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In This Corner of the World Meets Crowdfunding Goal in 1 Day to Send Director Overseas

The staff of Sunao Katabuchi's In This Corner of the World anime film launched a crowdfunding campaign on Tuesday to send Katabuchi to the foreign screenings of the film. By attending foreign screenings, Katabuchi hopes to see how people from different countries receive the film, capture their feelings regarding Japan's status as the sole country that is the victim of a nuclear weapon, and return those sentiments to Japan to compare and contrast it to Japan's own ways of coming to grips with that knowledge. The campaign has a goal of 10,800,000 yen (about US$97,244), and it reached that goal on the first day. As of press time, the campaign has reached 18,511,200 yen (about US$163,750).

Backer rewards include a written report by Katabuchi on his experiences in the foreign screenings and attendance in gatherings and events regarding the foreign screenings.

The film previously raised 36,224,000 yen (about US$292,000) from 3,374 people via a crowdfunding campaign last year.

The film debuted in 63 Japanese theaters on November 12 and sold 32,032 tickets to earn 47,042,090 yen (US$434,288). The film ranked #10 in the Japanese box office in its opening weekend. It won the Hiroshima Peace Film Award at the Hiroshima International Film Festival.The film is projected to earn 500 million yen (about US$4.50 million).

All screenings at Theatre Shinjuku, Theatre Umeda, and Cine Libre Umeda were sold out on the first day, and more locations held sold-out screenings on the second day. The film is also slated to open in 14 foreign countries, beginning in England, France, and South America, and will eventually travel to Germany, Mexico, and other countries.

The film is based on Fumiyo Kōno's To All The Corners Of The World (Kono Sekai no Katasumi ni) manga. The award-winning manga follows a bride named Suzu Urano as she moves to her new life in Kure City on the coast of Hiroshima Prefecture. Suzu perseveres through World War II with pluck and determination.

Director and writer Sunao Katabuchi (Mai Mai Miracle, Black Lagoon) had announced the feature film in 2012. Additional staff for the film includes Chie Uratani (Black Lagoon: Roberta's Blood Trail, Mai Mai Miracle, Tekkonkinkreet animation director) as assistant director and screen composition, Hidenori Matsubara (Oh My Goddess!, Sakura Wars, King of Thorn) as character designer and animation director, kotringo (The Bears' School, Gourmet Girl Graffiti) on the music, and Tarō Maki as producer at GENCO. MAPPA studio founder and producer Masao Maruyama is credited for planning. Tokyo Theatres Company is distributing the film.

The film screened at Annecy in a Work in Progress session in June. Animatsu Entertainment acquired the global rights to the film.

JManga had released Kono's manga in English online. The manga series won an Excellence Prize in the 13th Japan Media Arts Festival, and it already inspired a live-action television special starring Keiko Kitagawa (live-action Sailor Moon's Sailor Mars, Paradise Kiss) as Suzu Urano in 2011. Last Gasp Publishing and jaPRESS released Kono's manga Town of Evening Calm, Country of Cherry Blossoms in North America.

[Via Hachima Kikō]