Well they’ve made anime about practically every other subject you can think of. Why not an anime about bath houses? Why not? Because it is boring. I really can’t believe I actually sat through all 11 episodes of Thermae Romae Novae.

Proud ancient Roman Lucius is the son and grandson of architects specializing in bath houses, and he is determined to continue the family tradition. But then he discovers an evil force living in one of his bath houses, and builds a mecha android to fight it.

No, not really. You wish.

Actually what happens is that Lucius can’t come up with any original ideas to help get himself business. Then he slips under water and surfaces in a bath house in modern day Japan. Adopting, or pilfering, Japanese ideas and expertise, Lucius returns to Rome to build a bathhouse the sight of which has never been seen before in Rome. Lucius is then praised by everyone.

Sound interesting? But wait! The same thing happens in the next episode. And the next. And the one after that. And the one after after that. Unless you find plumbing to be a fascinating subject, that’s about it. The series repeats itself in every episode.

But wait! There’s more! There is a five minute segment at the end of every episode in which Mari Yamazaki, the writer of the manga on which the series is based, visits various bath houses. It is even more dull than Lucius’ story! True!

The animation of Thermae Romae Novae looks like it was done on the cheap. Characters are too static, even more so than other anime series which are done on the rush. The art work is different, though. This is not the manga style we are used to. Actually, it seems many recent anime are moving away from the traditional manga style; Thermae Romae Novae just even more so. Japanese characters actually look Japanese – the storyline wouldn’t work if they did not. Not that the storyline actually does work so well. Just prepare to be overloaded by bare butts.

As you can probably guess, this is one anime I do not recommend – unless you are interested in an endurance test. Avoid Thermae Romae Novae.