Yin Leong178
Kevin Freeman177
Brian Stone176
Rachel Mae Mhoon175
Dustin Cooper174
Rob Cassie173
Michael Camacho172
Gerardo Aguirre171
Christy Lewis170
Danielle169
Olivia Borg168
Tegan Stover167
Eljee Javier166
Edward Sizemore165
Jonathon Imperiosi164
Sean Gaffney163
David Francis162
Rant Howard161
Jena Jenkins160
Julian Staton159
curt darragh158
Pedro Ivo Andrade Tavares157
Docmac156
Vincent Lee155
Bryce Platt154
Frankie Ramirez153
Jim Walsh152
Matt Kamen151
Steven Hudson150
Mink149
Rachel Land148
Reginald Tiomico147
Thomas146
Richard Parker145
Danton McCreadie - OO Fledgling Paladin143
ComSR142
Joseph Strapec141
Vipat Chanthi140
Mika Flinkman139
Eleanor Walker138
Barry137
Mike Prower136
Stephan Weis135
Patrick Montero134
Daniel Parra133
Ulises Flores132
jklenow131
Tobias Wirth129
Simon Tyler128
Joel Wenham127
Daniel Koosed126
Chris124
Max Beckman123
Raymond Herrera122
Miguel Rana121
Daniel Fitzsimons120
Saul Amador119
Robert Remmers118
Cliff117
richard hadley116
SHODAN115
Rand Sugano114
Eric Seyler113
Ralph Baumgardner112
Jimmy A. Guerrero111
Carrie Mansfield110
Nicholas109
Elijah108
Jacqland107
William Chiu106
James Halstead105
Mary Danielson104
Thanun Khowdee103
Hao Tran102
Eros Livieratos101
Nathan C Glaze100
Sean O'Hara99
Kevin Winter98
Gregory Baker97
Robert Danforth96
Long-Yuet95
Gregory Myers94
Jonathan Carter93
Eric Turbeville92
Karen Y.91
Alvin Yap Kean Hoo90
Sean Kemp89
Jeremy Robert Medina88
Donnicton87
David Golbitz86
Rizere Hazrey85
Jamie S. Rich84
Todd Campbell83
Rochelle82
Ihsaan81
Scott Rubin80
ElleDee79
Dawn Oshima78
Adisakdi Tantimedh77
Daniel Tan76
Matt Kauffman75
Jeremy Huntink74
Christopher Brenner73
Reuben72
Matthew Loux71
S-Girl70
Colin Janson69
Adam68
Matthew Miles-Watson67
Deb Aoki66
Tsukiko65
Joe McCulloch64
Joey Weiser63
CJ Thom62
Jean Takabayashi61
Steven desJardins60
Lynzee Lamb59
Danny Jung58
Wan Kong Chan55
Courtney Seto54
Matthew B.53
Maxsterism52
MegaZone51
Philippe Lupien50
Colton Clayton49
Michael Toole48
Jennifer Sherrill47
Tabitha Ramsey46
Galen W Miller45
Joshua Steadman44
PhoenixTerran43
Alexander Hoffman42
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Jason40
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Daniella Orihuela-Gruber37
Michael Whipp36
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T Dyson33
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Zack Rosenberg3
Kelly B2
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THE PHILANTHROPIST: Want to help us out without smashing your piggy bank? Pledge $1 or more to help us reach our goal and your name will be added to a special Thank You page on our website. $1 may not be worth what it used to be but it will always be worth more than nothing!
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T-SHIRT AND STICKER SET: Pledge $20 or more and receive BOTH the t-shirt and sticker.
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THE BOOK: Here's what you came here for. Our Limited Edition version of Osamu Tezuka's "The Crater." We are ONLY publishing 2,000 copies of this wonderful book and we promise that this book will be the highlight of your Osamu Tezuka collection. The book comes with a beautiful hardcover and is printed in a 7 in x 10 in format. Each book is individually numbered out of 2,000. And, what kind of a Limited Edition doesn't come with some extra goodies? We are also including 3 different high quality 7 in x10 in art prints inspired by content from "The Crater" with EVERY book. Our Limited Edition version of The Crater also includes a Forward by the award winning historian and novelist, Frederik Schodt AND an exclusive introduction by the renown historian and manga scholar, Dr. Ada Palmer.
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THE GRAVY TRAIN: Want almost everything up to this point? Pledge $50 or more in this category and receive the following: 7 in x 10 in hardcover copy of The Crater, individually numbered out of 2,000; THREE 7 in x 10 in high quality art prints inspired by content from The Crater; Kansai Club exclusive Kickstarter t-shirt; 4 in x 4 in vinyl sticker.
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For a pledge of $100 or more, everything included in THE GRAVY TRAIN plus a "Kansai Club presents Osamu Tezuka's The Crater" hoodie in the color and size of your choice.
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For a pledge of $100 or more, everything included in THE GRAVY TRAIN PLUS a set of 4 Kansai Club shot glasses as well as 2 "Kansai Club presents Osamu Tezuka's The Crater" beer mugs.
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This is the biggest reward we are offering and there is only a single one available. For a pledge of $2,500, you will receive 2 copies of The Crater (which includes 2 sets of the 3 different art prints), A limited edition silver variant of all 3 of the art prints in 18 in x 24 in format (each of these are individually numbered 1 out of 1 and are MUSEUM QUALITY), 2 t-shirts, 2 stickers, a personalized hand written thank you letter from the president of Kansai Club, your name listed at the TOP of the thank you page in the actual book (ONLY if pledge is made before June 15th), 2 4-day VIP passes to Florida Supercon (July 4-7), and a hotel room with 2 queen beds for 3 nights at the Doubletree Hotel at the Miami Airport Convention Center where Florida Supercon takes place (rooms are currently sold out). You will have the opportunity to spend all 4 days of the convention hanging out with us at our booth, acting important with us at VIP events, getting backstage access to our party on Friday night promoting the release of The Crater, as well as partaking in invite-only afterparty activities. Also, if you're flying in from out of town we will personally pick you up from the Miami International Airport and drive you to the convention center.
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