Maru (Heavenly Delusion)
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- Japanese: Gen Satō
- English: Jonathan Leon
| Maru | |
|---|---|
| Heavenly Delusion character | |
 Maru as drawn by Masakazu Ishiguro | |
| First appearance | Heavenly Delusion #1, "Tokio" (2018) |
| Created by | Masakazu Ishiguro |
| Voiced by |
|
Maru (Japanese: マル) is a fictional character and protagonist from Masakazu Ishiguro's manga series Heavenly Delusion. Maru is an orphan who was given a mission by his dying caretaker Mikura to travel across Japan to find "Heaven" and find a person who possesses an identical face to hand over a cure. He is accompanied by the bodyguard, Kiruko, whom he is attracted to despite her claims that she is actually a boy who had his brain transplanted into his sister's body. Nevertheless, they develop a strong bond in their journey as they battle giant creatures that they call either man-eaters or Hirukos with Maru possessing the talent to destroy them by making contact with their cores that Kiruko names "Maru Touch" (マルタッチ). Maru's supernatural ability is also notable due to his surprising fighting skills which are later revealed to be connected with his origins from Heaven (The Takahara Academy) who used to experiment on teenagers.
Maru was based on Kona, a character Ishiguro wrote in a previous work, And Yet the Town Moves. He wanted to reuse the character after seeing an interview with Hirohiko Araki, regarding his continuous works in Jojo's Bizarre Adventure. Maru's relationship with Kiruko was inspired by buddy films and stories about siblings though Ishiguro suggested a more romantic idea since the series' beginning. In the anime adaptation, Maru is voiced by Gen Satō in Japanese and Jonathan Leon in English. The character was generally well-received due to his adventures with Kiruko and the bond they share. Maru's origins were also the subject of mystery in regard to his similarities with fellow character, Tokio and their possible connection.
Anime Adaptation
While manga artist Masakazu Ishiguro started writing Heavenly Delusion in 2018, he first revealed a teaser in late 2017 featuring the designs of Maru and fellow character, Tokio.[1] The sibling-like dynamic of the duo of Maru and Miruko was based on Ishiguro's personal life. He was inspired by an event when he noticed a person who was interested in his sister. Another aspect of the protagonists' dynamic was inspired by buddy films. Ishiguro was always inspired by stories of brothers and sisters, so he wanted to create his own story about a brother and sister swapping places, where the brother takes care of the sister. He rejected stories with supernatural elements and instead wanted the body swapping to be more realistic and accurate world to show what happens during a brain transplant. Another theme involves how relationships would change if somebody's sex changed such as Maru's feelings towards Kiruko's gender identity. He often writes metaphorical situations with Kiruko's menstrual cycle being caused by clashing with Maru's lips when awakening from a hallucination from a Hiruko's attack.[2]
Despite Ishiguro's fascination with siblings, Maru and Kiruko are not blood relatives. Nevertheless, Ishiguro wanted to make Maru affectionally call Kiruko 'sis'. While Maru is often protected by Kiruko, Ishiguro decided to give Maru a strong fighting ability to compensate for such weakness. This helped Ishiguro to keep writing Heavenly Delusion as a buddy film. Maru's design was inspired by Ishiguro's series And Yet the Town Moves, specifically a character, Kon. The style is different from before, and Ishiguro thought he would stop reusing characters this time. However, after reading Hirohiko Araki's comments about his character designs in the story arc JoJolion where the author decided to keep writing Jojo's Bizarre Adventure. This interview motivated Ishiguro to keep using the Kon designs in Maru's in a similar fashion as JoJolion. Another influence was the manga Akira by Katsuhiro Otomo who makes heavy emphasis on a post-apocalyptic world that Ishiguro wants to create in calm scenes involving Maru interacting with Kiruko while having meals.[3] In the beginning, Maru has feelings for Kiruko without knowing that his bodyguard is a boy inside a girl's body. Ishiguro called this premise as "transsexual sci-fi", alluding to the possibility of Maru still loving Kiruko despite knowing the truth.[4]
Writer Makoto Fukami noted the constant banters between Kiruko and Maru important for the plot setting, so they avoided trimming them in the television adaptation.[5] Director Hirotaka Mori thought Maru is a "very pure character but ignorant of the world" when the series begins. Mori finds him attractive but got the impression that Maru gradually gains an ego as if there is little he knows about the past. On the other hand, Kiruko is in a complicated situation with Maru, and has a past that is too heavy for her to handle alone. As a result, he enjoys the two and thinks it is a mutually complementary relationship.[6] Maru's action sequences were animated by Tetsuya Takeuchi who wishes to match wuxia-like choreography with active camerawork. He was also assisted by Ryo Araki.[7]
Casting
Gen Satō, Maru's Japanese voice actor, found that while Maru expresses several emotions, not much about him is known so it was difficult for him to voice the character.[8] During the first episode, Satō said that it was difficult to create Maru's character, in the sense that his character's position and his personality are different. As a result, Sato was conscious of just talking reflexively. He tried to bring out a certain emptiness in him by acting as if Maru was reacting to what came to his impression. Ishiguro told him that the anime's take was identical to how he envisioned the manga and thus was glad he managed to give Maru normal conversations. Both Sato and Kiruko's actor were enthusiastic when recording fight scenes, but the director told them to remain casual to reveal to the audience that both Maru and Kiruko are used to deal with delinquents or man-eaters.[9]
Meanwhile, Jonathan Leon said he enjoyed dubbing the character in English finding him "cool". Despite how dark the plot tends to be, Leon said he came to find Maru appealing for always retaining his smile and often jokes with Kiruko on topics which he relates to. He also finds the character hilarious, especially when Maru jumps to pick a battery for Kiruko's gun under the condition she will let him touch her cleavage.[10]