Anime Column] 100 Anime to Watch by Keyword! 100 Anime to Watch No.23 "Bloodline & Beyond" and more!

Drinking parties among anime fans tend to be a game of association. Whenever someone says, "XXX has XXX scene," someone else replies, "Speaking of XXX scene, don't forget XXX. Anime and animation are connected by invisible threads like this. Let's follow the "anime to watch" using keywords as clues.

Bloodline & Beyond," an anime adaptation of Yasuhiro Naito's original story, takes place in a town called HERUSALEM'S LOT.
The setting of "Bloodline & Beyond" is a city called "Jerusalem's Lot," which is "the most swollen city on the earth. It is a place where the other world that spreads beyond the thick fog and the present world mix together, and people with various agendas roam around. There were people who worked in secret to protect the balance of the city. This is the "secret society Libra" led by Klaus V. Reinherz. They use their special abilities to fight day and night against the inhabitants of the other world who disturb the peace of the city.

This Hell Salem's Lot was created three years ago in the unprecedented catastrophe known as the "New York Collapse". It was originally New York City.
So the Art Deco skyscrapers built in New York around 1930 (of which the Empire State Building is a prime example) are well depicted on the screen, forming a slightly classic atmosphere of the work.

The mix of humans and otherworldly inhabitants, and the constant commotion, also form the atmosphere of multiculturalism, once called "the melting pot of the races" and more recently "the salad bowl of races". It can be imagined that the idea was inspired by the atmosphere of New York City, once a "racial melting pot" and more recently a "racial salad bowl" of multiculturalism.
For "Bloodline," HERUSALEM'S LOT is a stage that represents the very idea of the work, or perhaps it can be said that it is another "main character.

Therefore, I would like to follow various anime with the theme of "New York" in this issue.

A city like Jerusalem's Lot, which is New York but not New York. In this sense, Paradigm City from "The Big O" is at the top of the list.

The residents of Paradigm City have lost all their memories due to "something" that happened 40 years ago. Everything in the world outside of Paradigm City has also been lost. Paradigm City is covered with large and small domes, and the wealthy live inside them.
In such a Paradigm City, the main character, Roger Smith, works as a negotiator. When the work gets rough, Roger is willing to cross the line with his Megadeus Big O.

The location of this paradigm city "used to be an island called Manhattan. The cityscape also features classic buildings reminiscent of the Art Deco style, just as in Jerusalem's Lot, and the main mecha, Big O, is also an Art Deco style robot.
In this way, we can see how the buildings constructed in the 1930s form the central image of New York for Japanese people.

On the other hand, the movie version of "Love Live!The School Idol Movie," the movie version of "Love Live!

The first half of the film depicts μ's visiting a city to perform overseas. On the screen, we see famous landmarks such as the Statue of Liberty, which we know to be New York City. However, the characters never once refer to the city as "New York" (not even the name of the United States).
Instead, after touching on the city's vitality, Rin Hoshizora, one of the "μ's," says, "I get it!　I know why I'm so excited about this town!　This town is a little like Akiba! This town is a little like Akiba!

Here, "New York" is not "New York" itself, but a "city" as a place filled with possibilities of "Doki-Doki" (excitement). The "New York City" is described as a place that embodies "excitement" without using proper nouns.

Lastly, I would like to introduce "Genma Taisen" (The Genma Wars). New York is the stage for the battle between Zamedi, a minion of the "Phantom Demons" who is after the earth, and the psychics who protect the earth.

At this time, New York City is in ruins after an earthquake and tsunami caused by a phantom attack. The Pan Am Building (today's MetLife Building) is hit by a tsunami, and the Statue of Liberty, with half of her face broken off, is depicted as a symbol of the ruined New York City.
The New York depicted in this work is also a "New York but not New York" in the sense that it is a city in ruins.

(Text by Ryota Fujitsu)

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