Thermae Romae


Thermae Romae, styled as Thermæ Romæ, is a Japanese manga series by Mari Yamazaki. It won the third Manga Taishō and the Short Story Award at the 14th Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize. The manga has been licensed in North America by Yen Press. Fuji TV produced a live-action film adaptation and released on April 28, 2012. A second film, Thermae Romae II, was released in 2014. An anime television adaptation by DLE Inc. aired in Japan on Fuji TV's Noitamina block in January 2012. The show has been licensed by Discotek Media in North America, and by Siren Visual in Australia.

Plot

The story follows an ancient Roman architect named Lucius, who is having trouble coming up with ideas. One day, he discovers a hidden tunnel underneath a spa that leads him to a modern Japanese bath house. Inspired by the innovations found there, he creates his own spa, Roma Thermae, bringing in the modern ideas to his time.
Each subsequent chapter follows Lucius facing some sort of a problem, just to be swept to Japan once again. He visits modern bath houses, personal baths, waterparks, fertility festivals, and even zoos. There, he always happens to find the inspiration to solve the exact problem he has been tasked with.

Characters

;Lucius Modestus
;Marcus Pietras
;Hadrianus
;Lepidus

Anime

A flash anime adaptation by DLE aired on Fuji TV in its Noitamina block between January 12, 2012 and January 26, 2012. The series was released on Blu-ray Disc on April 20, 2012 and included an unaired episode. The ending theme is "Thermae Roman" by Chatmonchy. Siren Visual released an English-subtitled version in Australia in October 2012, and Discotek Media has licensed the series in North America for release in 2013. Discotek will re-release it on 2020 with an English dub. An additional original net animation episode was released on April 15, 2014 in collaboration with toothbrush company Reach.

Episode list

Film

Cast

As of July 29, the film had a box office gross of US$74,091,903. It was the second highest-grossing domestic film at the Japanese box office in 2012 and, as of January 5, 2015, is the 95th highest-grossing film in Japan, with ¥5.98 billion.
Thermae Romae earned HK$1,498,789 at the Hong Kong box office.
The film had its North American premiere in September 2012 at the Toronto International Film Festival.