Post by Juihau on Aug 30, 2015 13:52:52 GMT -5
So, I was a bit bored, and I started thinking about things. For those who may be unaware, Senran Kagura takes place largely around the Asakusa district in Tokyo. Not only is this directly stated in the anime, but there are several references to it in the games, and both SV and EV have stages directly modeled after Sensō-ji, a famous Buddhist temple in Asakusa, and the shopping district surrounding it. So I started to think, hm... Maybe most, if not all of the locations shown in the series have a real life equivalent. So I started to do some looking, and found some interesting things. More specifically, I found the most likely place that Hebijo Academy would be located, as well as three different schools, all near Asakusa, that all bear a strong resemblance to how Hanzo Academy is depicted in-game.
Of course, none of this is necessarily concrete. This was just me doing a bit of digging to find out some more about this series. I may try and update this if I find any new connections or anything.
{Hebijo}
Starting with Hebijo Academy, there are three major points to be made. First, all of the games show it to be surrounded by forest. Second, it is established as having once been a popular sightseeing/tourism destination, before being closed off in the name of "protecting cultural heritage," and is "in the most conspicuous place in the city." Third, it's highly likely that, in the Senran Kagura 'verse, it was rebuilt from old ruins. It has a fairly modern style interior, in contrast to its more traditional-looking exterior, and Hibari's narration in chapter 3 of Burst notes that the popular sightseeing destination was the castle keep's ruins, yet in the games, it is clearly standing. These three points actually make finding it fairly simple. Since the two schools are heavily implied to be located relatively close by each other, it makes sense to assume that 'the city' being mentioned is Tokyo. Tokyo is a huge city, so being the most conspicuous place in it is quite a feat, and being surrounded by forest helps narrow it down significantly. Most likely, Hebijo is located at Edo Castle. Nowadays, Edo Castle meets all three of those criteria. It's is incredibly conspicuous, even in the megacity of Tokyo, is a fairly popular tourist spot, and much of the grounds now are covered in trees. The main keep was burnt down in the late 1600s, with most of the rest of the castle grounds being destroyed roughly 200 years later. However, when it was still standing, it bore a fairly strong resemblance to the Hebijo we know. Hebijo may indeed by located in a rebuilt Edo Castle.
Especially when you take into consideration that Dougen was able to fund it being rebuilt again, in just 6 months, after its collapse in the Hanzo attack, it's certainly not a stretch to imagine that other investors wouldn't have had any problems funding it to be rebuilt over a longer period of time.
Starting with Hebijo Academy, there are three major points to be made. First, all of the games show it to be surrounded by forest. Second, it is established as having once been a popular sightseeing/tourism destination, before being closed off in the name of "protecting cultural heritage," and is "in the most conspicuous place in the city." Third, it's highly likely that, in the Senran Kagura 'verse, it was rebuilt from old ruins. It has a fairly modern style interior, in contrast to its more traditional-looking exterior, and Hibari's narration in chapter 3 of Burst notes that the popular sightseeing destination was the castle keep's ruins, yet in the games, it is clearly standing. These three points actually make finding it fairly simple. Since the two schools are heavily implied to be located relatively close by each other, it makes sense to assume that 'the city' being mentioned is Tokyo. Tokyo is a huge city, so being the most conspicuous place in it is quite a feat, and being surrounded by forest helps narrow it down significantly. Most likely, Hebijo is located at Edo Castle. Nowadays, Edo Castle meets all three of those criteria. It's is incredibly conspicuous, even in the megacity of Tokyo, is a fairly popular tourist spot, and much of the grounds now are covered in trees. The main keep was burnt down in the late 1600s, with most of the rest of the castle grounds being destroyed roughly 200 years later. However, when it was still standing, it bore a fairly strong resemblance to the Hebijo we know. Hebijo may indeed by located in a rebuilt Edo Castle.
Especially when you take into consideration that Dougen was able to fund it being rebuilt again, in just 6 months, after its collapse in the Hanzo attack, it's certainly not a stretch to imagine that other investors wouldn't have had any problems funding it to be rebuilt over a longer period of time.
{Hanzo}
Hanzo Academy was a bit more difficult to find, in particular because it was completely redesigned in Estival Versus. However, I managed to find 2 schools in the area that bear a strong resemblance to the Hanzo shown in Burst and SV, and one school that looks a lot like its EV design. Starting with its original look, Hanzo Academy had a fairly distinct L-shape to it, that borders two sides of the soccer field outside. There is also an indoor gym at the shorter end of the L. The first school I found, while a bit of a distance, is a private school, K-12, about 15 minutes away from Asakusa. It's called K. International School Tokyo, has the same shape and color as Hanzo Academy, and appears to have an indoor gym at the end of the shorter bit.
The second school I found is called Tokyotoritsu Shinobu ga Oka Koutou Gakko (東京都立忍岡高等学校). I couldn't tell you what the name means if I tried, but the name has the character 忍 (shinobu) in it, which is actually where the word 'shinobi' comes from, funnily enough. While it doesn't look nearly as much like Hanzo as K. International, it does have the same general shape, though the indoor gym seems to be at on the other side of the field.
Finally, there's EV's Hanzo Academy, which, as I said, looks completely different. This is Hanzo Academy, as shown in EV:
Kinda crazy, huh? It actually looks more like a university than a high school. That's exactly what I thought when I couldn't find any high schools that looked like that. So, instead, I searched for universities and found, naturally, the University of Tokyo. It's fairly close to Asakusa, about 20 minutes away, and while the buildings themselves may not look much like Hanzo Academy, the layout of them in relation to each other certainly does.
The biggest thing that led me to this conclusion, though... If you look at the EV screenshot, you can very clearly see a large tower in the background. That is the Tokyo Skytree. If you look at this picture, it seems that if you were to stand at the University of Tokyo, you could very well have a view of the Tokyo Skytree in roughly the same place as you can see it from Hanzo Academy. In particular, its place in relation to the field. With that in mind, I honestly think that the University of Tokyo is most likely what EV's version of Hanzo Academy was based on.
Hanzo Academy was a bit more difficult to find, in particular because it was completely redesigned in Estival Versus. However, I managed to find 2 schools in the area that bear a strong resemblance to the Hanzo shown in Burst and SV, and one school that looks a lot like its EV design. Starting with its original look, Hanzo Academy had a fairly distinct L-shape to it, that borders two sides of the soccer field outside. There is also an indoor gym at the shorter end of the L. The first school I found, while a bit of a distance, is a private school, K-12, about 15 minutes away from Asakusa. It's called K. International School Tokyo, has the same shape and color as Hanzo Academy, and appears to have an indoor gym at the end of the shorter bit.
The second school I found is called Tokyotoritsu Shinobu ga Oka Koutou Gakko (東京都立忍岡高等学校). I couldn't tell you what the name means if I tried, but the name has the character 忍 (shinobu) in it, which is actually where the word 'shinobi' comes from, funnily enough. While it doesn't look nearly as much like Hanzo as K. International, it does have the same general shape, though the indoor gym seems to be at on the other side of the field.
Finally, there's EV's Hanzo Academy, which, as I said, looks completely different. This is Hanzo Academy, as shown in EV:
Kinda crazy, huh? It actually looks more like a university than a high school. That's exactly what I thought when I couldn't find any high schools that looked like that. So, instead, I searched for universities and found, naturally, the University of Tokyo. It's fairly close to Asakusa, about 20 minutes away, and while the buildings themselves may not look much like Hanzo Academy, the layout of them in relation to each other certainly does.
The biggest thing that led me to this conclusion, though... If you look at the EV screenshot, you can very clearly see a large tower in the background. That is the Tokyo Skytree. If you look at this picture, it seems that if you were to stand at the University of Tokyo, you could very well have a view of the Tokyo Skytree in roughly the same place as you can see it from Hanzo Academy. In particular, its place in relation to the field. With that in mind, I honestly think that the University of Tokyo is most likely what EV's version of Hanzo Academy was based on.
Of course, none of this is necessarily concrete. This was just me doing a bit of digging to find out some more about this series. I may try and update this if I find any new connections or anything.
