News: Kickstarter Launched by Shō Shibamoto for English Translation of Flower Knight Dakini Manga Chapters 10-15

Manga artist Shō Shibamoto launched a crowdfunding campaign on Wednesday to fund the production of chapters 10 to 15 of his self-published web manga series Flower Knight Dakini. The campaign has earned US$3,578 of its US$4,103 (converted from yen) goal as of press time, and will end on September 30.

Shibamoto launched a previous Kickstarter campaign in March 2019 to fund the English release of chapters seven to nine of the manga. The campaign reached its goal in its first three days and ended in April 2019.

Shibamoto launched a Kickstarter campaign to fund an English version of the first six chapters of the manga in March 2018. The campaign surpassed its goal, and the English release debuted for Kindle in August 2018.

Shibamoto posted the first chapter of Flower Knight Dakini (Hana no Kishi Dakini) in April 2017 and the 15th and most recent chapter on August 14. Shibamoto describes the story:

The main characters are Eiden, an aspiring painter who got caught up in the great destruction caused by the Sky Golems and can’t paint anymore because of the shock…and Dakini, a mute warrior with mysterious fighting abilities on a mission to defeat the golems. While traveling together to challenge the menace that threatens their world, they face their traumas and their past while pursuing their mission and hopes.

Simona Stanzani is translating Flower Knight Dakini. Stanzani previously translated Shibamoto’s Pandemonium -Wizard Village-, which ran simultaneously in Japanese and English on Shogakukan‘s now-defunct Ikki-Para webcomics site.

The story of Flower Knight Dakini is linked to Pandemonium -Wizard Village- and Shibamoto’s Tsunousagi manga, which Shogakukan also published.

Shibamoto debuted as a manga artist in 2008, after his short story “Baku” won the seinen manga division of Shogakukan‘s 62nd Newcomer Comic Grand Prize. He had previously earned a jury recommendation for self-published manga at the 2007 Japan Media Arts Festival Awards. In addition to Tsunousagi and Pandemonium, Shibamoto drew the Yo-kai Watch Koma-san ~Hanabi to Kiseki no Jikan~ and Yo-kai Watch Koma-san ~Tamaki to Nagareboshi no Tomodachi~ manga.

Sources: Email correspondence, Kickstarter