Help keep the Mighty No. 9 dream alive: invest in the upcoming animated series

We all know that Mega Man spiritual successor Mighty No. 9 will be getting an animated series, but if you paid attention to that one line in every report on it, you’d have realized that the Mighty animated series is not getting a dime from the funds already raised by the Kickstarter.

Comcept CEO and former producer of the boy (robot?) in blue Keiji Inafune has also said in an announcement on his company’s website and at the Anime Expo on July 5 that none of the money raised by Comcept would be used for the series.

(See: Check out Mighty No. 9‘s alpha gameplay video)

Instead, Digital Frontier, the production company of the Mighty series, will be turning to some private investment in addition to broadcast, merchandise, and production partners to get the series funded.

Emmanuel Osei-Kuffour, who is one of the staff leading the production at DF, told Games in Asia that Digital Frontier actually got the idea for the series after the Kickstarter went out, and pitched it to Comcept.

[fve]http://youtu.be/UmY3jd0z8ho[/fve]

Happily, Comcept loved it. And while the project is financially separate from the rest of the Mighty No. 9 game, Digital Frontier has been working off the original game documents, and with blessing from Comcept on everything it produces.

That is why the company isn’t looking for just anyone to invest in the Mighty No. 9 animated series, either. According to Osei-Kuffour, part of Digital Frontier’s goal is to find investors who have an interest in the project.

(See: Mighty No. 9 is the third most funded Kickstarter video game in history)

“We need investors who believe in Keiji Inafune’s work, like Mega Man, Dead Rising, Onimusha, and the newMighty No. 9 franchise to reach out,” he said, adding that the series would be created primarily for the worldwide market and not just the Japanese domestic market as most Japan-produced animations are. Osei-Kuffour also said that the series could be a way to introduce Mighty No.9 to kids today, the way the 1994 Mega Man cartoon introduced kids to the Mega Man game series. He cited his own similar experience with the Mega Man cartoon as a child.

Osei-Kuffour also added that the current series trailer does not represent the final look of the series, and there is a chance that the finished Mighty animated series will look completely different. Personally, I’m hoping for a retro throwback to the Astro Boy era.

[fve]http://youtu.be/57JXaCsWY4c[/fve]

Digital Frontier is traditionally an animation and visual effects company with it’s base in Tokyo. It has a total of 350 staff in three offices worldwide, the other two being in Kuala Lumpur and Taiwan.

Some of its portfolio includes the Appleseed and Appleseed Saga: Ex Machina movies, composite work and CG for the 2D animated films, “Summer Wars” and “Wolf Children”, the full CG production for Tekken: Blood Vengeance and Resident Evil: Damnation as well as CG and motion capture work for Metal Gear Rising, Metal Gear Solid 4,and Killer 7.

If you’re an investor in Asia who shared a childhood with Mega Man perhaps this could be your shot at giving back to the dream! The Digital Frontier team can be reached here for further discussion.