UPDATE: As of July 10, 2021 4:18am JST, the Anime Tube Kickstarter Campaign has been suspended by the platform. In an email sent by Kickstarter to backers, it assured them that the pledges are cancelled, all funding has been stopped and backers will not be charged.
In a separate statement sent to backers inside the project’s Discord, developer GameFace LLC CEO Goerge Weller explain that they have two days to “address the issue,” are “addressing the campaign rules” and will show them that they are following the crowdfunding platform’s guidelines.
The original story follows below.
“Is Anime Tube a scam?” Industry professionals give insights on this Kickstarter campaign
Overnight, Anime Tube, a Kickstarter streaming platform project, draws attention from people in the anime community. This project is currently in the crowdfunding platform’s “Projects we Love” list. Currently, it has 940 backers pledging a total of US$109,027.
Its goal is to provide free anime streaming, directly competing with subscription services such as Funimation, Crunchyroll and Netflix. It asserts itself as a “registered, trademarked anime streaming app in development” for a variety of platforms. It promises to have an AI-assisted platform with improved streaming functions.
GameFace LLC is the publisher of the Anime Tube platform. The project also lists Zusho Venture Partners as its consultant.
A list of anime for discussion was included in the Kickstarter page. This list includes titles exclusive to select platforms, and are unlikely to be licensed to another party. It had 19 pages and hundreds of shows. The list is now removed from the Kickstarter page.
Anime industry figures react to Anime Tube ‘Scam’
People within the anime industry have voiced opposition against it and warned their followers of a potential scam. Shawne Kleckner, owner of distributor Right Stuf, even directly challenged the upstart. He asked them why titles from Right Stuf were included in the list, when they weren’t actually in discussion with them. Anime Tube, in a now-deleted response, said that they have contacted him on LinkedIn to discuss this directly.
That was not all, as he then tagged several other official profiles, asking if they had any knowledge about the situation.
Aside from these, the anime community is abuzz with their thoughts on this Kickstarter campaign. Callum May, popularly known as Canipa, is among the ones who expressed his insight:
Charlene Ingram, a former Director for Animation Marketing at VIZ Media, also shares her thoughts on why this Kickstarter has red flags. She lists 11 great points, and you can check out her Twitter thread below:
Prior to this, there was a similar crowdfunding campaign from the same people. It was cancelled before the set time expired.
Important Reminders
While this could be an honest attempt at a new legal streaming platform, we advise our fans to be careful. Don’t invest money before carefully analyzing and thinking about something. If you want to support a project, that’s great! Just be sure you know what you’re supporting and try to clear up any concerns before diving in.
Moreover, stay in the loop with Anime Corner’s latest news and feature stories about the anime industry.
Sources: Anime Tube Website, Kickstarter, @CanipaShow on Twitter, @tristencitrine on Twitter
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