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
Toyama seichijunrei and regional development
Toyama Shimbun ran an article about formation of a research group to study anime pilgrimage behavior in Toyama Prefecture and its implications for regional development and tourism promotion strategies in anticipation of the completion of the Hokuriku Shinkansen in 2015 March. The region is already a popular destination for pop culture tourism related to multiple works, and the high speed train is expected to improve access and increase visitor numbers.
Glasslip
(グラスリップ Gurasurippu)
Fan Pilgrimage Update
@ye_bi_su made a pilgrimage to Mikuni in Sakai, and Awara, Fukui Prefecture for Episode 8 and Episode 9.
Episode 9
A new spot for the show, here Yanagi walks along a the main road that runs parallel to the rail line on the south side of the tracks, between Mikuni and Mikuni-Minato stations. The area directly southwest is the residential neighborhood with narrow streets and traditional houses, and is the location of Sachi’s home.
Mikuni Museum (みくに龍翔館)
Episode 10
gelato & sweets CARNA (ジェラート&スイーツ カルナ)
Mikuni-Minato Station (三国港駅)
Yukinari returns from training camp via the Echizen Railway Mikuni Awara Line (えちぜん鉄道三国芦原線).
Minato Bridge (港橋)
Free! – Eternal Summer
Fan Pilgrimage Update
@yacchamfree made pilgrimages to Iwami, Tottori Prefecture for Episode 9 and Episode 10.
@rimatai made a pilgrimage to Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture for Episode 9.
@lidges updated a previous pilgrimage to include the Yokohama scene from Episode 9.
@SSEBTBM883 made a pilgrimage to the Nippon Gaishi Arena in Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture for Episode 9.
It is a testament to the popularity of Kyoto Animation works among the butaitanbou community that the introduction of a couple of new (and not totally remarkable) locations elicited an instantaneous response. While Zantaro is doing some great storytelling and, along with several other shows, exploring some frequently overlooked parts of Tokyo, the KyoAni/P.A. Works oligopoly continues to draw most of the attention.
Episode 9
The team heads out for dinner after arriving at the regional championship competition venue. The commercial district is modeled on the area just outside the west entrance to Yokohama Station (横浜駅).
The pool itself is based on the Nippon Gaishi Arena (日本ガイシアリーナ), part of a larger sports complex in Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture.
Episode 10
Iwami (岩美), Tottori Prefecture
Terror in Resonance
(残響のテロル Zankyō no Teroru)
Episode 8
Chūō Line (Rapid) (中央線快速)
Yamada Denki (ヤマダ電機) branch in Shinjuku
National Archives of Japan (独立行政法人国立公文書館)
Asagaya Pearl Center Shōtengai (阿佐谷パールセンター商店街)
Tokyo ESP
(東京ESP)
Episode 7
Tokyo ESP is back to jumping around from place to place. With no one in the core butaitanbou community showing interest in this one, it’s been challenging to keep up with the pace. You can only spend so much time getting lost in Google Maps before you begin forgetting to do things like feed yourself!
Akagi Jinja (赤城神社) in Kagurazaka (officially Akagi Motomachi)
Ōji Station (王子駅)
Toden Arakawa Line (都電荒川線) departing Ōji-ekimae Station (王子駅前停留場)
Episode 8
Small shōtengai rounding one corner of the Azumabashi intersection in Asakusa, where Azuma Bridge (吾妻橋) and Kaminarimon-dōri (雷門通り) meet
Asakusa Hanayashiki (浅草花やしき)
Shirogane Park (白銀公園)
I’ll say one thing for Tokyo ESP, it commits. While the stock shot of Shibuya crossing is done to death in Tokyo based anime, in this show they make sure to give you all the angles and even take you up Kōen-dōri and through Center Gai. We start at Shibuya 109.
Shibuya Hikarie (渋谷ヒカリエ)
Shibuya Center Gai (渋谷センター街)
Shibuya Station (渋谷駅)
Center Gai
Shinjuku Golden Gai (新宿ゴールデン街)
Students walk to school on the morning commute.
Blue Spring Ride
(アオハライド Aoharaido)
Episode 8
The girls convene a meeting in the commercial district near the train station on their commute home from school.
Ichigao Station (市が尾駅) in Aoba Ward, Yokohama
Futaba tracks Kō to Machida (町田), a city in Tokyo Metropolis but on the border with Kanagawa Prefecture.
Machida has two adjacent stations with the same name, one for JR East Yokohama Line and another for the Odakyū Odawara Line.
Hanayamata
(ハナヤマタ)
Fan Pilgrimage Update
@lidges made a pilgrimage to Kamakura and Hiratsuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, covering a representative sample of images from the OP and Episode 1 through Episode 9. This is a solid, one stop overview for the setting of the show.
@shira_ry made a pilgrimage to Kamakura for Episode 8 and Episode 9.
@626shin made a pilgrimage to Kamakura, Kanagawa Prefecture and Kawagoe, Saitama Prefecture for the OP.
Episode 8
Kamakurakōkōmae Station (鎌倉高校前駅)
Episode 9
Locodol
(普通の女子校生が【ろこどる】やってみた。 Futsū no Joshikōsei ga Locodol Yattemita.)
Episode 9
Nagareyama Station (流山駅)
The idols and Uogokoro-kun host an event to promote the 100th anniversary of the Nagarekawa Line. In real life, the Nagareyama Line (流山線) will arrive at this milestone in just two more years.
Episode 10
Students walk to school on the morning commute.
Nanako and Yukari meet at Nagareyama Station (流山駅).
They begin the song writing session at a famiresu before moving to Yukari’s apartment.
Nanako’s friends begin the walk home from school.
Tokyo Ghoul
(東京喰種トーキョーグール Tōkyō Gūru)
Episode 9
Inokashira-dōri in Kichijōji
Episode 10
Shonen Hollywood -Holly Stage for 49-
(少年ハリウッド -HOLLY STAGE FOR 49-)
Episode 9
Harajuku Station (原宿駅)
Omotesandō (表参道)
Takeshita-dōri (竹下通り)
Rail Wars!
Fan Pilgrimage Update
@MatsuYan made a pilgrimage to Itō, Shizuoka for Episode 4.
Episode 8
Disaster strikes and K4 is on it!
Karuizawa Station (軽井沢駅)
After the landslide, the team uses a bicycle powered car with an Abt rack-and-pinion gear to travel the old tracks through the Usui Pass (碓氷峠) in order to deliver a donor organ from Karuizawa to Yokokawa.
Abandoned Kumanotaira Station (熊ノ平駅)
Episode 9
Usui Pass No.3 Bridge, “Meganebashi” (めがね橋)
Yokokawa Station (横川駅)
Karuizawa Prince Shopping Plaza (軽井沢・プリンスショッピングプラザ)
Encouragement of Climb Second Season
(ヤマノススメ セカンドシーズン Yama no Susume Sekando Shīzun)
Fan Pilgrimage Update
@rimatai made an exhaustive (in both senses) pilgrimage climbing Mount Fuji for Episode 9. Incredible effort.
@bluetwintail also climbed Mount Fuji, but what’s pretty remarkable is that he made the trek on August 20 and took all of these photos (tweet 1, tweet 2, tweet 3) in anticipation of the broadcast and got awfully close on most of them.
@rimatai made a pilgrimage to Hannō, Saitama Prefecture and Shinjuku, Tokyo for Episode 5, Episode 7 and Episode 8.
@fureshima made a pilgrimage to Hannō for Episode 2, Episode 5 and Episode 6.
@cairn_07 made a pilgrimage to Hannō for Episode 5, and to update a previous pilgrimage to Mitsutōge Mountain in Yamanashi Prefecture to include cuts from Hannō for Episode 2.
@2jiiro_7star7 made a pilgrimage to Hannō for Season 1.
@mashiro2009 made a video slideshow pilgrimage to Hannō.
Barakamon
(ばらかもん)
Fan Pilgrimage Update
@sky_dj_ made a pilgrimage to Fukue Island in Gotō, Nagasaki Prefecture for Episode 5 through Episode 8.
Aldnoah.Zero
(アルドノア・ゼロ Arudonoa Zero)
Fan Pilgrimage Update
@ssslocation made a pilgrimage to Toranomon, Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo, which appears briefly in Rayet’s simulator in Episode 9.
Other Pilgrimage
@lidges (post) and @sky_dj_ (post) made a pilgrimage to Kan’onji, Kagawa Prefecture for the PV of Yūki Yūna wa Yūsha de Aru, premiering 2014 October.
@SSEBTBM883 made a pilgrimage to Sōbetsu and Tōyako, Iburi Subprefecture, Hokkaidō Prefecture for the second PV of Sora no Method, premiering 2014 October.
@paffue made a pilgrimage to Sapporo, Hokkaidō Prefecture for the first and second PV of Sora no Method.
@LyricalCygnus made a pilgrimage to Kōzu Station in Odawara, Kanagawa Prefecture for Love Live!
@mikkatatsu made a pilgrimage to Shibuya, Takadanobaba, Ikebukuro, Jūjō and Nishigaoka (all Tokyo) for Ping Pong.
@mikkatatsu made a pilgrimage to Yoyogi Park in Shibuya Ward, Tokyo for Kanojo ga Flag o Oraretara.
@lidges made a pilgrimage to Aioi, Gujō, Gifu Prefecture for Nōrin.
@SSEBTBM883 made a pilgrimage to Kaneyama and Aizuwakamatsu, Fukushima Prefecture for Mikakunin de Shinkōkei.
@kazupi (post) and @yusa_yusaani (post) made pilgrimages to Fukui Prefecture for The Idolmaster Movie: Kagayaki no Mukōgawa e!
@fureshima made a pilgrimage to Hannō, Saitama Prefecture for Saikin, Imōto no Yōsu ga Chotto Okashiin Da Ga.
@kbt_tigers1981 made a pilgrimage to Nara Hotel and the summer illumination exhibition Nara Toukae in Nara Park for Kyōkai no Kanata.
@sky_dj_ made a pilgrimage to Shimonada Station in Iyo, Ehime Prefecture for Kyōkai no Kanata.
@kou1mori made a pilgrimage to Takehara, Hiroshima Prefecture for Tamayura (Hitotose and More Aggressive).
@626shin made a pilgrimage to Kanazawa and Nanao, Ishikawa Prefecture for the film Hanasaku Iroha: Home Sweet Home.
@Roan_Inish made a pilgrimage to Chichibu and Kawagoe, Saitama Prefecture for the OVA of Kamisama Hajimemashita.
@sky_dj_ made a pilgrimage to Shimonada Station in Iyo, Ehime Prefecture for Nekomonogatari (Kuro).
@megtan (post) and @aqcuaria (post) made pilgrimages to Komoro, Nagano Prefecture for Ano Natsu de Matteru.
@dotproducer made a pilgrimage to Okinawa and Ōmachi, Nagano Prefecture for Ano Natsu de Matteru.
@Roan_Inish made a pilgrimage to Fukushima City, Fukushima Prefecture for K-On!!
@ani_tour made a pilgrimage to the former town of Yatsuo, now part of Toyama City, Toyama Prefecture for Persona: Trinity Soul.
@2jiiro_7star7 made a pilgrimage to Washinomiya Jinja in Kuki, Saitama Prefecture for Lucky Star.
@Roan_Inish made a pilgrimage to Kasai Rinkai Park (葛西臨海公園) in Edogawa Ward, Tokyo for Hachimitsu to Kurōbā.
