Rome on the Screen

I watched the show Thermae Romae. The show follows a struggling Roman Architect, Lucius Modestes, who has hit the equivalent of writer’s block, but for Architects. The first episode has Lucius struggling to come up with new architectural ideas. To relax, he and his friends go to a bathhouse. While in the bath, Lucius puts his head under water to which he then discovers a drainage system which surprisingly leads him to a bathhouse in modern Japan. He is amazed by the design and the modern luxuries they have. As he takes a swig of sweetened milk he is magically taken back to Rome. With him he also takes the ideas of the Modern Japan bath back to Rome and incorporates them into the Roman bathhouse. This bathhouse is a great success. He is then summoned by the Consul, Lepidus, to build a bathhouse outside of the Lepidus’ home. While he searches for the source of a hot spring nearby he is once again teleported to a modern Japanese bathhouse, this one a hot spring bath house. Once again he takes these modern innovations back to Rome in which he incorporates them back into the bath house again. He continues his buildings after coming upon these new discoveries. 

Reflection:

Watching an anime for Roman Revs was really fun. It was also really interesting seeing the mashing of modern Japan, my home, and Rome. I liked how Lucius incorporated a lot of what he got from his time in Modern Japan. The little elements such as Sake or flavored milk really brought another level of Japanese back to Rome. An unexpected crossover, but it provided an interesting viewing experience to say the least. I have always been a fan of anime so seeing media that combines both things I am learning in class and a style of media that I enjoy was really fun.