"Badside" is a loose slang term sometimes used in the manga portion of the series, mostly by Hitomi, to describe any wartorn, lawless, or otherwise devastated part of Earth. Badside regions of the planet might still be in the territory of an established country, such as Africa or France for example, though the nations have slipped into disarray with barely existent governments and high level of civic disorder. The term is also used in the more recent anime motion pictures, but has come to be replaced by the more generic word "badland."