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Skip Beat! Anime's Dub Teaser Previews English Opening Theme (Update)

Pied Piper, Inc. began streaming a short teaser on Thursday for its Kickstarter-funded English dub of Skip Beat!, including the English version of the opening theme song "Dream Star," performed by Mela Lee and Cristina Vee. The video features Caitlin Glass, the voice of the protagonist Kyoko Mogami.

The staff recorded English versions of the anime's two opening theme songs, two ending theme songs, and two insert songs, and the new versions will be included on the English dub track. The company was initially unable to get approvals to dub the two ending themes, but updated the Kickstarter page to say that they will be able to dub them: Robbie Daymond and Raj Jain will perform the first ending theme "Namida" and Vic Mignogna will perform the second ending them "Eien."

The dub cast includes:

• Caitlin Glass (Ouran High School Host Club's Haruhi, Fullmetal Alchemist's Winry, new Escaflowne dub's Hitomi) as Kyoko Mogami
• Robbie Daymond (Sailor Moon's Tuxedo Mask, The Seven Deadly Sins' Gilthunder) as Ren Tsuruga
• Grant George (Fate/Zero's Lancer, Kill la Kill's Uzu Sanageyama) as Sho Fuwa
• Erica Lindbeck (Coppelion's Ibara Naruse, Magi's Gyokuen Ren) as Kanae Kotonami (Moko)
• Cristina Vee (Blazblue's Noel Vermillion, K-ON!'s Mio Akiyama, Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Crystal's Sailor Mars) as Erika Koenji
• Christine Marie Cabanos (K-ON!'s Azusa Nakano, Puella Magi Madoka Magica's Madoka Kaname, Kill la Kill's Mako) as Mimori Nanokura
• Mela Lee (Blazblue's Rachel, Fate/stay night's Rin, Durarara!!'s Erika) as Maria Takarada
• Richard Epcar (Durarara!!×2's Sloan, Lupin the Third's Daisuke Jigen) as Lory Takarada
• Vic Mignogna (Dragon Ball Z's Broly, Ouran High School Host Club's Tamaki) as Yukihito Yashiro
• Kyle McCarley (Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans' Mikazuki, Aldnoah.Zero's Kisaki) as Hikaru Ishibashi
• Todd Haberkorn (Free! - Iwatobi Swim Club's Haruka, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood's Ling) as Shinichi Ishibashi
• Bryce Papenbrook (Attack on Titan's Eren, Durarara!!'s Masaomi) as Yuusei Ishibashi
• Keith Silverstein as Takenori Sawara
• Karen Strassman as Shoko Aoki
• Dorothy Fahn as Kuniko (ep 1), Kimiko Kamio (ep 4), Yoshimi (ep 9)
• Kaiji Tang as Matsushima (eps 2-3, 8, 14) / “Love Me” Male Voice
• Joe Zieja as Nakazawa (eps 2-3, 5)
• Kira Buckland as Ruriko Matsunai (eps 5-7)
• Erika Harlacher as Eiko (eps 8-9)
• Jason C. Miller as Ushio Kurosaki (eps 10-12)
• Nathan Sharp as Imai (eps 12-14)
• Lauren Landa as Nao (eps 12-13) / Yumiko (eps 15-16)
• Kyle Hebert as Funada (eps 12-14) / Tecchin (ep 14)
• Kate Davis as Haruki Asami (eps 17-19)
• Erin Fitzgerald as Hiroko Iizuka (eps 21-23)
• Chris Patton as Hiroaki Ogata (eps 20-25)

The Kickstarter campaign had set an initial goal of US$155,000 to fund a DVD release. The campaign reached its US$185,000 stretch goal on April 14 to offer a Blu-ray Disc release in addition to the DVD release. The campaign ended on April 16 having raised US$224,546.

The company is accepting additional and upgraded pledges through the BackerKit service through December 15. The DVD and Blu-ray Disc is slated for 2017.

Pied Piper had originally launched an Indiegogo campaign for the franchise on March 1, but then relaunched the campaign on Kickstarter on March 17.

Pied Piper acquired the license from TV Tokyo, and TV Tokyo is requiring the English dub as a condition of release. The company will not be able to release the series on a subtitle-only format. The license covers the United States and Canada only.

The television version of Yoshiki Nakamura's Skip Beat! shōjo manga premiered in Japan in October 2008. The series is available streaming on Crunchyroll. Viz Media publishes the original manga in North America.

Update: Pied Piper will be dubbing the ending theme songs. Thanks, FlamingFirewire.