Thermae Romae Novae (2022)
It is AD128 and the Roman Empire has been going through a period of major
territorial expansion. At this time the capital of the Empire is Rome and its
population needs and wants all the amenities befits its status. In streets
crowded with houses, statues, street sellers and taverns you can find the
local bathhouses (or thermae). All life mixes at these thermae where locals go
not only to bathe and clean themselves but also socialise and catch-up on the
latest gossip. Lucius Modestus is a designer of thermae but is finding
that his more classical styles are not as favoured by local developers. When
submerged in the waters of a bath in the thermae designed and built by his
grandfather, Lucius finds himself transported to a strange place that the
audience will find very familiar. As thermae are such a significant part of
Roman life the ideas that he brings back and incorporates into his designs
catapult him to notoriety. However new designs need more new ideas, especially
when Emperor Hadrian requests Lucius' assistance for the glory and stability
of Rome.
I wish I could remember where I first heard about
Thermae Romae manga. I have a feeling it was through listening to a
podcast featuring Deb Aoki. The simple idea of Lucius Modestus, a roman bath (thermae) designer,
travelling to modern day Japan from Rome and taking ideas back with him to
incorporate into his designs sounded both a bit silly and fun. What I got
when I bought it was a beautifully drawn manga by Mari Yamazaki where
the characters looked like the classical sculptures I had seen in museums
and galleries. Over 3 sumptuous hardback volumes Lucius travelled multiple
times to the future by some unknown mechanism (but it does involve him being
submerged in water) to modern day Japan where he learns about "the flat
faces". He learns about the Japanese bathing culture, takes ideas back with
him and even, after spending a prolonged period in a hot springs resort
becomes attached to the local community. Without being able to communicate
he builds bonds with the people he meets and even falls in love which sets
up an intriguing final arc. With Thermae Romae Novae being funded by
Netflix I had high hopes (as previous Netflix funded shows I've
watched had high production values) in how the manga would be brought to
life.
I can only say I was a bit disappointed by Thermae Romae Novae.
The premise of Thermae Romae Novae (the 2022 anime directed by
Tetsuya Tatamitani as opposed to the earlier anime from 2012 which
aired in a Noitamina block) is very simple. Much like in the
manga Lucius Modestus is a designer of Roman baths or thermae as they shall
be referred to from now on. He is "classically trained" (as he is keen to
tell people) his ideas do not necessarily fit in with the current fads and
fashions in Rome. After an early rejection he seeks solace in the baths and
by some mystic mechanism when he submerged under the water, finds himself
emerging from the bath in "The Land of the Flat Faces" … or modern day Japan
to the rest of us. Marvelled by their technology, astounded by their mastery
of materials and slightly unsettled that "the flat faces" could usurp the
glory of Rome, Lucius absorbs features and designs we take for granted, to
incorporate into his latest design. The first time it is a fruity yoghurt
drink. Subsequent visits include his interpretation of a shower, etiquette
posters, a wall-mounted digital TV or even the idea of a hot-springs resort.
For those who grew up (or are familiar) with the Flintstones some of how
modern ideas are translated to early history will seem quite familiar with
Lucius' inner monologue as he explores modern day Japan quite entertaining
at times.
The innovations that Lucius is pioneering brings him to the attention of
Emperor Hadrian who makes personal requests on his time. Of course, this ups
the need for additional innovations as Lucius is keen to do what he can for
Rome, prompting further uncontrolled or unplanned visits to the
future. Often the trigger for the travel is another trip or fall into water
or just a relaxing contemplative bath, but as his designers' block is pretty
severe he is grateful for the knowledge he picks up. With the introduction
of Emperor Hadrian (voiced by Richard Epcar who is always a joy) I
thought that a more enduring story, less episodic story-telling would
emerge. Frustratingly it didn't - a few suggestions or hints of Rome and the
politics behind the Emperor was all we seem to get.
By now you should get the impression that each episode is a rinse and repeat
of the first. We see snippets of Roman life but not enough to really get
into or to get a sense of the time period. It is not an anime exploring
history or really using it to propel the story. After a while each episode
felt very same-y, interchangeable and quite predictable. There were a few
attempts to add in something new like Lucius feeling a bit queasy and going
to use a modern Japanese toilet but these variations were insufficient to
take away from the predictable nature of the show. Even when in modern day
where Lucius is unable to be understood (he speaks Latin) and where we could
have some fun with a fish out of water scenario, everything goes well. There
is no sense of relative jeopardy even with him turning up naked as he
emerges out of any bath he arrives in. Only the modern day Japanese seem to
query the arrival and disappearance of a mysterious stranger, he seems to
pay no interest in what is going on and why he is where he is.
After watching Thermae Romae Novae I went back to the Mari Yamazaki's manga
to see if I was being fair on the anime. Had I been remembering and
overplaying the manga in some way? As it was only 3 (very nice hardbound)
volumes I could easily get through it and compare it to what I watched. As a
result I did re-write elements of this review because I had been unfair - I
had mis-rembered the manga - so this is a version 2 if you will.
The manga can neatly be split in half with the 2 main stories. The first
half of the manga (although told in a slightly different sequence) is well
represented in the anime. Each episode of the anime is broadly told across a
couple of chapters in the manga and to be fair on the anime it does do a
good job of communicating the main elements of each of these stories - no
matter how episodic I found them. Where the manga differs (and this is being
super-picky) is that it brings in a sense of time - there is about a year
between each of Lucius' adventures which does not come across in the anime
at all. The other main difference is that the relationship with Emperor
Hadrian is a bit more developed and there is a greater sense of why Lucius
wants to do what he does for Hadrian along with some interpretation of the
politics of the time. In fact this relationship with Hadrian in the manga is
a much stronger element and as a result it feels a bit more like the glue
that holds the disparate stories together.
The story in the manga that I enjoyed the most was when Lucius finds himself
"stuck" in Japan and gets involved with the community - partly by necessity
and also because he wants to. Because this was such a big part of my
enjoyment of the manga I was disappointed to not see it in the anime … but
it could be a season 2 … possibly.
I could (and frequently have) forgiven shows that are a bit predictable or
throw-away if the character design is distinct or the world looks great.
This animated series has a sense of cheapness about it. Given how good the
manga looks, the sculpture like quality of the human characters or the
quality of the architecture this has reference material that should
appear on the screen somewhere. Sadly what we get is that now more
common flattened 3D CGI character who sort of slips or slides in front
of the background. The character motion is not much to observe often with
repeated walk cycles for background characters. This isn't normally an issue
but it is very obvious here.
There are also lots of static shots and static pans with copious dialogue
over the top. Sometimes these shots are quite entertaining normally when
Lucius emerges from a bath but in the main it just made me want to go back
to Yamazaki's manga. In my experience, the static-pan is there to fill time
and save some money for a more detailed scene (for example the musical
numbers in Kids on the Slope contrasted against the static crowds and other
reaction shots). In Thermae Romae Novae it is not quite clear where the
money was being spent. Even Rome is not that detailed or visually
interesting. Whilst they do clearly distinguish between the Rome of the
wealthy against the commoners it is mostly with colour, not design detail.
Given the reference material I can see why it would be both expensive and
time consuming to reproduce it in an animated form, they could have gone for
a completely different look. The opening sequence hints at a bold flat
design - think of those scenes chiselled into stone. *That* would have been
visually very appealing and perhaps would have worked with some of the other
choices they made - who can argue with a chiselled static-pan? Don’t get me
wrong - the animation and design work is perfectly functional, it is not
offensive or gross. It's just that given the source material it could be a
lot better.
As for the script the show fails to spark joy or much enthusiasm. The actors
do their best with what they have, committing to it body and soul, but it
feels very clunky and on the nose. An early scene with a young Lucius
exclaiming his love of thermae and how he is going to be a thermae designer
really set the tone for the series and did make me cringe. Similarly, a
description of statues of the goddess Venus (and how women were described in
general) was another low point. At times Thermae Romae Novae is quite
exposition heavy (with the obligatory static pan) as Lucius explains the
minutiae of the Roman bathing processes or interprets what he is seeing when
he is in modern day. The majority of the story elements are also
communicated here - it is more of a tell don't show kind of series.
During some of these long pieces of dialogue we get some extreme tonal
shifts and attempts at humour from despair. I was not a fan of these shift
in tone mostly because there was nothing about the character of Lucius that
made these shifts make sense. He would go from a deeply earnest sincerity to
an almost over the top camp surprise/despair over nothing. The place where
it would make most sense would be in modern day and whilst it did happen it
seemed that incidental moments like his relationship with his wife (which is
barely explored) would send him into a spiral. Had the look and design of
the show been different I think I would have gone with the tonal shifts -
Tatami Galaxy has many of those absurd moments but because of that slightly
different look you just go with it. I get the sense that they were trying to
inject humour into something that could come across a bit a bit dull or
uninspiring, but as is the case with forced humour sometimes it just doesn't
work.
Where tonal shift did work was when Lucius emerged from a bath or it was
trying to cover up the 'nudity' claimed in the show notes on Netflix. Stray
rays of light, pots, other obstructions or pixelation to hide the modesty of
Lucius. Judicious use of towels too. That was a lot of fun and reminded me
of the scene with Shinji in Misato's flat in Evangelion (when he discovers
PenPen). It is not a new thing but it was well done and made a change from
watching a show where the fanservice was all delivered by female characters.
And in these scenes then Lucius looked like the Roman sculpture from the
manga (which pleased me).
I feel really bad coming down so hard on this show. First up I have to say
that I finished watching it (which I haven't done with shows that have a
similar animation style) so there was something about the show that kept me
engaged. Thermae Romae Novae is full of heart and belief that good things
happen if you work hard and try. As such it has quite a positive and upbeat
feeling to it. In all of Lucius' attempts to help "the flat faces" (whether
in the Edo-era Tokyo or supporting an architect trying to recreate a
Roman bath in the 2020s) his selflessness is reflected back and he reaps the
rewards. This was something that was explored more in the manga and was
definitely an element I enjoyed about it. I also enjoyed the farcical
attempts to protect Lucius' modesty.
For those of us of a certain age we remember our weekday and weekend
cartoons often finishing with an end of episode feature or live action
insert Often these picked on a point in the episode (the
Mysterious Cities of Gold
ones were pretty intense for a show aimed at children) or was just trying to
get across a message ("Don't litter" or "Always pick up your trash" told by
He-Man or another character). Delightfully Thermae Romae Novae features a 5
minute segment where the creator and artist behind Thermae Romae Mari
Yamazaki visits hot-spring resorts in Japan and gives us a mini travelogue as
she explores. As someone who has never been to Japan but from reading
manga and watching anime is familiar with the hot spring resort to
actually see what they are like, the customs and rituals associated with
some (for example aerating the hot spring water *by hand* to reduce its
temperature at one inn) and the business that build up around them was
fascinating. The enthusiasm that Mari Yamazaki has for hot springs was
infectious and really grounded the feature - I would have happily watched it
for more than 5 minutes and really wanted it to go on for longer.
Whilst I am still disappointed with Thermae Romae Novae it is a much softer
as a result of writing this review and getting my thoughts down than after I
finished watching it. I did do a small amount of reading around and
revisited a few articles I had seen on the 2012 Thermae Romae anime and it
is here that the Novae in the title of the 2022 anime is key. Reading the
episode synopses of the episodes for the 2012 anime I noticed that there is
a lot that has been taken over into the Thermae Romae Novae - it is a remake
but with more episodes and some additional stories added in. Had I known
Thermae Romae Novae was essentially a remake of a previous anime I think my
expectations would have been different, but I would have still been wanting
those story elements in the manga that I really enjoyed. (It is definitely a
good read and the dust jacket on the books always brings a smile to my
face.)
When I saw that there was a Thermae Romae (Novae) anime I was really looking
forward to seeing it. Having really enjoyed the manga and Mari Yamazaki's
pen work the idea of seeing these sculpture-like characters come to life, to
watch how the modern designs and technology were incorporated into Roman
designs and construction and then to watch the proverbial fish-out-of-water
story unfold as he spends a prolonged period of time in Japan (the second
half which was my favourite bit). The manga neatly fit around the historical
events of the time but this was jettisoned in favour of the "need design,
travel to future, all is well…" which works well for an episodic anime
series that can be picked up at any time, but felt very repetitive after a
few episodes. Once the pattern was set there was very little else happening
story wise so there was no longer arc to explore which was a shame. In terms
of look and animation some of the static pans or the emergence from the bath
shots really captured that sculpture like design aesthetic but outside those
moments there was little visually that was appealing. The show has a flat 3D
CGI look which at times I found quite ugly and uninspiring. With Lucius
being the object of attention in the show there were plenty of 'fanservice'
moments with him at the centre - his modesty covered by a ray of light,
craftily placed obstruction or traditional pixelation. These moments were
entertaining but couldn't do much to save a poor script and the jarring
tonal shifts.
Thermae Romae Novae was fine (with a slight downward inflection on the end).
I did not find it objectionable and it didn’t conjure up any strong feelings
one way or the other. I did finish watching it and what kept me coming back
was the end of episode travelogue with Mari Yamazaki who is exploring hot
spring towns, their history and traditions in Japan. This was excellent and
I would have preferred to watch a proper documentary series on that.
FORMAT: SERIES AVAILABLE ON: STREAMING FROM: Netflix RATING: TV-MA [US]
12A [UK] RUNNING TIME : 25mins x 11 episodes
★★★☆☆
Community Rating
