Maruyama has since established a new company, Mappa Co., in the Asagaya-Minami area in Tokyo's Suginami Ward and is now working on a feature film adaptation of "To All the Corners of the World," based on a manga by Fumiyo Kono, whose grandmother lived in Kure.
The story lovingly describes the everyday lives of ordinary people in the cities of Kure and Hiroshima in Hiroshima Prefecture before the atomic bomb is dropped, and Maruyama pays careful attention in the film to what the bomb destroyed.
Taking the reins as director is 52-year-old Sunao Katabuchi, who helmed the "Princess Arete" feature film and the "Black Lagoon" animated series.
Katabuchi also once worked at the new Mushi Production, founded after its predecessor's bankruptcy. It was during Katabuchi's time there that Maruyama fell in love with the power of his work.
Katabuchi's production style is unique. For "To All the Corners of the World," he first collected nearly 4,000 photographs of the people and townscapes of Kure and Hiroshima in those days. Photographs of almost all the geographical settings in the original comic were brought in and served as the basis for production members' illustrations.
"I think we can depict the landscapes that have been lost if we draw them by hand," Katabuchi said.
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Last year, Katabuchi made repeated visits to Kure and Hiroshima for the production of "To All the Corners of the World." Standing in various spots where the film's protagonist will stand, the director made detailed records of the shapes of the mountains and how the ocean would be seen from there. He also interacted with local residents and met with some of the few remaining survivors of the atomic bomb to ask questions about that time.
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Even though Maruyama has yet to secure funding for the production of "To All the Corners of the World," he has already started making it, proving that the passion passed down through the DNA of Mushi Production is still alive and well.
