Welcome to this week’s review of notable instances of transit, place and culture as rendered in anime currently broadcast in Japan and simulcast internationally via the web. For a detailed outline of the approach, please refer to the explanation in the inaugural issue. Links to streaming sources are included when available, though not all may have current episode available at the time this column is published.
Sound! Euphonium
(響け! ユーフォニアム Hibike! Yūfoniamu)
Watch: Crunchyroll
Fan Pilgrimage Update
@ye_bi_su (post), @mi_kawana (update: post), @thunder_cycle (updates: post 1, post 2; new: post 3), @kbt_tigers1985 (post) made pilgrimages to Uji and Kyoto for Episode 13.
@lidges (post) and @maji_tanbou (post) made pilgrimages to Kyoto for Episode 13.
@seki_saima (post) and @etesuke (post) made pilgrimages to Uji for Episode 12.
@ts_kobaya made a video pilgrimage to Uji and Kyoto covering later episodes:
Episode 13
We bid a fond farewell to Eupho, one of the last episodes of the spring season to air as summer shows approach. Keihan Uji Station (京阪宇治駅)
Keihan Uji Line (京阪宇治線)
Fushimi-Inari Station (伏見稲荷駅)
Todō Senior High School (莵道高校). Students walk to school to prepare the instruments for travel on the morning of the competition.
Kyoto, Kitayama-dōri (北山通)
Kyoto Concert Hall (京都コンサートホール)
Charlotte
(シャーロット Shārotto)
Watch: Crunchyroll
Fan Pilgrimage Update
@qqbb5at9k made a pilgrimage to Kunitachi, Fuchū and Hino (all cities in Tokyo Metropolis) for Episode 1.
@ssslocation made a pilgrimage to Kunitachi, Fuchū and Shibuya ekimae for Episode 1.
@mi_kawana made a pilgrimage to Shibuya ekimae for Episode 1.
Episode 1
Kyoto Animation hands off the torch to P.A. Works, the other fan favorite studio among the pop culture tourism community, for the summer season premiere of Charlotte. Though SHIROBAKO was a notable exception, likely due to it being P.A Works’ production as well as the story’s focus on the anime industry itself, a Tokyo setting tends to temper excitement to some degree among the core scene hunting practitioners. (And to be honest, I’d kind of like to call a moratorium on gratuitous shots of the Shibuya scramble crossing that have little or nothing to do with the story.)
Ok, now we’re getting somewhere! I’m still waiting for identifications for the smaller streets and business districts, but based on the known landmarks, the main setting appears to draw from multiple locations among cities in the western part of Tokyo Metropolis. It’s too early to determine if it is a composite or preserves real-world spatial relationships.
Hitotsubashi University (一橋大学) main campus in Kunitachi (国立), Tokyo Metropolis. I completed part of my MBA at Hitotsubashi’s Graduate School of International Corporate Strategy (ICS), but our classrooms were in a tower in Jimbōchō and I’ve never made it out to see the Kunitachi campus.
Kanematsu Auditorium (兼松講堂)
That logo looks familiar. Key, normally known for its visual novels, created the Charlotte anime adaptation concept, based on the manga by Maeda Jun. Anime based on Key light novels have often featured heavily researched and highly detailed background art based on real locations, including the Key/Kyoto Animation trilogy of Air, Kanon and Clannad.
Cafe used as third place
The scenes along and adjacent to the river embankment (土手 dote) all come from a short stretch of the Tama River (多摩川), at a point where Kunitachi, Fuchū and Hino borders meet.
Gatchaman Crowds insight
(ガッチャマン クラウズ インサイト Gatchaman Kurauzu Insaito)
Watch: Crunchyroll
Episode 00
The first few minutes of Episode 00 are recycled from the first season of Gatchaman Crowds. We arrive back at the touchstone of the series artwork, Tachikawa Station (立川駅) in Tachikawa, Tokyo Metropolis, as the bridge story into Episode 1 begins.
Niigata City (新潟市), Niigata Prefecture
The new Gatchaman hails from Nagaoka (長岡), Niigata Prefecture.
Opening Credits
As in the previous season, the opening credits simply uses actual video footage from the Tachikawa central business district, with animation painted over top. In some of these shots, it appears as if they’ve taken life-size cutouts of the characters mounted on foam board for photo shoots around the elevated pedestrian walkways encircling the rail station and through some of the streets of the commercial district.
I had assumed the Nagaoka/Niigata backstory for Tsubasa would be disposed with once she joins the team in Tachikawa, but quite a few shots like the above are fixed in the credits sequence.
Chūō Line (Rapid) (中央線快速)
Tama Toshi Monorail Line (多摩都市モノレール線)
Tachikawa-Kita Station (立川北駅)
Episode 1
Niigata City
Shibuya ekimae. Why!?
Tama Toshi Monorail Line
Durarara!! X2
(デュラララ!!×2 転 Durarara!!x2 Ten)
Watch: Crunchyroll • Hulu
Fan Pilgrimage Update
@tianlangxing made a pilgrimage to Ikebukuro, Toshima Ward, Tokyo Metropolis for the OP and Episode 1.
Opening Credits
Durarara!! resumes, now at the start of second of a three cour second season. No surprises, we’re back at the central commercial district in Ikebukuro (池袋), Toshima Ward, Tokyo Metropolis.
Episode 1
The only unexpected twist is the news segment of Izaya’s attack from the end of the previous episode. It reports the stabbing to have been in the downtown shopping district (繁華街 hankagai) near Sendai Station (仙台駅) in Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture.
Ikebukuro
The Disappearance of Nagato Yuki-chan
(長門有希ちゃんの消失 Nagato Yuki-chan no Shōshitsu)
Watch: Funimation
Fan Pilgrimage Update
@thunder_cycle made a pilgrimage (updates: post 1, post 2, post 3) to Nishinomiya, Hyōgo Prefecture for Episode 14.
Episode 14
Nishinomiya-Kita High School (西宮北高等学校). Students walk to school on the morning commute.
Special Items
@qqbb5at9k made a pilgrimage to Chichibu, Saitama Prefecture for the preview to theatrical film Kokoro ga Sakebita Gatterunda., premiering 2015 September.
@ssslocation made a pilgrimage (OP/ED, Episode 1) to Asagaya, Suginami Ward and Shinjuku central business district in Shinjuku Ward (all Tokyo Metropolis) for Aquarion Logos.
@ssslocation made a pilgrimage to Nishi-Shinjuku and Shinjuku Station area in Shinjuku Ward; and Chiyoda Ward (all Tokyo Metropolis) for Ranpo Kitan: Game of Laplace.
@gromit1446 made pilgrimages to Nara (post 1, post 2) and Kashihara (post 3), Nara Prefecture for Gekijōban Kyōkai no Kanata I’ll Be Here: Mirai-hen.
@ngwrb made pilgrimages (Episode 11, Episode 12, Episode 13) to Chiba City, Chiba Prefecture and Rinkai, Edogawa Ward, Tokyo Metropolis for Yahari Ore no Seishun Rabu Kome wa Machigatteiru. Zoku.
@ngwrb made pilgrimages to (post 1) JR Chiba Station in Chiba City for Episode 10; and (post 2) Tsudanuma, Narashino, Chiba Prefecture for Episode 11 of Hello!! Kin-iro Mosaic.
@cairn_07 made a pilgrimage to Hanno, Saitama Prefecture for Yama no Susume Second Season.
@yomikatajiyu made a pilgrimage to Gifu Prefecture for Nōrin.
@sky_dj_ made a pilgrimage to Mount Tate in Toyama Prefecture for Monogatari Series Second Season.
@fragments_sue made a pilgrimage to Ueda, Nagano Prefecture for the Hosoda Mamoru film Summer Wars.
@Roan_Inish made a pilgrimage to Shakujii Park in Nerima Ward, Tokyo for RahXephon.
