Ah Terd, NOW you're on the right track. You see, it isn't that what you were saying was 'incorrect'. You could be right in saying that Hainta is as small and isolated as it is. Just that, since you're not Akamatsu, you can't claim it as fact, or say it as if it is. You're learning now.
Now, I'm not trying to harp on your Terd or continue to beat a dead horse, I just want to clarify my reasoning on why I'm a bit leary of using images in manga and anime as definitive source. I'm not saying you shouldn't use it since, in many ways, that's one of the best sources to use in determining a lot of things. Especially giving the feel of just how big Hinata Sou really is. Maps are one thing, but seeing it drawn? Much better.
Just that, especially when you expand it to the whole town, it can be quite 'deceptive' in what they add, and not add to it. Panarama shots are one thing (which as far as I know, besides the Hinata Sou itself, neither the anime nor the manga have such a scene showing the entire town from the air), but shots of in and around the town itself?
Let's take the case... the game Resident Evil and its sequels. I thought Raccoon City was a dinky little town somewhere in say, Oregon. Isolated from everywhere else due to it being in the boonies and being quite litterally, small town America (with at most, 2,000, or heck, 5,000 people, mostly Umbrella workers). Umbrella was running secret experiments right so they should be in some remote corner of the US right? However, Resident Evil 2, and Resident Evil 3 seemed to make the town MUCH bigger than it really is. Resident Evil, well, that's one big ass police station (with no bathrooms. Hmm) for a small town. Bah, discounted that as simply a small town, with a once wealthy base that splurged on a few luxeries. It having its own SWAT like team (STARS)? County thing, or maybe even Federal. Underground labs and secret factory? Well, not exactly believable, but I assumed Umbrella, being the huge and powerful corporation that it was, built it with their money, and somehow, with the people not knowing. Though it being a small town of just 5,000 was pretty much blown away. I started to think more of, 10,000 maybe? 20,000?
Resident Evil 3 for the most part, blew all that away. Not only was this small town full of massive buildings that are more appropriate for a larger city, it also appeared to have a police force that would be obscene for a town that small. Not to mention, a streetcar in it as well (and we'll assume it is a heritage kind of streetcar system and so, not a full fledge light rail system)? Heck, I think they even have their own television station. So now the town, is a city with probably over 200,000, bah, 500,000.
And this is discounting the movie which made the city even bigger by basically making it, a sprawling metropolis with probably 5,000,000 people, or whatever number they gave it. <_< Of course, I don't consider it canon but...
Anyways, if my rant above made sense, its that images alone can't be called canon, and you shouldn't be telling other people that it is either. Unless you have Akamatsu giving out stats himself, everything else is speculation. And that's perfectly fine mind you. MANY of the arguments here are all about speculating an aspect of a certain series. If it went this way, what would happen. Or, who come so and so character couldn't do this move? Maybe it is because of this, or that, and so forth. That is part of the fun of fanfiction, and certainly of this forum. We give our opinion, and the other people give theres. Argue back and forth using evidence and data, and, if the series is still on-going, hope one side is correct (assuming the author himself isn't a dumbass and contradicts himself). Keep in mind though, without definitive proof from ze source itself, both sides would be opinions, and not stated as fact.
And Toraneko did show that even in small town America, number of restaurants isn't simple ONE. Which, goes back to the rant above, speculation, not fact. :sisi:
Sorry Terd and everyone else. Sorry for the fuss here. Just letting off a bit of steam this night (but's that's okay! Get an extra hour of sleep! Daylight savings ends!). Now with this out of the way, we can return this thread BACK on topic. ^_^ Anymore discussion of this off-topic... topic, probably be best in the General Forum. <_<