No Communities Were Harmed: Difference between revisions

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** This prefix-Tokyo practice is parodied in the first ''[[Phoenix Wright]]'' game, where an in-game TV show, ''The Steel Samurai'', is set in "Neo-Olde Tokyo".

** This is something of a [[Truth in Television]], as in its modern history Tokyo was completely rebuilt no less than ''four'' times. The first time was in the 1870s, when it went from the seat of Bakufu to the imperial capital (and ''started'' being called Tokyo, for that matter), then it was almost completely destroyed by fire in 1923, after [[wikipedia:Great Kanto Earthquake|Great Kanto Earthquake]], then again it was [[World War II|firebombed almost into oblivion in 1945 by the US]], and in the early 1960s much of the city was remodeled in preparation to the Olympic Games, creating modern street plan in the central districts. They just didn't stick any fancy prefixes/suffixes on its name.

* In the ''[[Excel Saga (anime)|Excel Saga]]'' anime, the [[City of Adventure]], F City in F Prefecture, is a thinly veiled stand-in for the real-life Fukuoka City in the Fukuoka Prefecture of Japan. [[Excel Saga (manga)|The original manga]] actually calls the city its proper name, and even in the anime, the map of F City is that of Fukuoka.

* The ''[[Haruhi Suzumiya]]'' series is set in the author's hometown of Nishinomiya, Hyogo Prefecture, with the serial numbers filed off: Kanji in actual place names (or their readings) are changed -- the Uegahara Pirates of Kwansei Gakuin University become the ''Kami''gahara Pirates, for instance -- and the name of the actual town is never directly mentioned ("Kitaguchi Station" is ''Nishinomiya'' Kitaguchi Station, and "North High" is Nishinomiya-Kita High School). This is made especially blatant in the anime, where Kyoto Animation saw fit to recreate the ''actual locations'' in and around the city, including undisguised shots of passing Hankyu Railway trains, and the skylines of nearby Osaka and Kobe. Since Nishinomiya is located in the heart of the [[Kansai Dialect|Kansai]] [[The Idiot From Osaka|region]] it would run the risk of being stereotyped, but [[Kyo Ani]]'s attention to detail actually gives it an "everytown" quality.

** What really takes the cake is a scene in the anime version of "Endless Eight", which shows a photorealistic establishing shot of the Kobe waterfront. Sure, they don't come out and say it, but they're getting really, really obvious.

* The unnamed towns in ''[[Kanon]]'' and ''[[AIR]]'' are exact copies of real towns (although Kami, home of AIR, has been absorbed into a larger city since the game's release). The train station in ''Kanon'' is based on Moniguchi station in Osaka.

* The town in ''[[Princess Tutu]]'' (called Golde Krone in text shown in the anime, but translated as Kinkan in the Japanese audio and Gold Crown in the English dub) is based heavily on the German town of Nördlingen. In fact, almost all of the locations in the anime can be found in the town itself.

* Hinamizawa, from ''[[Higurashi no Naku Koro ni]]'', is largely based off Shirakawa-go, Gifu... That is, ''exactly like''. So much, that their local shrine wall was terrorized with Higurashi stuff, so they had to make a new wall for Higurashi things.

* ''[[Kamichu!]]'' is obviously set in the town of Onomichi, Hiroshima. The town's profile, with its shoreline and steep hills, is so recognizable that it's actually a bit baffling why the makers just didn't flat-out call it by name.

* Where does ''[[K-On!]]'' take place? The town's name never gets mentioned, but judging by the locales it's set in Kyoto; Shugakuin station is clearly recognizable, for instance. The high school is modeled after a renovated elementary school in Toyosato, Shiga, which is not too far from Kyoto either. Still, the makers try to convolute the issue by having the girls go on a [[Class Trip]] to Kyoto, where they are even seen passing Mount Fuji. [[Kyoto Animation]], you're not fooling anybody!

* ''[[Sketchbook]]'' takes place in Shime, a small town near the Japanese city of Fukuoka, as evidenced by the old coal mine winding tower that appears in the background every now and then.

* The original ''[[Science Ninja Team Gatchaman]]'' has Amegapolis, a stand-in for New York City. Then one of the sequel series has (seriously) New Jork.

* The settings of the ''Pokémon'' movies are based off of real locations: Altomare is Venice, Forina is [[wikipedia:Wulingyuan|Wulingyuan]], Larousse City is Vancouver, Cameran Palace is [[wikipedia:Neuschwanstein Castle|Neuschwanstein Castle]], Samaya is Rome, Alamos Town is Barcelona, and Michina is Athens.

* Although it seems to combine elements of [[San Francisco]], [[Los Angeles]], and [[New York City]], and some fans believe it's in Hawaii, [[Word of God]] says that "Port Mery" in ''[[Kaleido Star]]'' is actually L.A.

* The Flowercrest department store in ''[[Planetarian]]'' is based on the (defunct) Matsubishi department store in Hamamatsu, a town in Japan's Shizuoka prefecture. The game also extensively uses other locales and sights from that town.

* While ''[[Ikoku Meiro no Croisée|Ikoku Meiro no Croisee]]'' has a rather faithful depiction of late-19th century Paris, Galerie Du Roy appears to be based on Galerie Du Roi in ''Brussels''.

* ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam]]'' had the Zeon occupation headquartered out of "New Yark"([[sic]]), which looked nothing like New York City. The [[Manga/Mobile Suit Gundam The Origin|manga adaptation]] averts this, by explicitly putting the Zeons in Los Angeles, HQ'd out of Los Angeles City hall.

* Distinctly averted by the OVA ''[[Gunsmith Cats]]'' which does its darnedest to match up with real Chicago landmarks. Locals claim to be able to actually trace the climactic car chase in Episode 2.

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* The title character of ''Jalila'' protects the City of All Faiths, which is quite blatantly Jerusalem. She got her powers from an accident at the 'Dimodona nuclear plant', which is just lazy.

* The [[Tintin]] book ''[[Tintin/Recap/The Seven Crystal Balls|The Seven Crystal Balls]]'' very accurately depicts the French port of Saint-Nazaire. The English translation renames it Westermouth for no good reason.

* Like New York City, [[New Orleans]] exists in the DC Comics Universe, but also has an analog: St. Roch, the current base of operations for Hawkgirl (there is both a St. Roch street and a St. Roch neighborhood in the real New Orleans).

* In [[Wet Moon]], the eponymous town is based on Savannah, Georgia, with many of the backgrounds containing clearly recognizable local landmarks and buildings.

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* Weird one in ''[[Little Giants]]''... which is set in Urbania, Ohio. Either they don't know how to spell Urbana (a real city in Western Ohio), or they just wanted to change the name so the announcer sounds that much more impressive when he calls the game between the Cowboys and Giants "The Mania in Urbania".

* ''[[Forrest Gump]]'' is from Greenbow, a fictional town in Alabama which basically could be any rural small town in Alabama (there are real ones named Greenville and Greensboro).

* The "another place" of ''[[Streets of Fire]]'' was a thinly-disguised Chicago. Several districts like "the Richmond" and "the Battery" were mentioned but the city that included them remained anonymous.

* Its never actually mentioned by name, but [[Fight Club]] is implied to take place in Wilmington, Delaware. (This is more explicit in the film than in the novel, as New Castle County and the nearby Delaware City are namedropped)

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* ''[[The Egypt Game]]'' basically takes place in Berkeley, California with the names filed off. Within the story, the city is never named and the local university is only ever referred to as "the university".

* In the ''[[Harry Potter (novel)|Harry Potter]]'' series, the Weasley family lives near the Muggle town of Ottery St Catchpole, which is generally assumed to be a fictional stand-in for Ottery St Mary.

* Ed McBain's ''[[87th Precinct|Eighty Seventh Precinct]]'' series of police procedurals are set in Isola, a district of an unnamed, fictional city closely resembling New York. Isola includes many features of Manhattan, and the other districts mentioned are clear stand-ins for New York City's other four boroughs.

** In particular, according to [[The Other Wiki]], [[wikipedia:Isola (fictional city)|"Calm's Point" is Brooklyn, "Majesta" is Queens, "Riverhead" is the Bronx, and "Bethtown" Staten Island]]. Then there's the Harb (Hudson) and Dix (East) Rivers, and the similarly unnamed "next state" (New Jersey). George M. Dove's unofficial 1985 companion to the series, ''The Boys from Grover Avenue'', analyzes the geography of McBain's "Imaginary City" and describes it as NYC shifted to the side, so that north becomes east, east south, etc.

** Oddly enough, New York itself is occasionally mentioned in the books. Apparently McBain's universe has two huge and virtually-interchangeable metropolises co-existing very close to one another on the East Coast of the United States.

** The 1972 film adaptation of ''Fuzz'', meanwhile, is set in Boston for some reason.

* Although they co-exist with real New England cites, including, oddly enough, the ones they are based on, [[H.P. Lovecraft]] made clear that he based his three fictional towns of Arkham, Innsmouth and Dunwich on real places: Arkham is a mix of Providence, RI and Salem, Mass and Boston. Innsmouth is Newburyport, and Dunwich is a mix of Ipswich, Mass, Greenwich, Mass and East and west Greenwich, RI.

* Likewise, [[Stephen King]] makes it clear that Derry is Bangor, Castle rock is a mix of Durham, Maine and Lisbon Falls, Maine, and Jerusalem’s Lot is probably a mix of Falmouth, Windham, and Cumberland, Maine.

* Thomas Hardy's "Wessex" is the south of England, with ''every single town and city'' given a fictional name.

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* ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'' has Sunnydale, California, a large town or small city (it's never really clear, but "Chosen" shows it as a city for sure). Sunnydale is never stable for long enough to stand in for a real city. Unless there really is a landlocked city with a bustling seaport. The occasional map or bird's eye view of Sunnydale uses Santa Barbara, which at least is in appropriate relation to Los Angeles. (But it's doubtful there are any big caves in California.)

* ''Flashpoint'' doesn't have the city named, but is clearly Toronto, Canada. Season 2 on they stopped bothering -- fire crews are frequently seen wandering around in "Toronto" call-out jackets.

** In what appears to be a trend, ''Rookie Blue'' is also filmed in Toronto, with scenes of the skyline, icluding the CN tower, signs for well-known streets, badges with crowns on them, mentions of landmarks, neighborhoods and even the climate in the dialogue.

* ''[[Cybergirl]]'' is set in the fictional River City, but doesn't bother covering up the fact that it was filmed in Brisbane (popularly nicknamed the River City, due to being named after the Brisbane River). There were a few obvious inaccuracies: the River City Museum is in fact the Brisbane Powerhouse in New Farm (itself a mini-cultural centre), although the geography of the place is itself accurate. The Top Dog building, however, was invented for the series.

* The city and state where ''[[Hill Street Blues]]'' took place were never explicitly identified, though it clearly resembled Chicago.

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** Springfield in ''[[Guiding Light]]'' (no relation)

* Rutherford, Ohio from ''[[3rd Rock from the Sun]]'' is probably more-or-less a fictionalized version of Kent, Ohio. Bonnie Turner, one of the show's creators, was an alum of Kent State University, likely making it the basis for the show's Pendelton State University.

* Mayberry on ''[[The Andy Griffith Show]]'' is said to be based on Andy Griffith's real life hometown of Mount Airy, NC. References to neighboring Mount Pilot probably refer to the town of Pilot Mountain, as well as the actual mountain it's named after.

* ''[[Midsomer Murders]]'' is set in the fictional English county of Midsomer, and its myriad of murder-filled villages. There is a real town of Midsomer Norton somewhere in Mid Somerset

* Point Place, Wisconsin on [[That 70s Show]] is likely based on the actual town of Pleasant Prairie just outside of Kenosha as the show's creators grew up in Kenosha County.

* Point Place, Wisconsin on [[That '70s Show]] is likely based on the actual town of Pleasant Prairie just outside of Kenosha as the show's creators grew up in Kenosha County.

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* ''[[Dead Rising]] 2'' is set in the Nevada casino resort town of "Fortune City". [[Viva Las Vegas|Las Vegas]], we are told, had already been destroyed by zombies three years prior, making it likely that Fortune City is Reno.

* ''[[Mario Party]]'' ''[[Capcom Sequel Stagnation|7]]'' had a cruise ship theme, and the boards were set in Grand Canal (Venice, Italy), Pagoda Peak (China), Pyramid Park (Egypt), [[Big Applesauce|Neon Heights]] (New York City), and Windmillville (The Netherlands).

* The department store in the [[Visual Novel]] ''[[Planetarian]]'' is based on the Matsubishi store in Hamamatsu, a town in the Shizuoka prefecture in Japan. In reality it lacks the dome of the planetarium, though. The shots of the dystopian city shown in the game are based on the store's surroundings.

* Every town and region in the ''[[Pokémon]]'' series is based off of somewhere in real life (e.g. [[Pokémon Red and Blue|Kanto]] and the real-life Kanto region of Japan, [[Pokémon Gold and Silver|Johto]] and Kansai, [[Pokémon Black and White|Unova]] and [[Big Applesauce|Manhattan/parts of New Jersey]]).