Real-life locations in anime and manga

Ian Wolf

Ian Wolf

Mushi-shi
AUKN Staff
I was wondering which anime and manga are set in or regularly feature actual real-life places. I can think of a few such as Kamogawa (Lagrange), Ikebukuro (Durarara!!) or Hokkaido (She, The Ultimate Weapon).

Can anyone else think of the actual places where anime and manga are set in? I'd like to try and get the locations as detailed as possible. For example, if something is set in Tokyo, where abouts in Tokyo.
 
I was a bit freaked out watching Je t'aime (a short Oshii film) because I suddenly recognised a road. Not one of the really obvious roads in the film, which is set in Asakusa around some famous tourist areas, but a very normal road near an udon shop. It was terrifyingly accurately brought to life.

Most historical shows of course feature now-famous settings, but sticking to modern series (and avoiding the low hanging fruit of places such as Tokyo Tower which I'm sure someone will cover), Anohana was quite clear about being in Chichibu, Kita He Diamond Dust Drops is openly set in Hokkaido, Tsuritama made frequent use of its setting of Enoshima, Lucky Star's Washinomiya Shrine seems to be in the news regularly, and dozens of shows accurately represent Tokyo otaku hotspots such as Akihabara and Big Sight (e.g. Comic Party, Genshiken, Doujin Work). Gintama is not based on our timeline but its wacky version of Kabukichou still has a familiar feel, and similarly Evangelion has made much of being set in Hakone despite the major differences in its fantasy timeline. Nana's manga did a good job of bringing some more unusual districts in Tokyo (and farther afield) to life, but I'm not sure if this carried across to the anime version.

R
 
Noein is set in Hakodate. The extras (on the US version at least) had the director and star go on a location scout to the port, and you cane see the streets and locations as used in the anime.

There's another location scouting extra in the Stratos 4 anime, although that's pretty much a generic island...

The Tokyo arc of Otogi Zoshi is all set in real Tokyo locations (again with the US release for the location scouting featurettes).

Haruhi Suzumiya is another show that showcases real locations. There's a location scouting video that goes to the real world hospital used in the Disappearance movie.
 
The K-ON! movie has the gang travelling to London. I haven't seen the movie myself, but I have heard that the way the city was recreated was really accurate (can anyone vouch for this?). I still get hyped just seeing them walk past the Camden Town tube sign in the trailer. There was also that article a few months ago how Japanese fans visited a café that was featured in the movie and even left a still of the characters in the café when they left.
 
Joshawott said:
The K-ON! movie has the gang travelling to London.
Click to expand...

There are few anime and manga which have episodes set in London, such as Hellsing, GITS:SAC, Steamboy (albeit an alternative steampunk version of it), and the opening of the second series of Dog Days (although the main character is from Cornwall). Steamboy also features Manchester.
 
Just Passing Through said:
The Tokyo arc of Otogi Zoshi is all set in real Tokyo locations (again with the US release for the location scouting featurettes).
Click to expand...

I remember this very vividly too; the latter part of the series used real Tokyo landmarks and heavily featured the Shiba area.

As thinking of more is a fun game...

Super Gals Kotobuki Ran is a love song to Shibuya in Tokyo, and it also features Ikebukuro (though from a very different perspective to Durarara!!).

Ranma 1/2 was, IIRC, based in Nerima, Tokyo, though it didn't make it look terribly interesting once you remove the transforming animals and martial arts.

R
 
Baccano! is set in New York (they visited Grand Central Station when animating the series). Chrono Crusade is set in both New York and San Francisco. Gunsmith Cats is set in Chicago.
 
Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya - Nishinomiya-Kita High School (Nishinomiya City, Hyogo Prefecture).

Rocket Girls - Solomon Islands.

Stratos 4 - Shimoji Island, Okinawa Island, Guam Island & Tanegashima Island.

Emma: A Victorian Romance - London.
 
Library Wars is set in the Kanto Region.

Bakuman regularly features the Shueisha Jimbocho Building in Chiyoda, Tokyo, home of Shonen Jump.
 
Tokyo Mew Mew takes place in Tokyo (who knew?) and the Tokyo Tower features heavily in a mid-season story arc.

Azumanga Daioh also has an episode in Okinawa.
 
(Almost?) all of KyoAni's series feature locations based on real-life locales accurately researched. Hyouka is quite accurate to Takayama in Gifu, to add to Lucky Star, Haruhi and the others.
 
Kimi ni Todoke is set in Hokkaido, as that's where the author is from. In Chobits, one of the first things that's mentioned is Hideki moving to Tokyo. Shinbo and Shimizu-sensei elope to Kyoto (If I remember rightly)
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Back
Top