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| Overall | Art | Animation | Character Design | Music | Series Story | Episode Story | Reviewer | |
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| Rent | 7 | 3 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 5 |
 Ggultra2764
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[series:2528#1552] |
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(Rent-/ Watch+) This comedy anime is focused on our lead Lucius finding himself getting whisked to modern Japan where he learns about an element to Japan's bathing culture and incorporates it for whatever his clients in 128 AD Rome want him to prep up. The series doesn't take itself seriously as the time travel that Lucius undergoes is never explained and many episodes rely on Lucius experiencing the future shock he undergoes from being exposed to the modern conveniences of Japanese bathing for its laughs. This style of comedy does work well for much of the anime's first half, but its quality begins to degrade in later episodes with an episode focused around phallic symbols and manhood being the lowest quality I seen of the series. Also with the series being animated entirely by Flash, it makes the visuals to this series look quite cheap with character designs looking like cutouts (some even looking very crude in their designs) and animation is mostly nonexistent with only lip flapping and the cutout-like movement. As it is, Thermae Romae is worth a quick look in that it attempts to try something different for its comedy. But don't expect this to be a title that you will keep coming back to thanks to its degrading quality in later episodes. Last updated Saturday, November 30 2013. Created Saturday, November 30 2013. | ||||||||
| Watch |
 Stretch
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[series:2528#628] | ||||||
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(Watch+ or Rent-) (All episodes watched): In an industry dominated by themes like Mecha, Magical Girls, Samurai, School Comedy, etc, etc, somebody makes a series about a man who can time-and-space travel between baths in ancient Rome and modern day Japan--this one definitely scores points for originality. Somehow, when Lucius submerges in various bodies of water he has a habit of surfacing in some sort of bath in Japan. It is definitely weird. Things about this odd show immediately become apparent: classical music is used as background music; character designs are distinct and unusual; the animation is intentionally kept simple, even crude; and, above all, the characters seem to be hamming it up. Each episode is around 12 minutes long. Being in a completely different place hardly frazzles Lucius at all. After all, the only thing a person who has undergone such an experience could possibly be interested in is how baths are taken in this new place, since he is a bath designer himself. I had assumed that once he made his time leap, Lucius would be trapped in Japan, where the story would take place, but no, apparently he can travel back and forth almost at leisure. He collects ideas (like fruit flavored milk) and carries them back to Rome, where they prove highly popular. When he catches the attention of Emperor Hadrian himself, I knew this show was going somewhere. Apparently, there are only six episodes. Thermae Romae was amusing and fun, but that's about it; there was little long-term plot and I doubt if it will remain in my memory for long. In order to enjoy this show an interest in history would be helpful. To a certain extent this seemed like a form of bragging by the present-day Japanese--'we have history's best baths!', sort of. Last updated Monday, March 05 2012. Created Saturday, February 04 2012. | ||||||||
Other Sites
| Name | URL |
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| Official Website (japanese) | http://www.thermae-anime.jp/ |
