Go Tokyo Your Experience
The “Holy Land Tour” in Animation: The Collision of Virtual and Reality
In recent years, the phenomenon of “pilgrimage to holy sites” in Japanese animation has become a cultural trend, and fans often go to the local “pilgrimage” due to the realistic scenes in the animation, which has also brought considerable impetus to the local tourism industry. In order to seize this opportunity, many animation production teams will collaborate with local governments or tourism operators in advance to incorporate real scenic spots into their works.
However, this approach has also sparked some controversy, especially when the production team relies on Google Street View to draw scenes instead of personally going to the site to collect materials, the problem arises.
The Gifu City Controversy in the “Little Citizen Series”
The anime series “Little Citizen” currently airing this season is mainly set in Gifu City, Gifu Prefecture, Japan, and each episode will feature many real local attractions and street scenery. For fans who are enthusiastic about the ‘Holy Land Tour’, collecting these landscapes episode by episode has become a great pleasure. However, after the recent broadcast of episode 6, the official trailer for episode 7 sparked a controversy.
Sharp eyed Japanese netizens noticed that a uniquely shaped monument appeared in the trailer, which made people feel a bit off.
So, someone verified through Google Street View and found that the actual shape of the monument was different from what was portrayed in the animation.
After further examination, it was found that if the angle was slightly moved in Google Street View, the shape of the monument would change and become similar to the shape in the animation. So, netizens speculated that the animation production team may not have personally gone to Gifu Park for on-site sampling, but relied on Google Street View to draw scenes, and even inadvertently drew seam errors in street view images.
Perhaps it’s because of the discussions among netizens that after the actual broadcast, only the distant monument still retains its strange shape like the trailer, and the close ups have been corrected!
The polarized reactions of Japanese netizens
This discovery immediately sparked heated discussions online. Some netizens believe that the animation production team’s approach is unprofessional and unethical, as “pilgrimage to holy sites” is a cultural phenomenon and authenticity is an important part of it; However, others believe that this is not a big deal, as animation is just a fictional work of art and the accuracy of the background is not the key.
Some netizens have the following opinions:
The actual on-site materials are really important. “- It is believed that the production team should pay attention to authentic materials.
The person caught is too powerful, isn’t it? “- amazed at the insight of netizens who discovered the mistake.
Maybe we don’t even have a budget for field surveys recently. “- I guess it’s because of budget issues.
However, this actually made the design of the monument look cool, so I gave it a thumbs up. “- I think the mistake is not a big deal.
Let me tell you something, what you’re watching is not a documentary, it’s just a fictional animation. “- Emphasizing the fictional nature of animation.
The balance between virtuality and reality
This controversy reflects the delicate balance between virtual art and real-life materials. For the production team, on-site sourcing is undoubtedly a crucial step in increasing the authenticity of the work, but it also comes with challenges in terms of time and cost. With the help of modern technology, Google Street View has indeed provided convenience for scene design, but it cannot completely replace the perception of details brought by personal experience.
For the audience, understanding whether the scenes in the animation are real is not an absolute factor that affects the viewing experience, but it may affect the authenticity and cultural significance of the phenomenon of “pilgrimage to the holy land”.
The incident in the ‘Little Citizen Series’ reminds us that both creators and audiences need to find an appropriate balance between virtual and reality. As an art form, animation’s freedom and creative space are certainly important, but when it intersects with the real world, maintaining a certain degree of authenticity also has its unique value. Anyway, this controversy has given us more thoughts and understanding of the production process behind the animation.