Anime Pilgrimage Maps

Apparently many enthusiastic fans of anime like to go on anime pilgrimages, in order to visit the real-world locations that have featured in their favorite shows. Fans of anime, manga, or other animated media often embark on these pilgrimages to connect with the stories they love and to experience the places that inspired their favorite characters and scenes.

A number of interactive mapping websites cater to anime fans who like to explore the real-world locations which feature in animated shows. Even if you can't visit these locations in person these animation pilgrimage maps are a fantastic resource for discovering the locations used in your favorite shows and also allow you to explore these locations virtually.

Animation Pilgrimage (anitabi)

The Animation Pilgrimage interactive map features thousands of locations which have been used in an ever growing number of animes. If you click on one of the larger 'character' markers on the map then this opens a map sidebar displaying screenshots of locations used in the selected show (shown in chronological order of when the location was featured in the series). You can click on these screenshots from the show to view their real-world locations on the map. Each screenshot marker on the map when clicked reveals a link to view the real-world location on Google Maps.

AnimeNavi

Another popular anime interactive map has been created by AnimeNavi. Currently the map features the locations featured in three anime series, Heya Camp, Kimi no Na wa and Yuru Camp.

If you ignore the map and navigate to the dedicated page for each anime you can view individual episode breakdowns for each series of a show. On these episode pages individual locations featured in each episode are listed with links to OpenStreetMap and Google Maps. Follow the Google Maps link and you can then compare the actual anime depiction of the location with the real location on Google Maps Street View.

Anime Pilgrimage

Anime Pilgrimage (the only one of the three sites which is in English) features individual location maps for lots of different anime series. If you search for your favorite anime you can view a dedicated interactive map featuring the real-world locations used as settings for the animation. 

Under each anime map you can view a number of stills from the anime shown side-by-side with the same location as seen on Google Maps Street View. Click on the 'View Map' link and you can explore the location (virtually) for yourself using the interactive Street View imagery on Google Maps.