Matt Schley
September 1, 2014 
Terror in Resonance, the currently-running suspense series directed by Shinichiro Watanabe (Cowboy Bebop) is set in present-day Tokyo, and an impressive amount of effort has been put into location scouting and background work to make the show as realistic as possible.
After catching up on the series (at episode 7 as of this post), I hit the streets with camera in hand to track down some of the inspirations for Terror in Resonance’s backgrounds and show readers just how closely the show corresponds to real-life Tokyo.
Spoiler warning: these screenshots are mostly out-of-context and don’t reveal much plot-wise, but do contain some dialog, as they’re taken from Funimation’s official stream, so keep that in mind.
Terror in Resonance starts off with a literal bang in episode one with the partial destruction of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building. The building (which in real life is safe and sound) was designed by legendary architect Kenzo Tange and was completed in 1990. Visitors can view the city from the towers’ observation decks for free.
This street corner, which appears in episode two, is a few minutes from Shinjuku station’s west exit. The Force (renamed The Forge in the show) is a footwear store.
If you exit Shinjuku station’s east side, you’re immediately confronted by Studio Alta’s AltaVision video screen, a definite symbol and oft-used meetup spot. The woman on the billboard to the right (in the real-life version) is Emi Takei, who’s currently starring in Rurouni Kenshin: Kyoto Inferno.
Moving south to Shibuya, Terror in Resonance recreates another famous Tokyo meetup spot, the Shibuya scramble, which we discussed in detail in our Shibuya writeup a few months back.
Another Shibuya locale, albeit far less famous: restaurant Maruhachi, which serves up Okinawan grub.
Episode two’s Roppongi Police Station initially threw me for a loop – there’s no such station listed, but I quickly realized it was one and the same as Azabu police station, the real-life station located in Roppongi. The show probably changed the name for simplicity, to avoid any potential problems with the police, or a combination of both.
Finally, way on the other side of Tokyo is Shirahige Shrine located in Katsushika. As Shibazaki points out in the show, Katsushika’s Shirahige Shrine is a kind of satellite of the main Shirahige Shrine, which is located on Lake Biwa in Shiga Prefecture (yes, I cheated and street viewed this one – it’s really far from my apartment, okay??).
This is by no means a complete rundown of all the real-life locations in Terror in Resonance, but hopefully it helps give a sense of the level of accuracy for which the show’s creators are aiming. With four episodes left to go, we’ll see what other Tokyo locations make an appearance.
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