Animehas taken place in all sorts of settings, be they fantasy worlds, other planets, or actual places on Earth. Shockingly, many of these Japanese animated shows and films take place in Japan! Be it past, present, or future, cities or the countryside, fictional or non-fictional, the studios are going to work with what they know for their home audience.
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Still, some anime franchises have branched out beyond their locales and towards other real locations.Pop Team Epichad shorts set in France (and animated by the French).Baccano!takes place in the US. While these shows found their homewithin the UK.
10Seven Deadly Sins
Nakaba Suzuki’s fantasy series saw the titular group of knights trying to liberate the Liones Kingdom from the demon Fraudrin and the Holy Knights. The Seven Deadly Sins are from Britannia, but that doesn’t necessarily mean the UK.Code Geasshad theHoly Britannian Empire, but that domain was actually based out of the US.
Luckily,Seven Deadly Sins’ Britannia is within the UK… it’s just used to refer to Scotland, with Liones being in the West of the real-life Argyll & Bute district.
9Black Butler
The most popular period for British-based anime is the Victorian era. There’s something about this prim and proper setting that became popular for anime and manga creators. Case in point,Black Butler. Based on Yana Tabaso’s long-running manga, the series follows the young earl Ciel Phantomhive.
He was kidnaped by cult members who tried to sacrifice him to a demon. Unfortunately for them, the demon forms his contract with Ciel instead, saving the young men from his captors. Under the name Sebastian Michaelis, the demon aids Ciel in his new duties as Queen Victoria’s Watchdog, investigating any crime that could threaten her or the country.
8D.Gray-man
Katsura Hoshino’sD.Gray-mancontinues the gothic fantasy horror theme with another Victorian tale. This time, it involves Allen Walker, an exorcist who joinsthe elite Black Orderin their quest to defeat the Millennium Earl and his Akuma weapons, created from the souls of unrepentant deceased humans.
The series didn’t set the world alight on its original release between 2006-2008, but it gained cult fame, then built up steam from there. It even got a new series,D.Gray-man Hallow, in 2016. Every series can be found on Funimation. Otherwise, the manga is nearing its 20th year in publication inShonen Jump’s different magazines.
7Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure: Phantom Blood
Jojohas changed its settings with each part, be it America (Stone Ocean), Italy (Vento Aureo), or all over the place (Battle Tendency, Stardust Crusaders). But only the first part,Phantom Blood, took place entirely within the UK. During Victorian times of course. It saw the noble Joestar family take in Dio Brando, the son of a man who (inadvertently) saved the life of family patriarch George Joestar.
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However, Dio plans to take the Joestar estate for himself. Things only get more bizarre from there, as Jonathan stops Dio at every turn, no matter what he does. He stops his bullying, murder plots, and when he becomes a vampire, he learns an anti-vampire martial art to stop him. It’s a deadly game of one-upping each other that gets crazier each time.
6Emma: A Victorian Romance
It’s hard to fault the attention to detail Kaoru Mori used for his mangaEmma: A Victorian Romance. He went above and beyond to recreateLondon in 1895, including its more multicultural elements through Hakim Atawari, the Indian noble who befriends William Jones, the beau of the titular Emma. She’s a humble maid from Yorkshire who works for the Mölders, a family of well-off German immigrants.
Through them, she meets Jones, who develops feelings for her. But his family would never approve of him marrying below his station. He’s left divided between sticking to his class and following his heart. The series gained cult fame in Japan and may have inspired other Victorian anime from its original run in the mid-2000s.
5Steamboy
Then again, this Victorian fascination may stem from Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata’s work. They produced a range of anime either with classical European settings (Heidi, Girl of the Alps) or utilized steampunk tech (Castle in the Sky). Katsuhiro Otomo ofAkirafame certainly liked the latter a lot with his 2004 film. It was about a boy called James Ray Steam trying to keep his grandfather’s invention, the ‘Steamball,’ out of the wrong hands.
The film got a lot of hype on its release as the nextAkira. It didn’t quite succeed at that because it never could and didn’t plan to. However, it’s still an action-packed and funny look at a very alternate take on Victorian Britain. Brits themselves will get a kick out of spotting the Rovers Return pub from UK soap operaCoronation Streetin the background of some scenes.
4Moriarty the Patriot
Still, the Victorian era wasn’t all wine and roses. It was a society rife with inequality, corruption, and nobles who were anything but noble. Ryōsuke Takeuchi’s manga, and subsequent anime adaptation, seek to redress that imbalance by taking one of the era’s most popular villains and turning them into an anti-hero.
William James Moriarty works as a ‘crime consultant’ to help victims of class-based crimes by plotting ways for their perpetrators to get what’s coming to them. Aided by his brothers Albert and Louis, he’s quite good at it too.Only Sherlock Holmesand his assistant Dr Watson stand in his way. But Moriarty always has a plan. He’s got to have one if he wants to reform the UK into a more equal society.
3Unbreakable Machine-Doll
Originally a light novel by Reiji Kaitō,Unbreakable Machine Dollgained a 13-episode anime series in 2013, followed by 6 more OVAs. This time, the UK setting breaks out of the Victorian era and enters sometime in the early 20th century instead. It also opts to take place in Liverpool instead of London.
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It’s where the Walpurgis Royal Academy of Machinart, a skill involving magic and machinery that can give inanimate objects life, is established. The school’s newest student, Japanese puppeteer Raishin Akabane, and his automaton Yaya seek to obtain the title of ‘Wiseman’ through a fighting tournament. Oh, and get revenge for the murder of his family against its mysterious member Magnus. If only achieving those goals were that simple.
2The Ancient Magus’ Bride
Kore Yamazaki’s tale also involves a Japanese transplant in Britain, but its setting is more complicated. It has a lot of modern features, yet its countryside villages feel more like something from a century ago. Regardless, the series is a dark romanceabout Chise Hatori, a young woman who sells herself into slavery to escape her family and Japanese society.
But then she’s bought by Elias Ainsworth, the ‘Thorn Mage.’ He’s a mountain of a man with an animal skull for a head, yet he can shapeshift into multiple forms. He claims Chise is a special magus who can draw magic from her surroundings but needs special protection to avoid an early death. Weird as he is, he may be right, as there are other mages and magic users who have their own plans for her.
1Hellsing
Kōta Hirano’s vampire tale doesn’t need much introduction. It was perhaps the most popular UK-set anime back on its release in the early 2000s. Whether it’s aged well is another manner, as its storytelling gets somewhat edgy, like a British anime vampire take onSpawn. Still, it came out in the right places at the right time and has afanbase eager for more of it.
The series followed Alucard, a vampire working for the Hellsing organization, which seeks to protect Queen and Country from supernatural threats. He has a long history with the organization and the Van Helsing family that fun it. But his most immediate concern is the rise of Millennium, a Nazi order that seeks Alucard’s death personally.
