Five places I’d like to visit

Seems my dreams are a good source of inspiration.  This post was the result of a long convoluted dream that I only remember snippets of – twas definitely anime themed and I seemed to travel through a number of different locations. Which got me thinking when I woke up – what anime worlds would I most like to visit?

There are some fabulous worlds in the anime-verse, but not all of them are places I’d particularly like to visit.  The world of Last Exile for example – gorgeous place, but I wouldn’t fancy landing into the middle of a war! 😆  I didn’t put all that much thought into this and I’m pretty sure I’ll suddenly think of another 10 worlds I’d like to visit, but here’s the first five that popped into my head today.

1.  Yuuko’s Shop – xxxHOLiC

I’m nothing if not predictable!  Yeah, I have a slight fascination with Yuuko Ichihara and with xxxHOLiC in general.  A lot of my anime related dreams either start, end or pass through Yuuko’s shop – only fitting since Yuuko is a Space Time Witch (strange how my otherwise weird dreams have that little bit of logic), so when I thought of anime locations I’d like to visit Yuuko’s shop was first thing to come to mind.

The shop itself is beautiful – that traditional building and pretty garden surrounded by skyscrapers on three sides is immediately recognisable, yet it can only be found by those with a genuine need for the shop.  I wouldn’t fancy messing with the laws of hitsuzen, but I’d still like to explore that shop (and Yuuko’s fabulous wardrobe) and meet the characters that live there.

Another reason I’d like to visit Yuuko’s shop is that it’s a window into the CLAMP-verse.  I’m a great admirer of CLAMP and would love to wander about some of their featured locations.  Since there is quite a lot of crossovers in xxxHOLiC it would be possible to take Yuuko’s shop as a starting point and pass into the worlds of Legal Drug, Angelic Layer, Cardcaptor Sakura, Kobato, Chobits, Tokyo Babylon and Tsubasa Reservior Chronicle!  Perhaps I’d even be able to take home a magical CLAMP wardrobe filled with cute clothes (a girl can dream!)

2. Konoha – Naruto

This was another easy choice for me.  Of the traditional shounen series I follow, Konoha seems like the location I’d most like to visit.  The world of One Piece is just too vast to only visit (I’d need to move there!), Soul Society  in Bleach has too much blank space and seems dull and D.Gray-Man just seems utterly terrifying!  Konoha on the other hand, seems like a place you could drop into and experience for a while before going home – the place tends to pop up in my dreams quite a lot.

I’ve always liked the world design in Naruto.  Its got just enough mod-cons to seem familiar, but at the same time is utterly alien – its full of fecking ninja’s for gods sake!  Konoha seems like a pretty nice town too, I’d like to get a better look at the Hokage mountain, the giant walls/gates, grab some Ichiraku ramen to see what the big deal is….and you, just see a whole heap of ninja’s going about their daily business!

As I’ve mentioned before, Naruto is one of the shows that got me back into anime after my wilderness years at Uni so I have large amounts of nostalgia for the show.  But it’s not just nostalgia that makes me like the world so much – I genuinely think it’s a very nicely developed world setting and its one of the reasons I even bothered with Naruto in the first place!

3. Gekko-go – Eureka Seven

There is no other reason for this being here other than the fact that I completely fell in love with the world of Eureka Seven – what other reason do I need really!?  The series just appealed to that little piece of me that has always wanted to soar through the clouds.  The terrestrial world is pretty desolate for the most part, but the skies are glorious!

Just to experience the skies of that world would be amazing, but getting to meet the members of Gekkostate onboard the Gekko-go would be the icing.  The characters of Eureka Seven are among my favourites – it’s a great ensemble cast and they’re all really interesting people in their own rights.  I’m sure the conversation would be memorable!

As a fan of mecha series its only fitting that I’d have a mecha show on this list – getting to see the Nirvash and other LFO’s up close (and maybe even get a spin in one!) would be a phenomenal experience – can you imagine surfing through the clouds!?  Amazing.

4. Kabukichou – Gintama

I really like the world of Gintama. Taking the traditional Edo setting (that I always find fascinating) and adding aliens, futuristic technology and modern sensibilities is just genius.  The setting is only limited by imagination and that’s what I like so much about it – you never know what you’ll see next in Gintama.

Wandering about Kabukichou would be great fun; dropping into Otose’s Snack House, getting a look at Mademoiselle Saigou’s okama bar (and maybe seeing Zurako), poking about in Gengai’s workshop, having a drink in the Takamagahara host bar, perhaps getting stopped by the shinsengumi for drunken behaviour before landing into Yorozuya for tea with Gin-chan, Shinpachi, Kagura and Sadaharu!  Fun times.

5.  Amestris – Fullmetal Alchemist

Who wouldn’t want to visit a country where Alchemy is commonplace?  I’ve always liked those fantasy series where alchemy is a feature, but FMA put a new and interesting spin on the traditional concept of alchemy being the domain of sinister old men locked in smelly labs.  To visit a land where alchemy can be practised by anyone with enough talent and intelligence would be really fun.

Amestris itself is an interesting country – from the rural Resembool to the sprawling miliary stronghold of Central and vast icy wasteland of Briggs via the mechanical wonderland of Rush Valley; there is so much to see in Amestris.

As a world setting I really enjoyed the detailing in FMA – the 20th century industrialised way it’s portrayed without getting grimy and polluted, the mechanical wonder of automail, the vast open spaces and the way religion takes a backseat to scientific fact and alchemy – it’s a world that has so many familiar details, yet as a whole is completely different to our own.  I’d love to be able to go there for a trip!

So there’s five places in the anime-verse I’d like to visit – what about you?