Let's make a Black Anime Documentary!

Hey everyone! My name is Justin and I'm an independent filmmaker raising money for my documentary film "Shades of Otaku."

"Shades of Otaku" is a look into the black anime community, a feature documentary that chronicles the rise of popularity in anime and its resonance with the African American community told through the eyes of 4 black pioneers. How art, storytelling and emotion can transcend culture, time and ethnicity.

The love, the toxicity and the heart of what anime means to us. This film will showcase cosplayers, content creators, cons and more specifically in the black and brown communities to show the community and triumph that lives within.

The mission of this film is to showcase our love for anime with the audience and make legitimate mental and emotional connections to why this medium resonates with us. The story will follow me as I travel around the country to visit our 4 main characters to showcase what attracts us to anime, cosplaying, conventions and how anime rose to western popularity. Along the way we come in contact with many other members of the community to tell a story of unity and joy as black "nerds."

Pioneer 1 Tasha aka "DragonbabyT"

Tasha is a host and content creator within the pop culture and anime community and one of the co-founders of the Anime Geek Retreat. Her story in this documentary centers around her mission to create a safe space for black nerds to meet and converse out side of your standard conventions.

Pioneer 2 Greg aka "Ohitsgweg"

Greg is an entrepreneur and one of the founders of LAN Party Studios, an NYC based content group focused on gaming, anime and other nerd culture. His story in this documentary centers around his multiple events he produces throughout the year leading up to one big event at AnimeNYC.

Pioneer 3 Manny aka "Moonkiller"

Marissa Moon is a cosplayer, content creator, gamer, and artist within the anime community. Moonkiller has made a name within the community due to some amazing cosplays and overall passionate unique content creation and resonance with fans. Manny's story in the documentary is centered around conventions and a goal to attend school in LA to become a filmmaker.

Pioneer 4 Jared aka AnimeSundays

Jared is an Anime based Content Creator and host within the black anime community. He is a multi-talented creator spanning from video creation, streaming, cosplaying and hosting community based events. His story is centered around becoming successfully monetized across all platforms.

We have already started filming and everyone has been working out of their belief in this project and each other without any compensation!

So moving forward with the rest of filming we are trying to raise $25,000 and will be distributed as below.

From traveling across the country for interviews, conventions and post-production we want our friends and everyone who is working hard on this project to get their respective pay as well as be able to afford the equipment necessary!

These funds will specifically go towards traveling, our multiple camera operators, our interviewees across the country, our main cast, space rentals for the interviews, food and nourishment for both cast and crew, a full time editor, coloring the film, audio mixing, an original musical score, and the taxes that are taken out via GoFundme.

We would appreciate any donation that you give because we know that everyone is going through their own journey and that the only way we can reach this goal is together building off of each other! I know we can reach this goal even if all anime fans gave us $1!

We believe that it is important to give underrepresented voices visual representation on the small and silver screen respectively. To watch something that you can see people that look like you and enjoy the things you love can not be undervalued. This film will show you that as long as you stay true to what you love, you will always find a community out there where you will find companions.

We strive to bring all genres of storytelling within the black and Latinx communities with roles that viewers can see accurate representation in not only dramas and comedies but also horror, sci-fi, action, fantasy and yes the nerd-dom genre as well!

We truly can't wait to show you what we have created so far AND what more we have planned for the future because we met a lot of new friends ready to join us on this journey!

A sneak peek of the group we follow and the vibe of the film.

Anime Geek Retreat