While fans can easily spot mouth-watering bakeries or fast-food restaurants in anime there are also a couple of unique settings that can make an anime's story more atmospheric as well as more enjoyable, and some of those places are bathhouses. There are all kinds of bathhouses in anime that were inspired by magical Japanese tales as well as real-life places.
Thanks to these animes viewers could not only see some of the most impressive traditional Japanese bathhouses but could also learn about bathhouse etiquette and the rich traditions of the bath culture in Japan. Anime fans could also meet the best host characters in anime, ghosts, and witches while getting to know some of the most beautiful fictional, traditional, and modern Japanese bathhouses of the anime world.
7 Tamako Market
Tamako Market is one of the most charming underrated slice-of-life anime with realistic shops and one of the most iconic anime bathhouses that was inspired by a real-life bathhouse that's located at Nishiki Shopping Street in Kyoto. This traditional bathhouse is featured in both the series and the movie.
Tamako Market's story follows a young girl's daily adventures in Kyoto's market after she meets a mysterious talking bird that claims that he's looking for a bride for his country’s prince. It's a hilarious feel-good anime that'll give fans a fun inside look into how business owners operate at the Usagiyama Shopping District.
6 Yuuna And The Haunted Hot Springs
Yuuna and the Haunted Hot Springs has one of the cutest ghosts in anime series with a beautifully designed traditional bathhouse. Anime fans will be able to explore a realistic bathhouse with a beautiful onsen and its rooms with classic Japanese style.
While the bathhouse's design is realistic, Yuuna and the Haunted Hot Springs's story is filled with supernatural mystery and laugh-out-loud funny moments. Its story follows a young boy who rents a room at a haunted bathhouse where he meets a cute young ghost girl. Kogarashi soon falls in love with Yuuna and decides to help the girl finally move on.
5 TONIKAWA: Over The Moon For You
TONIKAWA: Over the Moon for You is one of the most wholesome romance anime about married couples. This charming anime also features one of the best modern bathhouses in anime and fans can get a bit of an insight into what's it like to work and live at a bathhouse in Japan.
Even though TONIKAWA: Over the Moon for You's story mainly focuses on romance the everyday antics of the young married couple, the bathhouse does get featured a lot in many episodes in the anime and at some point, the young couple even lives there. It's a love story that follows Nasa and Tsukasa's adventures after Tsukasa saves the young boy's life.
4 Gintama
Gintama has plenty of hilarious stories and one of its funniest episodes is actually set in a gorgeous bathhouse. Even the most powerful characters in Gintama need some relaxation and naturally, they headed to a bathhouse to relax, but things didn't turn out to be as Gintoki and his friends planned it.
Similarly to other stories in this iconic samurai series, there are many things that are realistic including most of the bathhouse's rooms and its design. However, Gintama fans can go on a unique adventure with their favorite characters as they set demons on fire while also trying to enjoy the bathhouse's calming atmosphere.
3 Fruits Basket
Fruits Basket is one of the most iconic romance anime shows of all time that also featured the beloved Sohma family's bathhouse. It's one of the most beautifully designed traditional bathhouses in anime with many luxurious rooms and a traditional hot spring.
Fruits Basket fans could explore this beautiful anime bathhouse with some of their favorite characters including Tohru and Momiji who invited the young girl to the bathhouse for White Day. This popular anime's story follows Tohru's adventures after she befriends and moves in with some of the members of the mysterious Sohma family.
2 Thermae Romae Novae
Thermae Romae Novae is one of the most popular new anime with time travel and some of the most beautiful public bathhouses in anime. This wholesome and funny anime has a unique art style and takes fans on an interesting journey around Japan and introduces them to a wide variety of public baths and hot water springs.
Anime fans can go on an action-packed adventure and learn not only about Japanese bathhouses but about architecture and ancient Roman baths as well. Thermae Romae Novae's story follows a proud bath architect who somehow gets transported from ancient Rome to present-day Japan and enjoys the many bathing innovations around Japan.
1 Spirited Away
Hayao Miyazaki's beloved Spirited Away features the most well-known and popular bathhouse in anime of all time. This stunning and magical bathhouse is owned by the fearsome witch Yubaba and is a special place where spirits visit to replenish themselves.
Spirited Away's bathhouse is located in the spirit world and is where hundreds of magical beings, including gods, witches, and spirits work and recharge. It's also the main location where most of Chihiro's adventures take place, and it has a traditional Japanese bathhouse design but with plenty of magical elements. The anime's story follows the young Chihiro who has to find a job at the bathhouse and save her parents before they're turned into pigs forever.