Weekly Review of Transit, Place and Culture in Anime 41

Welcome to this week’s review of notable instances of public transit use and urban design, as well as discussion of place identity and culture, through anime currently broadcast or screening in Japan and simulcast internationally via the web. This review also documents seichijunrei (聖地巡礼 sacred site pilgrimage) and butaitanbou (舞台探訪 scene hunting)—on this website referred to collectively as anime pilgrimage—which are forms of place-based engagement induced by the use of real locations in show settings.

Media and General Interest

Ōarai Garupan seichijunrei
@yarare_kanrinin (post) and @kouchamoe (post) captured series of screengrabs from a recent television broadcast about anime pilgrimages to Ōarai, Ibaraki Prefecture for Girls und Panzer. Meanwhile @mokomokocats published a long post of photos from Ōarai, not a typical show scene pilgrimage but of Girls & Panzer related events and paraphernalia around town.

RDG Red Data Girl

(RDG レッドデータガール RDG Reddo Dēta Gāru)

Fan Pilgrimage Update

@gonta0822 visited Tamaki Shrine.

Episode 6

Izumiko and Miyuki accompany Manatsu and Mayura to their home in Nagano, via Nagano Shinkansen (長野新幹線). Between Ōmiya (大宮) and Takasaki (高崎) the train service runs on the Jōetsu Shinkansen tracks, then the Nagano Shinkansen tracks for the remainder.

The city names are real, but train services made up. In real life, this would be an Asama (あさま) service.

E2 series Shinkansen

Nagano Station (長野駅)

The following day, the group meets other students from school at the station.

A bus takes them further into the mountains for a camping trip.

Togakushi Shrine (戸隠神社)

Rural towns hosting Shinto shines like this (Buddhist, as well) rely on tourism income from casual visitors and devout followers on religious pilgrimage (巡礼 junrei). Not to be confused with seichijunrei (聖地巡礼), holy land pilgrimage, which is the term anime otaku use when they talk about visiting the real life setting of a series. In English, we’d usually call that pop-culture tourism. I’ll keep my eyes peeled for any seichijunrei to Togakushi ^_^

A Certain Scientific Railgun S

(とある科学の超電磁砲（レールガン） Toaru Kagaku no Rērugan)

Fan Pilgrimage Update

@shira_ry made a comprehensive episode 4 pilgrimage, while @paffue (post) and @ngwrb (post) made quick stops at Musashikoyama Palm Shōtengai.

Episode 4

More Tama Toshi Monorail Line (多摩都市モノレール線) this week.

I burned through season 1 in a marathon before the new season began. To the best of my memory, this is the first depiction of a public space based on a location outside of the Tama and Tachikawa area. This is Musashikoyama Palm Shōtengai (武蔵小山商店街パルム), the longest covered shopping arcade in Tokyo. I put together a large photo essay about Palm as part of a recent project.

Back to Tachikawa

Monorail station in Tama

Mikoto sends the children home on a public bus. Unaccompanied. I love it.

Elevated walkway in Tachikawa

The Devil is a Part-Timer!

(はたらく魔王さま! Hataraku Maō-sama!)

Fan Pilgrimage Update

@rimatai made a pilgrimage to Sasazuka Station for episodes 4 (post) and 5 (post).

I discovered a fantastic blog this week while scanning Twitter for pilgrimage activity. ゆっきーの散歩Blog (Yuki’s Walking Blog) focuses on photography, but the creator is also prone to anime pilgrimage from time to time and has been closely following up with each episode of Hataraku Maō-sama. Unlike most pilgrimage posts, his do not feature screenshots for side-by-side comparison. Instead he brings us just really fabulous high quality images, thanks to a good eye and top of the line Canon 1DX. His latest posts (1 and 2) cover episode 5, and this is an index of all posts related to the show.

Photo Kano

(フォトカノ Foto Kano)

Episode 5

Most of the neighborhood and river scenes from Photo Kano are modeled on locations in Koshigaya (越谷), Saitama Prefecture, just to the north of Tokyo.

Arakawa River (荒川)

This commercial district is the first noticeable setting discontinuity. This shōtengai (商店街), the Asagaya Pearl Center (阿佐ヶ谷パールセンター), is in Suginami Ward on the west side of Tokyo.

Oreimo

(俺の妹がこんなに可愛いわけがない。 Ore no Imōto ga Konna ni Kawaii Wake ga Nai.)

Fan Pilgrimage Update

@kouhei15407 made a very thorough pilgrimage of all the locations appearing in episode 5 and published a second post entirely of the Oreimo promotional train carriage wrappings on the Chiba Urban Monorail. The author of ゆっきーの散歩Blog published very high quality photos of the wrappings, as well.

@shira_ry published a thorough episodes 4 and 5 pilgrimage, which includes Akihabara, Chiba Station, Hokusai-Tenjij Station and Ariake, among others.

@ngwrb made a pilgrimage to Akihabara for episode 4.

@lycoper419 published a post of the Chiba Urban Monorail, Chiba Park and some of the residential neighborhoods.

Episode 5

Kyousuke and Kirino meet at Chiba Station (千葉駅) for their mock date.

Kirino refers to Hachikō, the Akita famous for returning to Shibuya Station every evening for many years to wait for the return of his owner, who had died suddenly at work. Hachikō is part of the canon of Japanese cultural narratives. Almost every child learns this story at some point, no matter how far from Tokyo he or she lives. I love that the story revolves around the daily ritual of commuting by train and walking home.

Kyousuke and Kirino meet Kuroneko at Kokusai-Tenjijō Station (国際展示場駅) prior to lining up for entrance to Tokyo Big Sight (東京ビッグサイト) for Summer Comiket.

My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU

(やはり俺の青春ラブコメはまちがっている。 Yahari Ore no Seishun Love Come wa Machigatteiru.)

Fan Pilgrimage Update

@butaiwalker (post) and @ngwrb (post) both explored location in Makuhari and around Chiba Station from episode 5.

@ngwrb also made a pilgrimage for episode 6.

Episode 5

This week included several instances of the use of third place, a neutral social setting outside of home and work (or school). Here the group is meeting for a study session at a famiresu.

The mobility options available to students are important enablers of these independent, unsupervised social encounters. When children and young adults can walk, bike, bus or train to school, they aren’t beholden to parents with cars or fixed school bus schedules.

Chiba Station (千葉駅)

The service club scours the commercial district around Chiba Station in search of Saki.

An early morning intervention is held. This time the meeting place is a fast food restaurant on the high street nearest the students’ neighborhood.

After the meeting, Hachiman and Komachi stop to pickup groceries on the walk home.

Later in the episode, more transit and walking infrastructure, close to Makuhari Messe.

The Flowers of Evil

(惡の華 Aku no Hana)

Episode 5

Kasuga and Saeki go on their date, where we see the downtown shopping district. Despite the covered sidewalks, very few strollers are out on a Sunday. Many of the stores are not open. The open businesses are deserted except for the couple and shopkeepers.