For 25 years, Megumi Ogata has proven to be one of Japan’s most well-known seiyuu. With characters which include Sailor Moon’s Sailor Uranus, and of course, Evangelion’s Shinji Ikari, she captured the hearts of a lot of fans. For her 25th anniversary in the industry, the veteran seiyuu is planning to launch a new album titled Animeg 25th.

And she didn’t just reach out to her usual Japanese fans, but also to her foreign fans as well. In fact, she even launched an English campaign page alongside her Japanese Campfire crowdfunding page. She also wrote a heartfelt letter and a message to her for foreign fans in English.

Hello! My name is Megumi Ogata.
I’m a Japanese singer as well as a voice actress for animations.
My 25th voice actress debut anniversary will come in a few months on October 10!

Why am I producing an album through crowdfunding, you ask?
I have two main reasons.

  1. To provide genuine content to Japanese fans and also fans around the world at the very same time
  2. To raise awareness in Japan and overseas about the current status of our industry

As you may already know, the CDs and DVDs that we produce in Japan are difficult to obtain outside of Japan. I don’t mean the pirated and illegally distributed versions. The genuine copies of our CDs and DVDs are difficult to obtain. As authentic routes of distribution are scarce, fans are generally required to import them privately and pay hefty shipping fees.

We in the industry want to share our music and other creations with fans, no matter where they reside. Fans overseas often ask us about gaining access to more of our content, too.

I spent a long, long time pondering over this issue. What can I do to overcome this invisible wall separating the fans and myself? There has to be something that even I can do, right?

The conclusion I came to was to utilize the power of crowdfunding.

I consulted other members in the industry about my thoughts. Many fans in Japan also helped me brainstorm and search for possibilities.
“We want to share the pleasure of receiving something on the day it’s released with fans living outside of Japan”.
“We would like to celebrate music and creativity with fans around the world”.

To transform those thoughts into reality, I decided to propose this special project.
My wish is for this project to serve as a platform that upcoming generations of Japanese voice actors and actresses, musicians, and other members of the entertainment industry can use to connect with fans around the world. Not just in sharing music through CDs, but also through other simple yet innovative formats.

I also wish my project could help fans residing outside of Japan to gain access to a wide variety of Japanese content.
Nothing would make me happier than having those wishes come true.

And reaching out to her foreign fans seems to have worked big time! The campaign launched last week, and then reached its 100,000 yen goal in just 90 minutes. Now, it has reached the 200% mark, which is double her initial goal.

As of the writing, they haven’t revealed much details about the album’s exact release just yet. However, you can visit the English-language website about what the album has in store.