Are anime backgrounds real places?

Most anime, manga and games draw streets and buildings that genuinely exist. Going to see them is called "seichi junrei" — anime pilgrimage — in Japan. Anime Pilgrimage has mapped 8,280 of these real places across 457 cities and 298 works.

Anime backgrounds are drawn from real places

Anime is not "filmed" the way live action is. During production, though, it is standard for the team to visit a location, photograph it, and paint the background art from those photographs. That is why the stations, hillside streets, shopping arcades and shrines you see on screen usually exist exactly as drawn.

People sometimes ask where an anime was "filmed". Strictly speaking it was not filmed at all — but the experience of standing in the spot you recognise from the screen is the same as visiting a movie filming location.

Where the name comes from

In Japan, visiting a real place that appears in a work is called seichi junrei, and the place itself is called a seichi. There is no religious meaning to it — it is a nickname fans use.

You do not need to know the term. It simply means going to see, in person, the places that appeared in something you love.

Can you actually visit them?

Yes. Most are ordinary public places anyone can walk to: station forecourts, shopping streets, parks and shrines. Some are working businesses or private property, so the usual courtesy you would show any other visitor applies.

Every spot on this site includes a Street View link so you can look at the place yourself before you travel, and compare it with the scene on your own.

How the places are identified

Locations are identified by comparing photographs taken on site by users against scenes from the work. Places adopted as official entries have been reviewed; places that come only from community submissions are unverified. Each spot records the work it appears in and the episode.

Appearances are recorded down to the episode (for example "EP7"). We do not give timestamps in seconds, because runtime and cuts can differ between streaming services.

FAQ

Are anime backgrounds based on real places?

Yes. In many works the backgrounds are painted from photographs the production team takes on location, so the stations, streets and shopping arcades that appear usually exist in real life.

What does anime pilgrimage mean?

It means visiting, in person, the real places that appear in an anime, manga or game. The Japanese term is seichi junrei, and it carries no religious meaning.

Can I visit anime locations in real life?

Yes. Most are public places anyone can visit. Use the Street View link on each spot to see what it looks like before you go.

Where is anime filmed?

Anime is not filmed the way live-action productions are. Its backgrounds are painted from photographs of real locations, so there is a real place that corresponds to a filming location.

Which anime have the most real-life locations?

Anime Pilgrimage currently lists 298 works and 8,280 mapped places. The works with the most are listed below.

Works with the most real places mapped

Ordered by number of mapped spots. Select a work to open its map.