Anime Like Thermae Romae: Thermae Romae x TOTO Collaboration
A Roman time-traveler walks into a TOTO product showcase and somehow this works as comedy. The bit isn't about making fun of bathroom tech or Japan, it's about Lucius's genuine, almost spiritual amazement at heated toilet seats and bidet functions, treated with the same reverence he'd give to discovering actual Roman engineering. It's stupid in the best way: completely committed to finding real wonder in modern plumbing, which is exactly what made the original series work.
SYNOPSIS
A Roman bathhouse architect slips through time and lands not in ancient Rome, but in a modern Japanese showroom filled with gleaming toilets and cutting-edge bathroom fixtures. Lucius, accustomed to the simple splendor of his era, finds himself confronted by TOTO's latest innovations: heated seats, bidet functions, automatic features that seem like pure magic to someone from the first century. What unfolds is a fish-out-of-water comedy as Lucius grapples with technology designed for comfort and hygiene he never knew existed. Each gadget becomes a revelation, each button press a small adventure. His genuine wonder and confusion collide with the matter-of-fact explanations of modern bathroom engineering, creating absurd moments of discovery. The special works as both satire and appreciation, poking fun at how ordinary modern conveniences would astound someone from antiquity while celebrating the humble bathroom as an object worthy of innovation and care. It's a ridiculous premise executed with charm, turning a corporate tie-in into something genuinely entertaining for anyone who watched the original series.
