Interest

Anime Fans Rank the 'Must See' Anime Pilgrimage Sites

The real-world locales seen in popular anime series inspire fans to trek through Japan to reach their favorite "Holy Land." The Washinomiya Shrine in Lucky Star might be best known for hundreds of thousands of visitors it gets on New Year and through out the year. Recent sites of otaku adoration include Chichibu, the setting for the romantic drama anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day, and Oarai, where the girls of Girls und Panzer practice tankery.

Guidebooks and apps were developed specifically for the purpose of helping otaku visit the places seen in their favorite shows.

Now fans have weighed in on the real-life places and ranked them in order of "must-see" for other visitors trying to decide where to go first.

1. Higashimurayama, Tokyo and Tokorozawa, Saitama (My Neighbor Totoro)
2. Seiseki-Sakuragaoka Train Station (Whisper of the Heart)
3. Shonan District of Kanagawa Prefecture (Slam Dunk)
4. Hakone, Kanagawa Prefecture (Neon Genesis Evangelion)
5. Tomonura, Hiroshima Prefecture (Ponyo)
6. Chichibu, Saitama (anohana)
7. Kuki, Saitama (Lucky Star)
8. Nishinomiya, Hyogo (The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya)
9. Kanda Shrine in Chiyoda, Tokyo (Love Live!)
10. Kawagoe, Saitama (Kamisama Kiss)
11. Izu Ōshima (Vividred Operation)
12. Oarai, Ibaraki (Girls und Panzer)
13. Takayama, Gifu (Hyōka)
14. Hanno, Saitama (Encouragement of Climb)
15. Komoro, Nagano (Waiting in the Summer)
16. Ikebukuro, Tokyo (Durarara!!)
17. Shichigahama, Miyagi (Kannagi)
18. Kawasaki, Kanagawa (Tentai Senshi Sunred)
19. Shimoda, Shizuoka (Natsu-iro Kiseki)
20. Iwami, Tottori (Free!)

Have you ever been to an anime pilgrimage site? Which one would you most want to visit? Let us know in the forums!

[Via Excite News, Yara-On!]