Ah, Manga Reborn...You're my first of many Kickstarter ventures where I was royally let down.

So...Manga Reborn was a company who wanted to take manga from the 1970s-1990s that US distributors were not interested in releasing and localize it for release on the internet to paying customers. In order to raise some quick capital, Manga Reborn threw together a rather hasty package on Kickstarter. After a standard 30 day fundraising period, Manga Reborn barely scrapped enough to hit their target goal. I supported their highest tier which came with an original sketch from a set group of artists whose manga would be released thanks to this Kickstarter. I contacted the higher ups prior to the end of the project, inquired about having my sketch drawn by Satonaka-sensei and was told that she would draw an original sketch for me. Having picked up some of her artwork from Mandarake, I was thrilled that I would be able to compare her old artwork to her new artwork thanks to this project.

...Except, that didn't happen. Over a year after the Kickstarter ended, I had yet to hear anything regarding the rewards I was slotted to receive due to sponsorship. I contacted Reborn and they informed me that Satonaka would no longer draw a sketch for me and that instead, I could have two lithographs signed by her. This change and the fact that Manga Reborn could not inform me until after I inquired about it really ticked me off. Since the original deal was for an original sketch, I told them that I expected them to own up to their end of the deal, and requested another artist. Several months later after no contact, a package showed up containing this lithograph and an original sketch drawn by Shuho Sato. I have no clue as to what happened, whether it was Manga Reborn's failure to communicate with Satonaka or if she changed her mind later down the road, but it left a bitter taste in my mouth to the point that I will not bother to support this company.

Satonaka-sensei comes from the Golden Age of manga, and at a time where it was still largely a field dominated by boy action-oriented storylines. Sure, there was Osamu Tezuka around, but, during Satonaka's heyday, the idea of featuring empowering stories about young ladies and women was quite controversial.