A soft bell tolled across the seaside town as dawn slid pale fingers over tiled roofs. In a narrow house painted the color of storm-smoothed shells, Aimi Yoshikawa folded the last corner of a letter and tucked it into a lacquered box. Her name—Marutto Aimi Yoshikawa—was written in looping ink at the top, as if the name itself could hold every small, stubborn piece of herself.
| Year | Title | Format | Publisher / Studio | Notes | |------|-------|--------|--------------------|------| | 2017 | Mizu‑Sora | Graphic Novel | Self‑published (Kickstarter) | Climate‑fiction, 240 pages | | 2019 | Kōrō (collection) | Anthology (illustrations) | Kodansha | Features works by 12 Kōrō Studios artists | | 2022 | Eternal Neon | Manga Series (3 volumes) | Kodansha | Translated into 12 languages | | 2024 | Kumo‑no‑Uta | Animated Short (12 min) | Studio Ghibli (co‑production) | Cannes Critics’ Week winner | | 2025 | Marutto AI | Generative Art Platform | PixelForge (software) | SaaS model; free tier for educators | | 2026 (planned) | Sora‑no‑Kage | Graphic Novel | Shogakukan | Set in a post‑solar‑flare world | marutto aimi yoshikawa
The day’s key led her across the market to a woman with paint on her knuckles and a cardboard sign that read GARDENING FOR RENT. She introduced herself as Keiko, twenty-eight, with eyes like steamed matcha and a laugh that cracked the sky open in a way that made Aimi forget to breathe normally. Keiko wanted to rent a single raised bed on the promenade—an impossible request in a place that prized tidy hedges and exacting rules—but she offered, in exchange, to paint murals along the sea wall. A soft bell tolled across the seaside town