I finished watching Diamond Daydreams (Diamond Dust Drops) for the second time the other day. After watching the series over two nights it struck me that I really like Hokkaido as a setting. I’ve seen two other shows where I enjoyed the Hokkaido setting, Figure 17 and Noein. Hokkaido just feels like it’s from a slightly different time, rather than being just some other part of Japan. It feels cleaner, less preoccupied, and somewhat more pastel. I guess I could say the same thing about anyplace with lots of cows, such as rural Pennsylvania, but it’s more exotic when the farm hands speak Japanese (nevermind that I watch these shows dubbed in English, I still imagine they speak Japanese).

Actually during one of the extras on the Noein dvds, the director mentioned that he chose to set Noein in Hokkaido primarily because he felt the setting gave it a very different feel than if he set it in Tokyo. I might be putting words in his mouth, but that’s the impression I got, that it would be harder to convey the innocence of their friendships if it were set in Tokyo. That and he wanted snow.

Even though Hokkaido probably isn’t all that exciting, I’d love to visit there someday. It looks pretty.

What other good anime are set in Hokkaido?