Earlier this year, developers AKABEi SOFT2 and Frontwing teamed up to bring an official English localization of Sharin no Kuni to international audiences. The original Kickstarter campaign, run by Japanese pop culture website, Tokyo Otaku Mode, failed to raise its $140,000 funding goal. Now, it seems they are ready to try again with a new campaign for Re: Sharin no Kuni Project.
The project will take AKABEi SOFT2’s classic, dystopian visual novel and give it a polished English localization. Considering the campaign was able to reach 50% of its $80,000 funding goal in roughly 4.5 hours, I think it’s safe to assume fans are excited about this news.
Sharin no Kuni: The Girl Among the Sunflowers tells the story of a dystopian society. Here, special ‘duties’ are imposed upon those who break the law. The protagonist, Kenichi Morita hopes to become a member of the “Special Elite.” This will put him in charge of overseeing the rehabilitation of these criminals.
Some of the ‘duties’ Kenichi finds his classmates bound by, include “observe a 12-hour day,” and “remain in infancy.” When he meets Natsumi Hinata, who’s duty mandates that she “cannot fall in love,” Kenichi begins to make odd discoveries about his society.
An unofficial fan translation of Sharin no Kuni does already exit. However, its creators later acknowledged that they were still inexperienced when they worked on it. They felt like an official translation would do the story better justice. In addition to the localization, the campaign will also bring physical copies of Sharin no Kuni and other merchandise overseas for the first time.
Everything A ‘True Fan’ Could Ever Need
Backers get a preview of all the goodies on offer through their reward tiers. Backers at higher levels will have access to a crazy amount of physical rewards. Everything from the usual artbooks and soundtracks, to pillow sets and even a Sharin no Kuni laptop.
Initially the developers didn’t plan to localize the 18+ content from the game. After an “overwhelming” number of requests to their Prefundia page they changed their minds. The adult content will be available as a content patch. This will convert the Steam or DVD-ROM version of Sharin no Kuni to the 18+ adult version. All backers who purchase the game through Kickstarter will receive the patch for free when it releases.
