Muhlenberg

Muhlenberg
The German town of Muhlenberg on a sunny Sunday afternoon.
Location:	Germany

Muhlenberg (ミューレンブルグ一, myurenburugu) (or Muhlenburg) is the fictional town where the series is set. It is a small and comfortable European town, surrounded by rivers, forests, and fields. It is based on the real German town, Rothernburg ob der Tauber.

The architecture of the town suggests that it was built in the late medieval era seeing as the town has drawbridges to let vehicles in and out of the town. Beautiful, loud church bells are often heard in town as well.

German is also apparently canonically the town's language, as many books and writings seen in the background throughout the anime are in German.

Notable Locations

Bergman Residence - The house Saga lives at with her Grandmother. The house's foyer leads to a kitchen at a right-hand turn and a living room at a left-hand turn. The staircase is set immediately in front of the outside door, leading up to a bathroom, storage room, and Saga's room.

Drawbridge Tower - A tower operated by Mr. Henry, whom Saga visits to deliver new blends of coffee from Little Me.

Crescendo - A music store that Saga frequently visits to play her late mother's grand piano. Paul, who works at Crescendo, allows her to do this behind the manager's back.

Little Me - A coffee shop that Saga works at part time and delivers coffee around the town from. The shop is owned by Mr. Luchino.

Market Square - The town square is a common gathering spot among humans and the fairies alike. There are several tents with shops where things such as clothes, food, and groceries are sold, including the popular waffle stand run by George. Its landmark is a large fountain at the center of the square, which Saga and the others frequently meet and hang out at.

Saga's school.

The School - The school where Saga and all of her friends attend at. Ms. Hanna works as the homeroom teacher of their class there.

Junkyard - A place where Phil, Alan, Jan, and the others work on inventions and experiments at in a place at its center Phil designated specifically for making such creations, dubbed the "Lab" by him. They often collect junk there to use for these projects.

Park and Playground

Muhlenberg Festival

Every year, Muhlenberg has a large festival where the villagers decorate the town and dress up in medieval clothing to go and give out cookies they bake. Individuals give cookies to acquaintances, friends, and loved ones to thank them for all they do, wishing them good health. The festival itself has a party thrown where people play classical music, dance, serve food, and relax. Adults can also be served alcohol.

Saga explains that the festival is celebrated based on a medieval legend in the town about a woman who fell ill. She became bed-ridden with her illness growing increasingly worse, leaving her husband and children to take care of her. In hopes of cheering her up, the children decided to bake cookies for her. The legend says that once their mother ate the cookies, she instantly seemed to recover and be able to sit up in bed. Thus, cookies are given out as thanks and well-wishing during the festival.

Production

In designing the setting for the series, art director Shichiro Kobayashi was sent to Germany to search for locations. Though initially reluctant to go, as he felt reference materials would be enough, Kobayashi notes that it ended up being a valuable experience as he was able to better capture the Europeans' aesthetic sense and the "tastefulness" that permeates the towns and houses. Returning to Japan, he attempted to capture the "atmosphere" of the region, using pastel colors and aiming to make the art feel "comfortable."