At this point, the story revolving Digital Manga, Inc (DMI) is already known, mentioned, and regurgitated across the internet. Their reputation is already shot. There’s little point in already kicking a dead horse when it’s down and out for the count.
However, there is one thing I would like to say though.
During this process — a long process where the Wonder 3, Psyche Delico and Kodomo no Jikan Kickstarters have been in limbo for years and backers confused and frustrated — there has been just the one statement put out by their President, Hikaru Sasahara, back in 2018, and that was mostly for the Kimagure Orange Road Kickstarters. For everything else they’ve essentially left Lindsay, who was one of the new hires around 2018, to give backers and onlookers of DMI general updates for these projects.
I will stress that by the time Lindsay started working there the signs that DMI was being run poorly were there, so I can’t feel too much sympathy for her or the remaining staff at what it’s become. It doesn’t change the fact that the one who should be put in a position to come up with a response for everyone to read and criticize should be the president himself. As the one running the business, you should be looking to have your name in these updates — especially these past few updates — and take all the deserved criticism of how these Kickstarters were handled. No one else. But that’s not what’s happened though.
Instead, the only thing to really wonder is what Hikaru Sasahara is doing to rectify this mess…if it even has a chance to be rectified. And for those who are still working with DMI, how they’ll be able to advance anywhere in the manga industry with the type of reputation the company has been carrying for the last couple years.