Thermae Romae

Thermae Romae (テルマエ・ロマエ, 2012) is a Japanese comedy you can watch online on iFILM, directed by Hideki Takeuchi and adapted from Mari Yamazaki's hit manga.

Lucius is a Roman bath architect, stuck for fresh ideas. He slips through a drain in a public pool and surfaces in a modern Japanese bathhouse. Everything confuses him — the heated floors, the vending machines dispensing milk, the serene silence of it all. He takes mental notes, falls back through the same drain, and builds thermae for Rome using what he observed. The cycle repeats, and each visit brings him further into contemporary Japan — including a young woman named Satsuki, played by Aya Ueto, who begins to figure into his trips.

Hiroshi Abe plays every moment absolutely straight-faced, which is exactly right. One of the biggest Japanese box-office releases of 2012. Stream Thermae Romae online on iFILM.