[Picture Intensive] I was cruising on good vibes when I decided to try watching another magical girl anime show. Turned out its nothing like any other magical (kiddish) girl anime I’ve watched before. Mahou Tsukai ni Taisetsu na koto ~ Natsu no Sora~ ( 魔法遣いに大切なこと ～夏のソラ～) is last year’s summer anime and I’m not trying to do a review here cos I’m just terrible at it. :P I’m only VERY infatuated with the production for this anime. (ヽ(・。・#)ﾉ
Reel: Drug store. Notice the subtle name change from the original one below
The moment it opened I was thinking if I’m watching a live action video instead of an animated film. True to my visionary sensors, it IS animated but heavily touched up using real life photographs. This kinda reminds me of my tv production days back in school. You know, script, storyboard, lights, camera, and the evil editing machine. Back then, we literally drew on white paper, now well, technology’s here for some reason! LOL.
Anyway, the series depicted Shimokitazawa and Nakano in the slice of life story. I remember Windbell and DarkMirage doing inspiring shoots about Byousoku 5cm and School Days after absorbing the anime into their think tank. So during my days of leisure back in Tokyo, I gleefully took a stroll down and here’s what I found.
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Real: The famous North exit:
Reel: North Entrance of the train station
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Real: They have a lot of quirky shops like this in Shimokitazawa
Reel: Sora & friend went to StarBucks actually. . ,. -.-!and that’s the letter S from McDonald’s reflected in the background.
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Real: The construction boards are still intact. It must have been really recent!
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Real: The florist
Reel: A shrine in the middle of the town
Real:A shrine in the middle of the town, with a 700 Yen man for sale
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Real: This one’s got weird shop space
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Real: That’s my bag actually. . . in some stranger’s bicycle. Purposely dropped my bag into the bike’s basket, took a shot and hurried off blushing~! lol
Reel: Nakano Station
Real: More crowded than in the anime
Reel: Escalator up to Mandarake at Broadway Shopping arcade. Otakus must know this place!
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Reel: They eliminated all the crowd! This will NEVER happen in Tokyo while the lights are still on.
Real: The railings were a lot rustier
Reel: Taxi stand
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Reel: Mandarake became Mangaraku. LOL
Real: I got caught by the shop staff right after I STEALTHILY took this shot.
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Real: Managed to find the really secluded places too. :S a bit freaky cos its soooo quiet
Reel: This is back to Shimokitaza. I love this place! So funky
Real: I attempted to change the sequence of the chairs but the girl in the shop was starring at me…
Reel: Art gallery
Real: There’s a Postcard exhibition that day. Really nice!
Reel: Not so Random vending machine
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Real: Took me ages to find this place
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I must say it wasn’t a hell lot of fun doing it in the blazing days of summer especially when the town’s so frickin big and you have absolutely no idea where to start. This reminds me, I have yet to finish watching the series and they’re already going to release the live action film! Horror horror, procrastinator number one!
I don’t know, I still find the anime a doll to adore maybe because it resembles the real thing so much and I really wanna go to the land of the rising sun again. Perhaps some unlike-minded people may find this production technique a bore and feel that some things should remain as 2D as it possibly can ( you know like in the case of the DragonBall movie LOL).
What do you think?
牛仔
Saturday, 24 January, 2009 at 01:16
did u ready yourself with anime references when u took these shots? some of the camera angles looks very similar.
ron~
Wednesday, 28 January, 2009 at 11:44
good question there from gordon :O
some of the angles are similar :O
dice
Wednesday, 28 January, 2009 at 12:38
Yeah of cos I did! I have goldfish memory remember? LOL.. yup was inspired by Windbell’s & Darkmirage’s posts so was trying to get the same angles for this one..anyway I stored them in the keitai before i took off but it was difficult to get the exact same angles cos sometimes you can’t see the details in the small screen of your phone very well. Also, the photographer for the production team used a different lens from mine. It’s perspective is wider. I had to set my cam to HD settings to get a similar effect but still its not exactly the same. PS i went down more than a couple of times. It’s really a very nice quirky place with individual start ups selling unique merchandises and you’ll see a lot of roving musicians around too. You should visit there the next time you go Tokyo!~ Its only about 20 mins away from Shinjuku! . =)
Ellene
Sunday, 1 February, 2009 at 00:27
omg!! your shots are so alike the anime ones..its like almost a miracle…now i know..miracles do happen!
MrMayat
Sunday, 8 March, 2009 at 00:41
Excellent job there.
And to think I was one of the few interested in retracing this anime’s tracks. You saved me a trip. Heh.
Nevertheless, I’m still visiting these places in my upcoming trip. So, how long did it take you to find all of the places in Shimakitozawa? And were they near each other?
dice
Sunday, 8 March, 2009 at 11:16
@ MrMayat: Thanks! I actually went there a couple of times. Couldn’t find everything in a day. I started my walk-about at the North Entrance which will eventually bring you to the South. The places depicted in the anime are all over the place; some just nearby, some further out, nearer to the residence areas. I took random turns whenever I reach a crossroad. Walk around and you’ll be able to notice a lot of familiar stuff you’ve seen in the show if not, you’ll still be enthralled by the surrounding shops and activities . My only regret was that I couldn’t find the house that Sora & Gouta stayed. LOL Hope you have fun on your next trip!
I love Shimokitazawa!