so this morning I was walking through the woods like the good Canadian I am
and as I was appreciating the beauty surrounding me I couldn't help but think
back on the time I spent in Yamanashi exploring the area surrounding Mount
Fuji in search of real-life anime locations everywhere I looked there was
something new and beautiful to see and as I continued to walk and dream about
Japan I remembered a frequent sentiment in the comment section of the anime
expedition that I was just so confused by people would constantly say things
like this proves that anime is better than real life or reality is often
disappointing and I could not disagree with these statements more in fact I had
the exact opposite experience so today I want to dive a little deeper and explore
the question is anime more beautiful than real life my first thought was that
maybe pictures and videos just aren't enough to translate what it's actually
like to be standing in these locations so anyone just seeing the images might
lean towards the fantasy version but looking back on the blogs that inspired
my trip to begin with my thought was never how much better the anime looked I
was just more in awe how talented the artists were at translating real life
into 2d and my opinion was only reaffirmed when I visited the locations
for myself take the iconic staircase from your name
for example when I turned the corner out of the alley and found myself looking
directly at a scene from one of my favorite movies of all time I was
overcome with emotion and was unable to wipe the huge smile off my face I
probably spent around an hour here recreating scenes from the movie and not
once did it cross my mind that the real-world logistics were ruining the
view in fact I just couldn't believe just how spot-on the location was to the
anime yes there are far more power lines and real-life doesn't have a glow filter
applied to it but not only is it equally as clean colorful and unique but you're
experiencing the scene with all of your senses anime is unable to capture the
silence that fills the back streets of Tokyo
the smell of wet cement the cold breeze in the air and most of all the amount of
life everywhere you look one thing that anime does have going for
it though is its total lack of construction you never see warning signs
or blue fences obstructing your view of the scenery but I never thought it took
away from the experience while I was there but that's all just urban areas
what about nature and interiors see this is where I get really confused because
as far as I can tell my videos of real world nature are virtually identical to
the anime so much so that I would occasionally get confused while I was
editing them the only thing missing from real life are the joyful anime
characters saying Ohayou my god nope they're real aside from the
unbelievable views the best part about rural Japan is just how friendly and
welcoming everyone is no amount of anime watching could prepare you for the
amount of times that you'll be greeted by friendly locals so at this point you
might be thinking but Quin what about the cherry blossoms there's no way
they're real baka baka baka now unfortunately since I'm not crazy enough to visit
Japan during peak tourism months I can't speak from experience but there are a
few other places in the world where cherry blossoms grow and by the grace of
God of high school
Vancouver happens to be one of them so
let's go take a little field trip and see if we can find out for ourselves
now that I think about it cherry blossoms aren't actually in seasons so this was a total waste of time
looks like baka on me my little expedition didn't exactly
work out so time to check the internet so I actually thought this was gonna
work out in the commentors favor but holy the Sakura petals do actually float
through the air exactly like in anime so that's two points for your life zero
points anime but I'll give you one more chance anime interiors are usually
extremely clean well decorated and full of light so let's take a look at a few
of the locations I managed to visit I saw several comments on the K-On!
expedition saying things like kind of creepy to see clips of the anime
characters while the real-life Toyosato is empty like a ghost town or seeing it
that way makes me feel like there died which watching it back I can actually
understand it was eerily quiet inside Toyosato elementary school and I
don't know if he came on a slow day or what but we were literally the only
people walking around so compared to the way it's portrayed in the anime with
students running around enjoying the spring time of their youth it definitely
does come off as melancholic the one student we did see definitely did not
seem to be enjoying his youth
but on the other hand there was places like the
Tokyo Sea Life part from my teen romantic comedy snafu which was
portrayed in an extremely somber tone in the anime it's almost completely uninhabited
apart from the service club whereas in real life it was bustling with kids
learning that they're kind of like birds huh penguins actually are bird students
on dates and people trying to recreate scenes from anime okay that last one
might have just been me but my point stands as far as accuracy goes the
real-life interiors are pretty much indistinguishable from the anime last
but not least it wouldn't be right to talk about realism without giving a nod
to the king himself Makoto Shinkai whose locations constantly blew me away
especially inside the National Art Center which transports you right into
Taki's date from Your Name. after going through the entire anime
expedition the only location I could find that you're definitely better off
just watching the anime for was the Arashiama bamboo grove which is used
in countless anime but particularly the way it's portrayed in snafu makes it
seem so peaceful and dreamlike when in reality even on off days you can barely
move because there are just so many tourists posing for Instagram pictures
all in all if you're struggling to find the beauty in reality I highly recommend
you plan your own anime expedition and visit Japan for yourself I promise you
won't at all be disappointed in fact you may even have a hard time watching anime
after you get back without thinking how much better it would be to be there in
person if you want to follow my itinerary and visit the same locations I
did all my maps are available on my patreon link in the description thank
you so much for watching my only goal is to spread my love for Japan and anime of
course so that's what I'll continue to make videos here every week about
whatever kinda neet nonsense comes to mind