Thermae Romae - 6 episodes (2)
Story: Thermae Romae follows the Ancient Roman bathhouse architect Lucious as he traverses between his world and modern day Japan (whom he thinks are flat-faced slaves). Throughout the episodes Lucious will encounter an issue, then take a bath thinking of ways he can overcome it, and while doing so he will slip under the water to be transported to Japan. There he will learn of whatever means or tactics he needs to resolve the issue raised, and return to his world with random souvenirs in tow. You will get little facts here and there about Ancient Rome, but those minor historical points aren't impressive or necessarily memorable. The bath culture itself is an interesting topic to focus on, and the great curiosity with which Lucious expresses while in modern Japan is amusing, but it isn't enticing. It is tagged as a comedy, but I found little humor in this series at all, so I wouldn't suggest it to anyone who is interested in having a 'good laugh'.
Animation: The art style takes time to warm up to, if you can warm up to it at all. It looks terribly, terribly animated until you realize that this style fits with the manga's style well enough. But in this case then, you'd be better off reading the manga instead. Due to the art style, there are very little facial or body animations, which makes watching the episodes a trial of patience. Really the only time the characters are truly showing expressions is when the cultures collide and one experiences the other in some way. Whether that be by Lucious being weird in Japan or him bringing aspects of their culture back to Rome. The settings and backgrounds don't breathe life into this adaptation. The scene transitions sometimes feature weird point of view panning where the buildings move oddly, making the whole visual even more unappealing.
Sound: I enjoyed the background music for the most part and found the classical music rather fitting. However, out of personal opinion I felt that Vivaldi's Four Seasons was disappointing to hear, not because it wasn't fitting or is bad, but because that music is everywhere. Some of the background music is just too overplayed. The inner monologue of Lucious and dialogues with others were fair, nothing to really complain about. Due to the art style it was up to the voice actors to mainly express emotions, which they did a nice job of. But really, there wasn't much to express here anyways.
Characters: The character designs were nothing special, typical and expected of the cultures of the time. However there were a few out of place characters, designed and drawn differently than the rest of the cast, and that difference made them entirely unattractive to view. It did not last long enough, or at least did not have the content required for me to make a connection and gravitate to any character, which I disliked, if I watch something I want to have a vested interest in what is unfolding before my eyes.
Overall: Overall I would say that if you're truly interested in seeing the bathing culture of ancient Rome and modern Japan then go ahead and give this a try, or at least look towards the manga instead. The anime itself doesn't last long, you'll get about an hour out of it with the six 9-13 minutes episodes. The story unfolds in an entirely predictable manner, only adding in new things to learn, but the process remains the same every time. The art style and lack of animations will turn off most viewers, particularly if they are only interested in bishonens or otherwise high resolution animated characters.
Subject: Re: Anime Reviews 
Sun Jan 29, 2012 7:53 am
