AP 555 - Q. Pilgrimage

[VicMonado]

Who needs a holiday brochure when you've got anime to recreate places of the world (usually in Japan) in stunning background artwork? So are there any locations featured from any shows/films that you would like to make an anime pilgrimage to?

This weeks topic was submitted by user Xahldera, so thanks for that.

[xahldera]

Time to get my papers in order first!





With the formalities done, I would like to make a pilgrimage to the Washinomiya Shrine in Kuki (Formerly Washimiya), Saitama Prefecture, Japan, as portrayed in "Lucky Star". It is the shrine whose Torii (gate archway that appears at the entrance to such shrines) that appears in the opening as well as being the shrine that the Hiiragi sisters work at as Miko in one episode.


An honourable mention would be the Toyosato Elementary School in Toyosato, Shiga Prefecture, as portrayed in "K-On!". It's a bit far and out of the way but it is interesting to see how much detail of the school grounds Kyoani recreated in the anime. The building itself has attempted to recreate the rooms as seen in the anime.

On a side tangent, mostly because I am very biased and have family there, I would like to bring up one anime location I visit on a regular basis. Hong Kong. One of the most densely packed cities in the world. It has been an inspiration, along side Tokyo, for gritty sci-fi/cyberpunk-esque urban environments. What some may not know is that although the setting of the 1995 "Ghost in the Shell" movie is not established, the creators at Production I.G. decided to model a lot of the locations on Hong Kong and the linked video attempts to find the locations that inspired a lot of the iconic shots. Also interesting is this retrospective article that looks at the design of said locations. I visit this corner of China regularly due to the aforementioned family and I can vouch that outside of the Gentrified areas (And even some of those Gentrified areas) are rather Anime-esque in their design.

[Midnight Crooh]

Well, my main destination would be the village of Hinamizawa from Higurashi (minus the insanity and death). It's probably one of the largest anime locations that you can actually visit in real life since it's closely based on the entire village Shirakawa-Go in Gifu prefecture.
Another would be one of those beautiful european cities you see in a lot of shows. While I'm sure there are better examples the only ones that come to mind are from Kino's Journey (both the old and the new). The wide cobblestone streets with the tall, box-like buildings. I believe those can mostly be found in places like Austria and Switzerland nowadays.

-Crooh

[rampant_a_i]

While visiting Japan is on my bucket list, few of the RL locations there would be on my Anime tour list (I'd visit Tokyo and Mount Fuji regardless of their role in Anime.) Rather, most of those at the top of my Anime location list are fictional, and some outright fantasy. Fuyuki City (from the Fate series) comes to mind, for one. Or the forests from Princess Mononoke (I understand the latter was inspired by the RL mountains in northern Honshu as well as a wildlife refuge on the island of Yukushima. So perhaps visiting those would suffice instead.)

But if I could visit the settings from Cowboy Bebop, which would include Alba City on a terraformed Mars as well as oribital colonies in the Belt like Tijuana, then I'd be in heaven.

[VicMonado]

But if I could visit the settings from Cowboy Bebop, which would include Alba City on a terraformed Mars as well as oribital colonies in the Belt like Tijuana, then I'd be in heaven.

Haha I plan to use fictional locations for a later post. =D

[YotaruVegeta]

I'll just be a hack and say Shinjuku

You'll remember Shinkjuku from such anime as Your Name!



Shinjuku Anime Locations

[QueenInoue]

I would love to visit akihabara! that has shown up in anime. totally down for it! lol