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
Numazu transit Love Live! collaborations
Izu Shimbun published an article about campaigns by the Izuhakone Railway and Tōkai Bus, the two bus operators serving Numazu, to promote use of buses and taxis for anime pilgrimage through marketing collaborations for Love Live! Sunshine!!
Love Live! Sunshine!!
(ラブライブ！サンシャイン!! Rabu Raibu! Sanshain)
Fan Pilgrimage Update
@touyoko_com made a pilgrimage (updated post) to Numazu, Shizuoka Prefecture for Episode 3.
Yaraon (@yarare_kanrinin) published a pilgrimage to Numazu for Episode 3
@hiro_tan3 made a video pilgrimage to Numazu for Episode 1 through Episode 3.
@lidges made a pilgrimage (post 1, post 2) to Numazu covering promotional images, ED, Episode 1 and Episode 2. As always, Lidges’ approach to butaitanbou stresses not immediate turnaround nor sheer image count, but thorough study of the area and detailed observational notes.
@tenohira17 made a pilgrimage to Numazu for Episode 2.
@LyricalCygnus (post) and @mashiro2009 (post 1, post 2) published photography and writeups of the marketing collateral on trains, buses, taxis and boats in Numazu.
@LyricalCygnus also published a writeup of (post 1) material in the local tourism center; and (post 2) a combined article including all of the preceeding and pilgrimage for Episode 1 and ED.
@nijipoi_media (site ads NSFW) published a detailed review of the marketing collateral on trains, buses, taxis and boats, as well as the tourism center and Episode 1 pilgrimage locations.
Episode 3
The setting expands with several new locations this week. This is the Ushibuse Tōgō Shige beach (牛臥・東郷・志下海岸), further north than locations depicted in the first two episodes.
Yō, Rika and Chika ride the bus on the afternoon commute home from school.
Numazu Station (沼津駅) north side
The three founding idols try to drum up interest in their opening concert at the transit hub.
Cinema and other large commercial facilities are co-located with the rail and bus station.
Ushibuse Tōgō Shige beach
Mito meeting hall (三津会館)
Nagaisaki Junior High School bus stop (長井崎中学校バス停)
Ōkawa house Nagayamon (大川家長屋門), a designated cultural site
[Credit: @obsidiana_verde, Twitter]
Numazu Station north side
Mito swimming beach (三津海水浴場)
Nagaisaki Junior High School bus stop
Numazu Nagaisaki Junior High School (沼津市立長井崎中学校)
Numazu Station
Amanchu!
(あまんちゅ！)
Fan Pilgrimage Update
@touyoko_com made a pilgrimage (updated post) to Atami, Shizuoka Prefecture for Episode 2.
@tachikichi_ARIA also explored Atami, including locations depicted in the manga version. Tachikichi is also a fan of Aria, another work based on a manga by Amano Kozue, and is the creator of an authoritative web guide to the Venice, Italy locations used as the setting for that work’s anime adaptations.
Episode 2
With the formal marketing collaborations and use of scenery from the city of Itō, Shizuoka Prefecture in the PV, my initial impression was that the Amanchu! setting would import whole cloth from that location. However, it’s clear at this point that the background is a synthesis of at least Itō and nearby Atami, and seems likely to have some non-real location connective tissue holding them together.
Hikari waits for the bus on her morning commute to school.
Hikari enjoys the scent of a freshly printed bus pass. Hey, whatever makes you happy!
As with Love Live! Sunshine!!, operator Tokai Bus appears to have negotiated for some significant in-show appearances of its equipment, including corporate logos.
After cutting back from a scene elsewhere, there’s a tight shot of Hikari with the bus window parallel to the focal plane, giving the appearance of a ladybug crawling across viewers’ monitors. Neat little trick.
Atami Ginza Shōtengai (熱海銀座商店街) in Atami (熱海), Shizuoka Prefecture
Hikari and her teacher Katori both enjoy an early morning walk through the shopping street on the way to school.
Though the main action in this sequence is the growing intensity of their power walking competition, there is a secondary sequence of shop owners opening shutters and preparing displays as the shōtengai wakes up for the day.
I kind of sense when the art transitions from real-location to connective tissue. The detail suddenly drops out and lines become too clean and simple.
Though this visual of Hikari jumping off a hillside that appeared in early marketing material is definitely back in Atami.
So far, the only odd location is the school building itself, modeled on the Tsurugashima Fuji Junior High School (鶴ヶ島市立藤中学校) in Tsurugashima, Saitama Prefecture
[Credit: @animeseichi, Twitter]
Shiofuki Park (汐吹公園) in Itō (伊東), Shizuoka Prefecture
Kuromukuro
(クロムクロ)
Fan Pilgrimage Update
@ankou_anko made pilgrimages to (updated post) Kurobe Dam in Tateyama for the first cour OP and Episode 3; and (post 2) Toyama City; and Shōmyō Falls and Murodō in Tateyama for the second cour OP and Episode 14 (all locations Toyama Prefecture). Ankou is a very gifted photographer and many of his images from the dam and mountain hikes are quite breathtaking, but my favorites are the shots that don’t appear in the anime (tweet 1, tweet 2).
@habusan and a group of mountain climbing anime fans hiked through Tateyama areas that have appeared in Kuromukuro (tweet 1, tweet 2). I’m hoping a post or two is forthcoming!
Episode 15
New Game!
(ニューゲーム Nyū Gēmu)
Fan Pilgrimage Update
@SSEBTBM883 made a pilgrimage to Hanzawa Bridge in Mitaka; Fuda Station and Tsutsujigaoka Station in Chōfu for Episode 1 and Episode 3.
@shira_ry made a pilgrimage to Hanzawa Bridge in Mitaka; Fuda Station in Chōfu; and Asagaya, Suginami Ward (all locations Tokyo Metropolis) for Episode 1 and Episode 2.
@ssslocation made a pilgrimage to Asagaya, Suginami Ward, Tokyo Metropolis for Episode 1 and Episode 2.
Episode 3
Chūō-Sōbu Line (中央・総武緩行線)
Aoba is late getting to work and sulks on train.
But Yun is confident they can make it if they dash from the station.
Asagaya Station (阿佐ヶ谷駅)
PSA: Running on the train platform and down the stairs is dangerous.
Double IC transit card swipe
Nakasugi-dōri (中杉通り)
Poor Aoba. Not depicted in the show, after her spill on the sidewalk, the three would have rounded the corner onto Ōme-kaidō (青梅街道), where the model for the Eagle Jump office is located.
Chūō-Sōbu Line
The train ride home is an opportunity for Rin to give encouragement to Aoba, removed from the pressures of the office environment.
Nakano Station (中野駅)
Hanzawa Bridge (榛沢橋) in Mitaka (三鷹)
Aoba is fired up to head into work early, waiting for the Keiō Line at Tsutsujigaoka Station (つつじヶ丘駅) in Chōfu. What’s particularly interesting is the attention to rail schedule details. She’s waiting for a west bound train, so that she can pickup an express train from Fuda Station (depicted in the first episode) heading east, which gets her to Shinjuku Station sooner for her change to the Chūō-Sōbu Line.
I think I have underestimated this show. The meta trope of pop culture media creators making a show about making pop culture media, and setting in the creative cluster on the west side of Tokyo, makes it hard to avoid comparisons with P.A. Works’ Shirobako, which has a significantly higher production value. But it’s clear that a lot of love went into these backgrounds. The level of detail, especially at the rail stations, is surprisingly high at times. These are places that the art team knows very well and is using this opportunity to showcase. I’m definitely paying attention now, and am looking forward to enjoying what comes next.
Planetarian
(planetarian ～ちいさなほしのゆめ～ Planetarian: Chiisana Hoshi no Yume)
Episode 2
Hamamatsu (浜松), Shizuoka Prefecture
Matsubishi Department Store (松菱百貨店)
Matsubishi Department Store
ReLIFE
(リライフ Riraifu)
Episode 3
Kugayama Station (久我山駅) south entrance on right side of frame and surrounding neighborhood, in Suginami Ward, Tokyo Metropolis
[Credit: @fragments_sue, Twitter]
Orange
(オレンジ Orenji)
Fan Pilgrimage Update
@megtan made a pilgrimage to Matsumoto, Nagano Prefecture for Episode 3.
@kbt_tigers1985 made a pilgrimage to Matsumoto for Episode 2.
Sweetness and Lightning
(甘々と稲妻 Amaama to Inazuma)
Fan Pilgrimage Update
@Minky_j made a pilgrimage to the Sukippu-dōri Shōtengai in Musashi-sakai, Musashino, Tokyo Metropolis for the OP, ED, Episode 1 and Episode 2.
Future Season Pilgrimage
@yomikatajiyu made a pilgrimage to Ōgaki, Gifu Prefecture for (post 1) the PV to the anime film adaptation; and (post 2, post 3) manga version of Koe no Katachi.
Other Current Season Pilgrimage
@kortoku made a pilgrimage to Mito, Ibaraki Prefecture for Momokuri.
Past Season Pilgrimage
@optiange made a pilgrimage (post 1, post 2) to Hirosaki, Aomori Prefecture for Flying Witch.
@kazukazu30p made a pilgrimage to Uji, Kyoto Prefecture for Hibike! Euphonium.
@mi_kawana made a pilgrimage to Oarai, Ibaraki Prefecture for Girls und Panzer.
@cairn_07 made a pilgrimage to multiple Kantō area locations for the Kara no Kyōkai films.
