About ninety animators worked on the film at one point or another ; some worked on the project for as long as two years . In terms of the film 's animation style and settings , the film combines Eastern world culture ( predominantly Japanese ) with Western world culture ( predominantly California ) . In May 2013 , Disney released concept art and rendered footage of San Fransokyo from the film . San Fransokyo , the futuristic mashup of San Francisco and Tokyo , was described by Hall as " an alternate version of San Francisco . Most of the technology is advanced , but much of it feels retro … Where Hiro lives , it feels like the Haight . I love the Painted ladies . We gave them a Japanese makeover ; we put a cafe on the bottom of one . They live above a coffee shop . " According to production designer Paul Felix , " The topography is exaggerated because what we do is caricature , I think the hills are 1 times exaggerated . I do n't think you could really walk up them ... When you get to the downtown area , that 's when you get the most Tokyo-fied , that pure , layered , dense kind of feeling of the commercial district there . When you get out of there , it becomes more San Francisco with the Japanese aesthetic . … ( It 's a bit like ) '' Blade Runner '' , but contained to a few square blocks . You see the skyscrapers contrasted with the hills . " The reason why Disney wanted to merge Tokyo ( which is where the comic book version takes place ) with San Francisco was partly because San Francisco had not been used by Marvel before , partly because of all the city 's iconic aspects , and partly because they felt its aesthetics would blend well with Tokyo . The filmmakers ' idea was that San Fransokyo is based on an alternative history in which San Francisco was largely rebuilt by Japanese immigrants in the aftermath of the 1906 earthquake , although this premise is never stated in the film
1906 earthquake
1906 San Francisco earthquake
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