Thermae Romae

Lucius Modestus, an ancient Roman architect, finds himself job-hunting due to having trouble coming up with new ideas. As his demeanor and personality become dismal, his friends try taking him to a bathhouse for him to relax. Unable to unwind in the bustling and crowded bath, Lucius dips his head in the water. Down there, he finds a secret tunnel that transports him to a modern-day Japanese bathhouse, providing him the inspiration he needed to make a new creation.

Loaded with what seems to be knowledge way ahead of his time, Lucius does his best to try and recreate his findings, usually inferior in quality due to his circumstances. However, the sheer ingenuity may be just enough to gain the attention of the citizens and regain his reputation as an architect.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Note: MAL considers this show to be three episodes and not five. See More Info for additional details.

Modestus, Lucius Main

FROGMAN Japanese

Hadrianus Supporting

Ootsuka, Akio Japanese

Regulus Supporting

Miyashita, Eiji Japanese

Pietoras, Marcus Supporting

Touchi, Hiroki Japanese

Ojii-chan Supporting

Gotou, Hiroki Japanese

Yamaguchi, Mami Supporting

Ueda, Kana Japanese

Narrator Supporting

Ueno, Asa Japanese

Tsukai Supporting

Uchida, Naoya Japanese

Sentou no Oyaji Supporting

Uchida, Naoya Japanese

Lepidus Supporting

Shirokuma, Hiroshi Japanese

Tani, Azuma Director, Episode Director, Script, Storyboard

Chatmonchy Theme Song Performance

van Beethoven, Ludwig Music

Tchaikovsky, Pyotr Ilyich Music

Reviews

Jun 1, 2023

AJ2814

Recommended

This thing is barely a slideshow, and it might actually be stronger for it. The amount of background gags and non sequiturs they snuck into these three episodes is astronomical. Is it as good as the remake? Absolutely not, its too short to adapt much of the manga, and this lack of time means that the adaptation cannot delve as deep into Lucius's imposter syndrome and despair, and cannot spend as much time legitimately teaching the audience about Japanese bath houses and bathing culture.

In general I don't care about the sub vs dub debate, they're cartoons, so it generally doesn't matter. But in this case, ... David Wald is firing on all cylinders, treat yourself, no preening about "artistic integrity" and "how it was supposed to be seen", watch the English dub. Be floored by the majesty of a true Roman.

Reviewer’s Rating: 8

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Jun 6, 2020

Wallanimx

Recommended

I picked this anime up as a quick palette cleanser amongst all the seasonal anime I watch. I like weird, ridiculous, and dumb humor so I figured this was right up my alley. And I was right!

Throw an Ancient Greek into modern day Japan and watch how he uses their modern day technology for his financial gain in his era! That's basically the gist of it.

But the difference between what I watched and most reviewers here is that I actually watched the dub. I had no idea that Crunchyroll had just recently dubbed it until I saw the lack of comments on said dubbed videos ... and became so curious I googled it.

Plus the words 'clout' and 'flex' were used..which was the real trigger in knowing that this shit was dubbed recently.

The dub is actually decent and they put some modern day slang in it to make it more humorous in this day and age. But all in all it sticks true to the series.

Watch if you like dumb humor with weirdass animation, like me.
Don't watch if you want anything near serious.

<3

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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Sep 16, 2018

literaturenerd

Mixed Feelings

Overview:

I love to watch weird, ridiculous shit. There is no hiding that fact at this point. This is one of the reasons I'm so drawn to anime and always will side with anime over American comics. Believe it or not, American comics used to have detective stories, horror, romance, and categories besides spandex wearing super heroes back in the 1920s-1940s. The diversity of American comics was murdered forever in 1954 with the passing of "The Comic Code". It was decided by the Eisenhower Administration that comics should only be for little kids and comics aimed at older audiences would make Americans gay! Thanks Ike! ... All genres besides the costumed hero were instantly banned. The costumed heroes became more kid friendly and we got the "golly gee willikers" bullshit known as The Silver Age. By the time the code was FINALLY lifted in the 1980s, those other genres had been gone for so long that it was decided they weren't worth bringing back. That's why every American comic to this day is basically the same fucking thing with only a couple exceptions.

Japan never had the same problem. Manga and anime can be about absolutely ANYTHING! A medieval merchant and a Wolf goddess team up to teach economics. A bunch of Germans in space hold lengthy political discussions in a boardroom. Girls transform into fucking WW2 battleships and fight each other. This is all fair game in the world of anime! This brings us to today's ABSURD topic.

Story:

Thermae Romae is a story about an ancient Roman architect who designs bath houses. One day, he gets sucked through a drain and winds up in current day Japan. Our Roman hero is amazed by all the technology, but is also comforted by the similarity to Roman bath houses. This is a comedy anime all about comparing Roman bath houses to Japanese bath houses. A continuing theme is that Japan is the only country in the modern world that still really loves bath houses. In a way, this makes Japan the successor to Roman Civilization and makes Tokyo the 3rd Rome. I just felt a huge disturbance in the force! It's as if 147 million people in Eastern Europe cried out in anger and were suddenly triggered.

Characters:

Our main hero is the Roman architect Lucius. He is very serious all the time and dismissive at first towards non-Romans like the Japanese. He is a dutiful citizen of the Roman Empire and extremely dedicated to his craft. His overly serious nature and "fish out of water" status is the basis of virtually all of the series' comedy.

Art:

The art is flash animation and as pointed out by previous reviewers, it looks like Japanese Archer. Seriously.

Music:

The entire soundtrack is lifted classical music. Unfortunately, it doesn't use this music quite as effectively as Galactic Heroes does. The selection often seems completely random. I'll be watching a scene and think "Hey it's Verdi's Requiem! I love that piece...but I don't know why they're playing it at this time."

Overall:

Dmitri: Vladimir Vladimirovich! Urgent news! I have discovered anime that claims Japan is only country that loves bath houses and is the cultural successor to Rome.

Vladimir: Blasphemy! Moscow is 3rd Rome! Those Japanese savages don't know how to bath house! They don't even beat the shit out each other with tree branches! How can you have a bath without branch beatings! This will not stand! Fire the ICBMs at Japan!

Dmitri: How many ICBMs?

Vladimir: ALL of them! (Putin trembles in anger as "The Sacred War" blares in the background)

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

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	3 eps for TV and 2 eps for Special? zetsu_shoren - Apr 8, 2014	1 replies	by OtterBoy1 »» Jul 6, 2022 8:49 AM
	Poll: Thermae Romae Episode 1 Discussion ( 1 2 ) tsubasalover - Jan 12, 2012	98 replies	by Oznerol7 »» May 13, 2022 4:49 AM
	Poll: Thermae Romae Episode 3 Discussion tsubasalover - Jan 26, 2012	46 replies	by eski514 »» Jan 18, 2022 1:35 PM
	Poll: Thermae Romae Episode 2 Discussion tsubasalover - Jan 19, 2012	30 replies	by eski514 »» Jan 16, 2022 3:54 PM

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