Kamihama City

Kamihama City (神浜市, Kamihama-shi) is a city where the story of Puella Magi Madoka Magica Side Story: Magia Record takes place. The city consists of 9 wards and has recently undergone a rapid development. Part of the city comprises traditional landmarks such as old town, castle, and shrines. Skyscrapers can also be seen in the city center.

Map of Kamihama. Wards, in top-down order from left to right: Hokuyo (bright pink), Shinsei (magenta), Mizuna (blue), Sakae (bright green), Sankyo (aqua blue), Chuo (olive green), Minagi (purple), Kosho (orange), and Daito (bright pink); note there are a few errors, see the talk page

History

As explained in episode 4: According to a legend regarding Mizuna Ward, in the days when a daimyo held power, a local commoner man and a noblewoman living in Mizuna Castle fell in love despite their unequal status. The woman's jealous fiance murdered the man. The woman mourned him greatly and visited a local shrine every night to pray to meet her dead lover once again. After 1,500 nights, and after sacrificing the lives of everyone else who lived in the castle town, her prayers were answered and she was reunited with her lover.

Geography

Kamihama City consists of 9 wards.

Shinsei ward

Shinsei ward (新西区, Shinsei-ku) is a ward located in the western part of the city.

• Kamihama City University Affiliated School
• Kamihama City University
• Mikazuki Villa
• Satomi Medical Center

Mizuna ward

Mizuna ward (水名区, Mizuna-ku) is a ward located in the western part of the city, comprising traditional landmarks such as old town, castle and shrines.

• Mizuna Girls' School
• Mizuna Shrine (Summoning Shrine)
• PoranoMarket (grocery store)

Sankyō ward

Sankyō ward (参京区, Sankyō-ku) is one of 9 wards in Kamihama City.

• Sankyōin Educational Academy

Chūō ward

Chūō ward (中央区, Chūō-ku) is a ward located in the central part of the city.

• Chūō Academy
• Radio Tower

Sakae ward

Sakae ward (栄区, Sakae-ku) is a shopping district ward.

• Sakae General School
• Sakae Street
• Game Center
• Kamihama Record Museum (Memory Museum)

Kōshō ward

Kōshō ward (工匠区, Kōshō-ku) is a ward located in the eastern part of the city.

• Kōshō Academy

Daitō ward

Daitō ward (大東区, Daitō-ku) is a ward located in the eastern part of the city.

• Daitō Academy
• Kamihama Daito Residential Complex
• Daito Municipal Graveyard
• Abandoned prison
• Ferris Wheel Park - intended to be an amusement park, but was abandoned early in construction

Minaminagi ward

Minaminagi ward (南凪区, Minaminagi-ku) is a ward located in the southern part of the city.

• Hotel Minaminagi Sea
• Minaminagi Liberty Academy
• Convention Center
• Kaihin Park

Hokuyō ward

Hokuyō ward (北養区, Hokuyō-ku) is a ward located in the northern part of the city. This ward is home to the city's upper class and wealthier residents. It is shown that Touka Satomi's family lives here, and this is also where the main headquarters of the Magius is located.

• St. Lilliana Academy
• Hotel Fenthope (NA: Fendt Hope)
• Walnut's

Unknown Locations

• Mall
• Tomorrow Shop
• The Mirror Mansion: The Mirror Witch was lured to an abandoned house on Kamihama's east side (ward unknown), where it now permanently resides.

Outside Kamihama City

• According to the map exhibited on the Anime Japan 2019, Takarazaki City is located west of this city and Mitakihara City is located northwest of this city, but it is unknown if the three cities are contiguous.
• Outside the city is a location named the "Yadokita Service Area", a building atop a bridge above a highway leading into the city, with a Ferris wheel directly next to it. It is directly on the border into Kamihama City, beyond which Kyubey cannot enter due to Alina Gray's quarantine barrier.

Gallery

Maps

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  The basic city map used in the game, normally annotated in some way

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  A more detailed view of Kamihama from the anime.

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  A depiction of the metro system in Kamihama.

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  Translated map of Kamihama depicting some of the ward boundaries.

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  A more accurate fanmade map of Kamihama made by Heidesommer

Backgrounds

Outdoors

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  An abandoned construction site; witches are often encountered here

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  Natsume Books storefront

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  Suitoku Temple grounds

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  Chiaki's storefront

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  Ferris Wheel Field, viewed from across the lake

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  Daito Apartment Complex grounds

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  Daito Apartment Complex rooftop

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  St Lilliana's Academy

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  Azalea House

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  Banbanzai storefront

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Indoors

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  Flower Shop Blossom's interior

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  Museum interior

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  Ryuushinryuu Dojo interior

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  Natsume Books interior

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  Consultation Office interior

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  Suitoku Temple interior

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  Radio tower lookout in Chuo Ward

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  Kanagi's maid cafe interior

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  Ikumi's maid cafe interior

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  Kanoko's family factory interior

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  Amane Bamboo Workshop interior

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  Possibly Kamihama Aquarium? Lavi uses it as a base

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  Radio observatory interior

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  Walnut's interior

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  Walnut's kitchen

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  Touka's room

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  Satomi Medical Center lobby

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  Satomi Medical Center ward shared by Touka, Nemu, and Ui

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  Train/metro station

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  Supermarket interior

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  Iroha's room at Mikazuki Villa

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  Mikazuki Villa living room

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  Banbanzai interior

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  A cafe interior, possibly Shizuku's

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  Mikazuki Villa kitchen

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  Alina's and Karin's art room at Sakae General School

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  A library interior

Etymology

• The name Kamihama (神浜) likely originates from combining the Kanji names of two major Japanese cities: Kobe (神戸) and Yokohama (横浜).
  • It may also be a combination of the terms "kami" (神), a spirit in Japanese Shintoism, and "hama" (破魔), meaning "exorcism", the expulsion or defeat of evil spirits.
    • This would be an obvious reference to needing to defeat Rumors, the ability of magical girls to summon their Witch forms as Doppels, and the city's status as the beginning of the efforts to erase Witches and Witchification from the Magical Girl system.
    • "Hama" (破魔) can also refer to a decorative bow or arrow (the weapon of both Madoka Kaname and Iroha Tamaki) that acts as a ward against evil.
• Shinsei (新西)
• Mizuna (水名)
• Sankyō (参京)
• Chūō (中央)
• Sakae (栄)
• Kōshō (工匠)
• Daitō (大東)
• Minaminagi (南凪)
• Hokuyō (北養)

Trivia

• Some of the cityscapes of Kamihama City seem to reference the real one of the cities of Kobe and Yokohama.
• The metro system of Kamihama is similar to that of Robert Moses, and how he strategically isolated parts of New York from public transport, parks, museums, etc. Kamihama's design is a more simplistic version, but it reflects real efforts in urban planning to discriminate against poor communities in the American 1930-60s. Infrastructure was literally built so as to isolate poor communities from public utilities and such. Everything from highway construction to dump locations to inconsistent bridge heights has been used historically.
• The Yadokita Service Area that sits on the city's border is directly based on the Kariya Highway Oasis of Kariya City in Aichi Prefecture. It is considered the third most popular theme park in Japan.
  • Like Kamihama, Kariya originated as a castle town in an area contested by multiple clans, including the Mizuno and Matsudaira clans.
  • Kariya City was the birthplace of artist On Kawara, who belonged to "a broadly international generation of Conceptual artists that began to emerge in the mid-1960s, stripping art of personal emotion, reducing it to nearly pure information or idea and greatly playing down the art object." This may be intended to be similar to Kyubey's view of humanity and the Magical Girl system, represented by Kyubey appearing on the Yadokita Service Area multiple times. Kawara's works tended to focus on the concept of time: the Today series pf paintings, which were simple images of the date that the painting was created on written in the language and grammatical conventions of the country it was created in; for languages like Japanese that do not use the Roman alphabet, Esperanto (a language favored by Kenji Miyazawa) was used instead. One Million Years lists each year in a one million-year period leading up to, and then following, the conception of the piece itself.