While many movies/shows take place in Tokyo, not all of them do. The studio responsible for shows like Air, Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu, Lucky Star, and K-ON is Kyoto Animation, and as you might have guessed, is located not too far out of my way in Kyoto. In Japan, it is common for students (including my own) to take school trips for a weekend or a few days to another major city in Japan. My own students typically go to Tokyo or Okinawa, but the girls from Lucky Star live in Tokyo, so they headed down to Kyoto.
Konata (the girl with the blue hair) is a huge Japanese animation fan, and as such the series is very meta. Making jokes about animation in animation. True to this theme, the first place Konata wants to go? Not to Gion with its geisha and maiko. Not to any of the amazing hundreds of years old temples. Nah, she goes straight to her favorite animation studio. I too visited the studio taking pictures in roughly the same places as the girls.
Fair winds and following seas.
You look fab while there! Love the pants
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Your last look is great!
ReplyDeleteI am dying over the Kyoto Animation image, it is too cool. I am pathetically unhip when it comes to anime, although the Spousal Unit enjoys it a great deal. Me, I like the polo and madras you are sporting. :)
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This makes me wonder if the animators might not begin with photos!
ReplyDeleteI love this post! The juxtaposition of the anime pictures with your photos -- what fun!
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I think I have that same polo, only with a blue pony, and it never fails to draw attention. Gotta pop the collar when you wear pink.
ReplyDeleteThere were some great manga and anime series in the 80s that reflected a smattering of American preppy style influences. I'm sure you're familiar with "Ah! My Goddess," and the early days of the "Sailor Moon" franchise. There was also an obscure feature that I can only remember by the title "EVE" which was visually striking.
John, you should check out my favorite anime/manga, Kimagure Orange Road. If you go to my other blog, ayukawamadoka.blogspot.com, you can see lots of the stuff I scanned. It ran from 1983 to 1987 for the manga and 1987 to 1989 for the anime, with an additional movie in 1996. It's classic downtown boy in prep school meets uptown girl who goes "slumming" because of her issues with absentee parents. The school is Koryo, which allows the rightly placed to skip entrance exams from kindergarten until high school. Boy and girl end up at Waseda, one of the Japanese Ivies, and my personal favorite (been there twice).
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