The 15 Best Anime Set In America

Banana Fish takes place largely in New York City, except for a brief stint out to Cape Cod, where protagonist Ash Lynx was born. Ash is the leader of a small NYC gang, but he has a lot more than gang warfare on his mind. He's trying to escape the clutches of Dino Golzine, a child predator and mob tycoon who once tried to groom him to be his successor, trying to figure out the mysteries behind a drug called Banana Fish that destroyed his older brother's brain, and trying to protect his new friend from Japan, Eiji.

The version of NYC depicted in Banana Fish might feel a little off to New Yorkers - the show is based on a manga that's set in the 80s, but the anime updated its setting to modern day. Therefore, the gang warfare, graffitti, and other traits are more reminiscent of the city in the 80s than its current iteration. That being said, it's still remarkably accurate when it comes to landmarks, and little inconsistencies aren't likely to bother the average viewer.

Baccano! mostly takes place on a train called The Flying Pussyfoot, and it begins in Chicago, Illinois. But it isn't modern day Chicago - it's Chicago during the Prohibition era, which means that it's overrun with mobsters. As the train departs, a scientist named Szilard and his assistant Ennis are in New York City, trying to track down missing bottles of an immortality elixir. These two storylines collide to create one of the wildest stories ever told. 

Blood Blockade Battlefront takes place in New York City, but it's a very different NYC than the one that most people are familiar with. After a gateway between Earth and the Beyond is opened up, creatures from the other world begin to flood into the city, and the whole thing is sealed into an impenetrable bubble. Now named Hellsalem's Lot, NYC is more chaotic than it's ever been, as humans and otherworldly beings must learn to coexist. 

Meanwhile, photographer Leonardo Watch recieves a strange power called the All-seeing Eyes of the Gods, at the cost of his sister's eyesight. In order to figure out what the heck is going on and restore his sister's sight, he heads to Hellsalem's Lot, where he's quickly recruited into a strange group called Libra.

As a child, Angelo Lagusa's family is taken out by the Vanetti mafia family. He leaves the fictional town of Lawless, Illinois behind, and starts a new life under the name Avilio Bruno. Seven years later, he's summoned back to his hometown by a mysterious letter. The Vanetti family wants his help, but what Avilio wants is revenge. 91 Days follows him as he obliterates everyone involved in his parents' demises. 

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure is known for constantly changing location, going from Japan to the USA to Europe to Egypt. But the most recent season, Stone Ocean, is set almost entirely in and around a Florida prison. The series focuses on Jolyne Cujoh as she's imprisoned for a crime she didn't commit. Rather than simply sit there and suffer, she decides to try and uncover the nefarious plot that put her there - and fight anyone she has to in the process. 

What Saki Morimi thinks is just a graduation trip to Washington D.C. turns into a complicated survival game when she meets Akira Takizawa. Takizawa thinks that he might be a terrorist, but remembers little else about his life. Whoever he is, he has 8.2 billion yen loaded into a cell phone, and he's in direct competition with with a group of other people called Seleção who were chosen by a mysterious figure to save Japan. As they risk their lives in D.C. and New York City, the secrets of Takizawa's life slowly come to light.