History WhereTheHellIsSpringfield / AnimeAndManga

* ''Manga/{{Gangsta}}'': While Ergastulum has quite diverse population, it mostly keeps to naming convection of european mediterran countries. No actual position is given and nothing is known about the outside world, aside from establishing an alternate history.

* In ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure'', Morioh is stated to be a suburb of "S City" in "M Prefecture." This hints at it being an offshoot of Sendai in Miyagi Prefecture (where the series author grew up), but nothing about either the town or what we see of the larger "S City" matches up with the real-life historic city.

* In ''Manga/JojosBizarreAdventure'', Morioh is stated to be a suburb of "S City" in "M Prefecture." This hints at it being an offshoot of Sendai in Miyagi Prefecture (where the series author grew up), but nothing about either the town or what we see of the larger "S City" matches up with the real-life historic city.

* ''Manga/TheGirlIWantIsSoHandsome'' takes place in an unspecified part of Japan. The only time actual place names are mentioned is near the end, when Hanna upsets her girlfriend Rei by deciding to go to college in Hokkaido, which would force them into a LongDistanceRelationship for at least a year, since Hanna is a third-year and Rei is a second-year.

* Mitakihara, in ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica'', is one of the stranger examples of this trope: there's a lot of very recognizable architecture, but it puts the series setting in thirteen different cities on four different continents. [[note]]UsefulNotes/{{Dubai}}, UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity, Taipei, Shanghai, UsefulNotes/{{Tokyo}}, Frankfurt, UsefulNotes/{{Singapore}}, Curitiba, Shinzuku, Milan, Cologne, Moscow, and Yokohama.[[/note]] While by all accounts it and other cities in Madoka, such as the neighboring Kazamino, [[Manga/PuellaMagiKazumiMagica Asunaro]], [[Manga/PuellaMagiSuzuneMagica Hohzuki]], [[VideoGame/MagiaRecordPuellaMagiMadokaMagicaSideStory Kamihama, Takarazaki, Matsumiya, Kirimine Village, Futatsugi, and Yukuni]] don't have a confirmed location in Japan itself beyond some hints in some maps that Mitakihara and Kamihama are in the northeast of Japan's main island of Honshu. Manga/PuellaMagiTartMagica averts this as the locations visited are based on the real-life locations associated with UsefulNotes/JoanOfArc, who is the titular Tart.

* Mitakihara, in ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica'', is one of the stranger examples of this trope: there's a lot of very recognizable architecture, but it puts the series setting in thirteen different cities on four different continents. [[note]]UsefulNotes/{{Dubai}}, UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity, Taipei, Shanghai, UsefulNotes/{{Tokyo}}, Frankfurt, UsefulNotes/{{Singapore}}, Curitiba, Shinzuku, Milan, Cologne, Moscow, and Yokohama.[[/note]]

* ''Anime/TigerAndBunny'': It is unclear exactly where Sternbild is. It appears to very similar to America culturally, but it has it's own currency (the sterndollar) and seems to be a man-made island in the ocean, meaning it's possibly a sovereign nation unconnected to any other.

* Just like the ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry'' games' fictional settings, it's difficult to pinpoint the location of Capulet City, the setting of ''Anime/DevilMayCryTheAnimatedSeries''. Although, being named after ''Theatre/RomeoAndJuliet'' from the {{British Author|s}} Creator/WilliamShakespeare hints that it has British influences.

* Much of the ''Franchise/{{Nasuverse}}'' media is set in or around three fictional Japanese cities: [[VisualNovel/{{Tsukihime}} Misaki]], [[VisualNovel/FateStayNight Fuyuki]], and [[LightNovel/TheGardenOfSinners Mifune]]. Fuyuki is a coastal city modeled after Kobe, while Misaki lies further inland, near Tokyo. Beyond that, we know nothing about where they might be.

* ''Manga/{{Gangsta}}: While Ergastulum has quite diverse population, it mostly keeps to naming convection of european mediterran countries. No actual position is given and nothing is known about the outside world, aside from establishing an alternate history.

* Just like the ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry'' games' fictional settings, it's difficult to pinpoint the location of Capulet City, the setting of ''Anime/DevilMayCryTheAnimatedSeries''.

* In ''Manga/JojosBizarreAdventure'', Morioh is stated to be a suburb of "S City" in "M Prefecture." This hints at it being an offshoot of Sendai in Miyagi Prefecture (where the series author grew up), but nothing about either the town or what we see of the larger "S City" matches up with the real-life historic city.

* ''Manga/DragonBall'' is heavy on WorldBuilding, but it’s still not clear where on Earth much of the action is taking place. None of the nations are named or specified, and cities have names like “East City” and “Ginger Town”. The series started out based on ''Literature/JourneyToTheWest'', so the setting (especially early on) feels like a fantasy hybrid of Japan and China. (It's not even clear if their "Earth" is even the same planet as ours, or they just happened to have it called the same thing, as pretty much nothing on Dragon Ball's world resembles anything like ours.)
On the rare occasion that Earth is clearly visible from space in the franchise, at the very least the land masses roughly correspond to real life.

* ''Manga/DragonBall'' is heavy on WorldBuilding, but it’s still not clear where on Earth much of the action is taking place. None of the nations are named or specified, and cities have names like “East City” and “Ginger Town”. The series started out based on ''Literature/JourneyToTheWest'', so the setting (especially early on) feels like a fantasy hybrid of Japan and China. (It's not even clear if their "Earth" is even the same planet as ours, or they just happened to have it the same thing, as pretty much nothing on Dragon Ball's world resembles anything like ours.)

* Itomori in ''Anime/YourName'' is located somewhere in the Gifu province in Nagoya, just east of Kyoto, but doesn't exist in real life (or maybe it did, but was [[spoiler:wiped away by the comet]] and no one noticed).

* ''Franchise/YuGiOh'' is mostly set in Domino City, which is almost definitely somewhere in Japan. Some speculate that it’s a [[NoCommunitiesWereHarmed fictitious Tokyo]]. ''Anime/YuGiOhZexal'' takes place in Heartland City, and all we know about it is that it’s somewhere ''else'' in Japan. ''Anime/YuGiOhArcV'' takes place in Maiami City, which looks more like U.S.A.'s Miami, although the school and cram schools feels more like they're in Japan. And ''Anime/YuGiOhVrains'' is set in Den City, which is even more ambiguous, as it's never even stated to be in Japan, and the only houses seen don't really resemble Japanese houses, yet everyone have clearly Japanese names.

* ''Franchise/YuGiOh'' is mostly set in Domino City, which is almost definitely somewhere in Japan. Some speculate that it’s a [[NoCommunitiesWereHarmed fictitious Tokyo]]. ''Anime/YuGiOhZexal'' takes place in Heartland City, and all we know about it is that it’s somewhere ''else'' in Japan.

* Itomori in ''Anime/YourName'' is located somewhere in the Gifu province in Nagoya, just east of Kyoto, but doesn't exist in real life (or myabe it did, but was [[spoiler:wiped away by the comet]] and no one noticed).

* Itomori in ''Anime/YourName'' is located somewhere in the Gifu province in Nagoya, just east of Kyoto, but doesn't exist in real life (or myabe it was, but was wiped away by the comet and no one noticed).

* ''Manga/{{Gangsta}}: While Ergastulum has quite diverse population, it mostly keeps to naming convection of european mediterran countries. No actual position is given and nothing is known about the outside world, aside from establishing an alternate history.

* ''Manga/MahouSenseiNegima'' features [[AcademyOfAdventure Mahora Academy]]. All that can be determined of its location is that it's likely somewhere in the Kanto region of Japan (so somewhere near Tokyo).

* Much of the ''Franchise/{{Nasuverse}}'' media is set in or around three fictional Japanese cities: [[VisualNovel/{{Tsukihime}} Misaki]], [[VisualNovel/FateStayNight Fuyuki]], and [[LightNovel/KaraNoKyoukai Mifune]]. Fuyuki is a coastal city modeled after Kobe, while Misaki lies further inland, near Tokyo. Beyond that, we know nothing about where they might be.

* Much of the ''Franchise/{{Nasuverse}}'' media is set in or around three fictional Japanese cities: [[VisualNovel/{{Tsukihime}} Misaki]], [[VisualNovel/FateStayNight Fuyuki]], and [[LightNovel/KaraNoKyoukai Mifune]]. Fuyuki is a coastal city modeled after Kobe, while Misaki lies further inland, near Tokyo. Beyond that, we know nothing about where they might be.

* ''Manga/DragonBall'' is heavy on WorldBuilding, but it’s still not clear where on Earth much of the action is taking place. None of the nations are named or specified, and cities have names like “East City” and “Ginger Town”. The series started out based on ''Literature/JourneyToTheWest'', so the setting (especially early on) feels like a fantasy hybrid of Japan and China.

* Much of the ''Franchise/{{Nasuverse}}'' media is set in or around three fictional Japanese cities: [[VisualNovel/{{Tsukihime}} Misaki]], [[VisualNovel/FateStayNight Fuyuki]], and [[LightNovel/KaraNoKyoukai Mifune]]. Fuyuki is a coastal city modeled after Kobe, while Misaki lies further inland, near Tokyo. Beyond that, we know nothing about where they might be.
* Most of ''Anime/KikisDeliveryService'' takes place in a city that explicitly borrows architectural elements from such locations as Stockholm, Visby, Lisboa, Naples, and Paris. It is implied to be located in Northern Europe, and the inhabitants seem to be a mix of European and East Asian phenotypes with no hint of racial segregation or discrimination. WordOfGod holds that Kiriko is basicaly a "Stockholm-in-a-world-without-WWII" with some other influences thrown in. [[Creator/HayaoMiyazaki Miya]][[FanNickname -sensei]] says that most of it is based on his notes and sketches from the time he visited Creator/AstridLindgren to discuss possible adaptation of ''Literature/PippiLongstocking''. The talks fell through,[[note]]The first Lindgren work to be adapted by Creator/StudioGhibli is the ''Literature/RonjaTheRobbersDaughter'' filmed by his son Creator/GoroMiyazaki some thirty years later.[[/note]] but the materials he obtained on the trip went into the movie.
* Part of ''Anime/YourName'' is set in Itomori, a fictional town in Gifu Prefecture, Japan that is based on the real-world Hida City, but is also next to a lake based on Lake Suwa in not that near Nagano Prefecture. Given Shinkai's pendant for RealPlaceBackground, [[http://en.rocketnews24.com/2017/07/12/real-life-location-of-your-names-anime-only-lake-discovered-still-holds-a-beautiful-surprise/ fans have tried to determine its location]], but in RealLife there is only a swamp where it should be.

* ''Manga/DragonBall'' is heavy on WorldBuilding, but it’s still not clear where on Earth much of the action is taking place. None of the nations are named or specified, and cities have names like “East City” and “Ginger Town”.

* ''Manga/AttackOnTitan'':
** ''Attack on Titan'' is implied to take place sometime in the future and mentions the Far East, so the geography is assumed to be the same as ours. However, the Walls officially have a combined radius of about 480 km, or larger [[http://kaeru-ranawa.tumblr.com/post/61869765522/browningtons-fisherpon-the-walls-from-attack than most European countries or American states.]] Chapter 86 seems to suggest [[spoiler:that NeverWasThisUniverse was in play all along]].
** Maps shown in the series are of [[spoiler:an upside-down horizontally-flipped version of Madagascar, which is named Paradis]]. The enemy [[spoiler:Kingdom of Marley is somewhere in Europe, with depictions of ghettos similar to the ones Jewish people were forced into during WWII. They also just finished a war with a country that seems to be the universe's equivalent of Turkey]].