The indie film makers responsible for the 2008-2009 web-anime Time of Eve (Eve no Jikan) have started a Kickstarter campaign to raise funds for an international BluRay release of the movie version of the widely acclaimed work.
Time of Eve was originally released, on YouTube in Japan and Crunchyroll in the US, as a series of six episodes, with an original schedule of one episode every two months starting in August 2008. After numerous delays of individual episodes, the final episode was released in September 2009. Fan support, both in Japan and around the world, was a major support for this small team of film makers. Fan support was so strong that they decided to create a movie version by linking the six episodes together with additional back-story and greater world building in the extra scenes. It has been stated that it is a significantly different experience watching the movie version as opposed to the original.
They released the movie version on BluRay in Japan with English subtitles and also released the movie on iTunes, but people continue to request an international BluRay release, so they decided to see just how much support there was for this idea. Hence the Kickstarter campaign. Doing a release this way, they feel, maintains the strong connection with the fans that was the hallmark of the anime from start to finish and allows them to maintain creative control of their work. If they meet their goal, they will have funds to produce the BluRay with the quality and extras they feel the movie deserves, including:
- Time of EVE: The Movie, with subtitles in English.
- Bonus features with interviews of the main cast and director Yoshiura Yasuhiro and maybe more.
- 40-page art book
- For those who purchase this Blu-ray through the Kickstarter campaign, each Blu-ray will include 8 postcards of the characters. This is the complete set of postcards, and is an exclusive for this Kickstarter campaign!
I don't want to come off as an advertisement, but this is one of the great works of the first decade of the 21st century. A science fiction story about what it means to be a person, which makes wonderful use of the Three Laws of Robotics from Issac Asimov's classic Robot Series (I Robot, Caves of Steel, The Naked Sun, etc…) The story is thought-provoking and well crafted, funny at times and emotionally powerful at others. The animation and artwork are a marvel, especially for a small, self-produced work. It may not be quite to the Makoto Shinkai, Voices of a Distant Star level of amazing, but it is pretty close.
I highly recommend watching it if you haven't had the opportunity. I know that it is still available on Crunchyroll, but I don't know what region restrictions there are.
Sources: ANN–Crunchyroll–Time of Eve Kickstarter Campaign Page