Public Bathhouse Scene

Kakei: By the way... Mizumachi, what are you doing?
Mizumachi: Eh? What do you mean? When you're in a public bath, you either swim or peep, right?

Everyone: YOU DO NEITHER!

—Eyeshield 21

When people are seen going to and bathing in a public bath. Public baths have appeared in many cultures, from the ancient Romans to the Russians and Japanese. Usually gender segregated, everyone spends their time washing off and relaxing with their fellow sex.

This is very common in Japanese media since the country still has many public baths. They are usually used by lower class citizens who don't have a bathtub in their home (just a shower), or when the household's bathtub is not working. When going to and from one, expect everyone to be wearing a really plain yukata and carrying a bath pan with shampoo and conditioner... which can be used as a weapon if needed.

A Japanese bath house (referred to as a Sento) will always have a large wall painting of Mt Fuji in the background, as bathing in the shadow of Mt Fuji is good luck. Scenes come in two types: washing up (with extremely high chance of fanservice), and then relaxing in the bath talking. Chances of "skinship" or Les Yay subtext are very high; guaranteed, in fact, if a female Loveable Sex Maniac is around. If a male Loveable Sex Maniac is present on the male side, expect him to try to sneak a peek at the girls' side. (Or expect the baths to be coed.) Censor Steam is usually on, as well as conveniently placed soap bubbles (at least in the TV version - if there is a Too Hot for TV version then these will be removed.) You may also see characters carrying a Modesty Towel into the actual bath (in Real Life towels are never allowed in, same as in Hot Springs)

Related to Hot Springs Episode and Furo Scene.

Examples of Public Bathhouse Scene include:

Anime & Manga

• Ranma ½ has an episode titled Bathhouse Battle where the Saotome's house bath is temporarily broken so they have to go to the bath house. In the baths lots of shenanigans go around especially with Ranma accidently changing sex from touching hot and cold water and then finding out that Akane and Nabiki on the girls side were actually Non-Nude Bathing.
• Hidamari Sketch: season one and season 2 each have a trip there, Yuno being shy wraps a towel around her breasts during the first one, the second one features mini singoff. Barbie Doll Anatomy is in full effect for both scenes.
• As quoted above, Eyeshield 21 has Monta, Sena, Mamori, and Suzuna meet their old enemies, the Poseidons, at a bath house. While Monta and Sena try to get intel on their next opponent, the Bando Spiders, the obnoxious Mizumachi tries to peek on a not-quite-Skinship Grope between Mamori and Suzuna.
• A Wish of My Sister: Hentai manga done by the same artist as Aki Sora. The Wholesome Crossdresser main character gets dragged into the girls side, and they end up having sex when the place emptied.
• Softenni: has half an episode on this which included teaching the British girl how to use a Furo although it got weird as normally you don't make an afro out of bubbles and do a musical number...Completely uncensored for the DVD releases.
• Negima: 3-A actually has one of these in their dorm and there are numerous scenes early in the series before the Genre Shift. As standard for this manga Barbie Doll Anatomy is in full effect, but is not always enough so some girls apparently bathe with their towel on.
  • Negi not liking to take baths ends up getting dragged here by Asuna (Being a bit Genre Savvy she wears a swimsuit) quicky the rest of 3-A shows up causing Negi to hide and some how the conversation turns to whoever has the biggest breasts gets to have Negi say with them in the dorm. Hilarity Ensues.
  • In the 100% silence chapter 3-A gets "One free wash Negi" tickets so he gets mobbed by 31 naked girls and cleaned so much he sparkles. In the process he lost his Magic Wand ring, so Hilarity Ensues as he goes back to the baths to find it.
  • The 100% in the nude chapter... Yeah... Nearly everyone in the current story visits one in the Magic World at the same time, Ala Alba, Knights, Bounty Hunters. It is revealed that Paio II is actually a little girl who loves breasts of any size and goes around groping the girls but them blames Chamo who had snuck over from the boys side.
• Dog Days: The Hero goes to the one in the castle and of course walks in on the princess.
• Seen in Soul Eater with Tsubaki where Black Star did some Outdoor Bath Peeping.
• Rushuna and Yajiro both visited a public bath in the 4th episode of Grenadier even though both sides were empty and they were the only ones on both sides.
  • Rushuna visits another public bath in the 10th episode.
• Appears in part of the 4th episode of School Rumble 2nd Semester where it had Eri going to a public bath for the first time.
• In Trinity Blood, Astharoshe has a public bath installed inside her mansion for guests, and offers to let Sister Esther use it to freshen up. Esther is surprised when Astharoshe arrives with her Meido, strips (with Barbie Doll Anatomy in force), and joins Esther in the tub.
• In a Zero no Tsukaima episode, some of the boys at the school dig a tunnel in order to install a peephole in the basement of the womens' bath. Meanwhile Tifa asks Louise if it would be OK to feel each others' breasts. Barbie Doll Anatomy is in full force.
• Buso Renkin
  • The male characters go to a bathhouse, and, since they're bored, decide to compare the sizes of their "XXXXX". Humourously, Papillion is there, and his is the biggest.
    • Two things: a) Pappy is The Rival at this point, and b) we don't know if he is the biggest, as it was comparative and he was wearing a bucket on it as he was walking outside. (He's just weird like that).
  • While in the manga the girls go to a teahouse at this point, this is switched in the anime so that they go to a bathhouse too—with all the usual Fan Service, Skinship and Les Yay that usually goes with it.
• A public bath is the source of, or setting for, humourous antics (as well as Fan Service) in several espisodes of Chobits.
• Kanamemo has a whole episode about the cast visiting a public bath.
• Lucky Star has one such scene, although given the animation style of the series, it's not nearly as naughty as some of the other examples...
• There are quite a few such scenes in NieA 7, since Mayuko and Niea live over a public bath and love to make use of it. They are fairly light on fanservice, even if they do contain some slight nudity.
• In the Patlabor OAV episode "Black Trinary," a suspect is hiding in a public bath, and his only real identifying mark is a group of moles in his armpit. The male officers, as customers, go in to find him, and have to come up with ways to check out the other bathers' armpits (most are not amused). When they do find the guy, the ensuing fight, which eventually spills out into the street, includes many rather "strategically" placed black dots that bounce around through the air and onto the characters at the appropriate times (pixellation is just so un-funny).
• In Code Geass, one of the Picture Dramas features a group of Ashford girls (Milly, Shirley, Kallen and Nina) taking a bath together in the Ashford Academy's bath house.
• Maicchingu Machiko Sensei had a few episodes that featured a bath house. Once instance involved a male teacher and student sneaking into one to catch a peak at the title character.
• Occurs in the Sound Stages of Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha A's and StrikerS.
• Spirited Away has several scenes like this, as a bathhouse is the main setting, although seeing as it's in the Spirit World, the clientele is... odd.

Fan Works

• In Piracy The Genetic Pirate Opera, America is, unfortunately, walking by a bathhouse as the Supernovas and Capricorn Pirates are using it to wash themselves after their food fight. After some Innocent Innuendo is said and America sees England's car, he runs away from the bathhouse.

Films - Animation

• The Miyasaki film Spirited Away is based around a bathhouse for the spirits.

Films - Live Action

• The Soviet comedy classic Irony of Fate starts with this scene. The protagonist is taking steam in a public bath with his friends, they have too much beer and vodka and forget who exactly had a plane ticket to Leningrad. Hilarity Ensues.
• The Korean film Samaritan Girl plays the trope perfectly straight, complete with the obligatory Les Yay undertones of the two heroines lathering one another and sharing a kiss.

Literature

• Some Roman Empire examples in I, Claudius, Quo Vadis and Ecce Romani.
• In Assassins of Gor several scenes take place in the Public Baths of Ar, the Rome/Constantinople of Gor.
• In The Bridges Of Toko Ri, Michener includes a public bathing scene in which the American pilot and his family arrive, and the wife finally, very reluctantly, agrees to bathe nude. They are surprised when a Japanese family arrives. Eventually, the adults and the children have a wonderful time.

Video Games

• The inside of a public bath is the stage for E. Honda in Street Fighter II although it is empty and nobody is bathing in it.
  • There is also a bath house stage in Marvel vs. Capcom Clash of the Superheroes and you can get to into the girls side which is occupied.

Western Animation

• There have been several scenes in My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic where the main characters bathe communally at the local spa.