Many thanks to Paul Reubens for the title inspiration…

Longtime friend of LiA and Patron Casey W. stepped up with this commission. Casey asked me to write a top 10 list of anime set in the United States. Or, failing that, outside Japan. The only rule was that  they be “real world” settings –  a logical one, when you consider that without it pretty much every sci-fi and fantasy setting would be eligible. I took that to mean that a fantasy or sci-fi plot element was eligible, was a fantasy or sci-fi setting was not. But, as usual with these things, this is harder than it seems.

Here’s one issue. If  I wanted, could I scrape together ten shows set in the USA? Sure – but this isn’t really about scraping together a list. If I want ten that I’m a serious fan of, I have to expand the search beyond America’s borders. But once you open it up the anywhere outside Japan, ten really isn’t enough (think about all the series set in China, for example). So as usual I tried to split the difference – list all the US-based series I wanted to single out, and fill out the list with other international greats. And if a series was set mostly outside Japan, I consider that close enough.

As well, there were a couple of series that are right on the edge of that whole real world vs. fantasy argument. Kekkai Sensen, for example, is certainly not a “real-world” setting per se, but it is quite expressly New York City. I left it off in the interest of sticking with the spirit of the exercise, but I could see a case for including it (both in terms of eligibility and merit). And then we have the matter of “fictionalized” settings. Kusuriya no Hitorigoto is certainly set in an Imperial China-like country, but it’s never referred to as “China” (only as “Li”). Likewise I can see a case for including it, but I think it has to be disqualified.

So, here’s the list. These are not in any special order apart from which pool they’re drawn from. As always, this is not attempt to create a “best” list – these are my favorites. You know the drill – that means some obvious names are going to be missing.

U.S. Based:

Baccano! – One criteria I sort of kept in mind here was that a series really use the setting as part of the story, and Baccano certainly does that. It’s that classic Japanese funhouse mirror look at American culture (in that case that of the USA, mostly in the 1930’s).

91 Days – This is the anime that probably reminds me of Baccano more than any other – although very different in tone, they share a certain sensibility. A very Hollywood-like take on the American gangster story, written and executed with remarkable authenticity.

Great Pretender – Ditto here. Very authentic in the sense that it plays like a fiction Hollywood might have crafted. In this case the subject at hand is the Hollywood caper flick, and while the ending is a bit of a disaster most of Great Pretender is pure class. Not entirely set in the States, and in fact one arc takes place mostly in Japan, but I still think it meets the intended threshold.

Non-U.S. Based:

Ikoku Meiro no Croisee (France) – Talk about a series with a sense of place, this is it. Set in a shopping arcade at the turn of the (20th) Century (ironically, the setting is based on an arcade in Brussels), Ikoku Meiro transports you there and never lets you go. One of the true underrated masterpieces in anime

Vinland Saga (Europe) – Vinland Saga dances around the map of Europe from a thousand years ago, mostly between Iceland, Denmark, and Britain (as far as the anime has gotten). Yukimura Makoto does his homework big-time with this series – he’s made many fact-finding visits to the countries he depicts and does extensive research.

Kuroshitsuji (England) – Black Butler is similar to Baccano in the sense of the funhouse mirror effect. This is Victorian England very much seen through a Japanese lens, but it’s still a wondrous construct.

Kingdom (China)- It feels almost too easy to choose a series set in China, there are so many. But Kingdom has a sense of history and in most respects is quite authentic in its depiction of China’s Warring States Period.

Monster (Germany) – Any time you wade into the subject of Germany and its role in the Holocaust and World War II, lots of Japanese get very uncomfortable. That sort of thing never bothered Urusawa Naoki though.

Jormungand (Various) – As befits a series about weapons dealers, Jormungand dances all around the globe (but almost never to Japan, only briefly). It does toss a few fictional countries in but most of its settings are real ones, and it does a great job bringing them to life.

Mahoutsukai no Yome (United Kingdom) – Yeah, the last season sucked (the Scotland trip was the best part) but it was set underneath a basically real London. And the evocative way in which the English countryside is depicted is arguably the series’ greatest strength. This was the toughest call among the series I included – applying the Kekkai Sensen standard, it’s pretty borderline – those rural settings are explicitly fantastical. But they’re also innately English, and British folklore is the backbone of the series. It’s close, but I’m including it.