Under the Dog


Under The Dog is a 2016 Japanese original video animation. Originally a collaborative project between Creative Intelligence Arts and Kinema Citrus, and later a project solely produced by Kinema Citrus, it is a Kickstarter-funded anime project, released on August 1, 2016. The anime was supposed to be set in Neo Tokyo in the year 2025, five years after a terrorist attack on the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. To combat future threats, the United Nations force teenagers possessing special abilities into fighting those threats. One member, Anthea Kallenberg, seeks to discover her true identity.
Under the Dog was originally conceived in the late 1990s by Jirō Ishii, intended as a 26-episode series. When the project was resurrected, the team behind it chose to fund it through Kickstarter to retain creative freedom. The staff consisted of Ishii, director Masahiro Andō, producer Hiroaki Yura, character designer Yūsuke Kozaki, and composer Kevin Penkin. Though the project was successfully funded, Creative Intelligence Arts and Kinema Citrus separated due to creative differences, and Kinema Citrus took full control. The split resulted in the replacement of some development staff, including Yura being replaced by Kōji Morimoto and Yoshirō Kataoka and the involvement of Orange.

Plot

The story takes place within Neo Tokyo in the year 2025, five years after a severe terrorist attack at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Students possessing special abilities are forced into serving an elite anti-terrorist unit created by the United Nations, fighting against threats including other ability users. If these agents fail their mission, they will be killed along with their families, who have bombs planted within their heads. One member of this covert ops unit, a Swedish girl by the name of Anthea Kallenberg, seeks to find who she really is.

Characters

Development

The story for Under the Dog was initially conceived between 1995 and 1996, with a script treatment completed in 1996. Under the Dog was initially planned as a 26-episode anime. The project itself eventually was described as an entry point or "Episode 0" to introduce the world and characters. The project's main aim was to continue the style and atmosphere of earlier science fiction anime like Akira and Ghost in the Shell. The story's main theme was young people forced to face their own or their family's deaths. Its central theme was struggling for freedom, represented on multiple levels. Its tagline, "Our enemy is the light of humanity", represents the story element of people intended to be saviors being branded as enemies, a recurring motif in the anime that inspired it. Instead of going through the usual funding routes, the creative team decided to use Kickstarter to fund the project. Their stated reason was that the current anime market did not allow for the amount of creative control they desired, as the majority of anime production was dictated by a committee, which would have been unwilling to take on Under the Dog as it did not target the core otaku audience. The team also wanted to reach out to an international audience, making Kickstarter a viable funding option. The game's main staff consisted of director Masahiro Andō, producer Hiroaki Yura, the original writer and later co-writer Jirō Ishii, character designer Yūsuke Kozaki, and composer Kevin Penkin. It was produced by Creative Intelligence Arts, with animation by Kinema Citrus and 3D CGI animation by Orange Co.
The project was brought onto Kickstarter as an original 24-minute anime, with potential for future projects set within the Under the Dog universe if the campaign was successful. As part of the later project campaign, it received official endorsements by Hideo Kojima and CyberConnect2 CEO Hiroshi Matsuyama. The project successfully reached its minimum funding goal of $580,000 two days before the Kickstarter closed. At that time, the team were in talks with Netflix and Crunchyroll to distribute the anime worldwide. Their success also promoted the addition of stretch goals, including two prequels, a Los Angeles premier, and production shift to a feature film if funding reached $5.1 million. By the closing of its Kickstarter campaign, the project had raised $878,028. This funding, while sufficient to produce the original anime episode within a tight budget, was not enough to produce future installments in the series. The production costs ended up being higher than anticipated, but the team looked for means to fulfill all the project's initial goals and investor rewards.
After the project was successfully funded, creative differences between Creative Intelligence Arts and Kinema Citrus over the following months concerning their visions for the project prompted the two to part ways in January 2015, with Kinema Citrus taking charge of production. After the split between the two companies, a new staff roster was created and production began in February month, which included new producers Kōji Morimoto and Yoshirō Kataoka. Ando and Ishii remained their respective roles. In addition, new staff included character designer and animation director Masahiro Sato, and new writers Yukinori Kitajima and Keigo Koyanagi. Upon being appointed, Morimoto's first task was to assess the anime's financial standing, finding that there was no funding set aside for operational costs, and that some of the rewards promised to backers were more costly than first estimated. To help with this, a new group called Mentat Studios LLC was formed to manage the publicity so the team could focus on animation. The anime is planned to be finished by spring of 2016, with storyboarding projected to be completed by summer 2015 and voice acting by winter of 2015. A new trailer was released in September 2015, showcasing its projected release period. It featured settings and backdrops that were changed from the original reveal trailer to better suit Ishii's original vision. In April 2016, it was revealed on the official website that the anime will release on August 1, 2016, available to those who backed the Kickstarter project. On June 2017 the follow up to DVD sendings and other support for Under the Dog rewards shipment and figurine refunds ended. The project started in October 2017 the funding for the next chapter.