Furo 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

A Furo Scene is a bathing scene involving the use of the Japanese style of bathing mostly for the purpose of Fan Service. A furo is a Japanese bathing tub similar to the Western hot tub; it is not used for washing but for soaking and relaxing. Most homes in Japan, and even some apartments, have one; they are usually big enough for two or more persons to bathe together. Bathing in public baths, called sentou, is a common social activity, although it is typically gender-segregated. The process of a furo differs from western style bathing where the entire house hold uses the same bathwater but keeps it clean by first showering and washing off outside of the bathtub and then getting in solely for the purpose of relaxation.

It is also done in the nude, which is where fanservice comes in. A Furo Scene, like a Hot Springs Episode, is an excuse to show the female members of the cast sans clothing. Also an easy excuse for the Skinship Grope and Naked People Are Funny, or maybe just some Bathtub Bonding.

The Furo Scene is so common in anime, there is even a wiki that catalogues them neatly, apparently.

NOT to be confused with a Guro scene... although a combination isn't beyond the realm of imagining. Also not to be confused with anything furry. Or a Fuuro scene.

Compare: Bathtub Scene.

Anime and Manga
"I hate Misato. And I hate Shinji. And I hate that First Child bitch, Rei! I hate my dad! I hate my mom! (clutches her belly in pain) Most of all, I HATE MYSELF! (kicks over a bucket) I HATE THIS! I CAN'T STAND IT ANYMORE! WHY DO I HAVE TO DO THIS? WHY ME?!"
 * Tower of God suddenly decided to have some characterization in a bathhouse on the 20th floor.
 * Happens multiple times in Ai Yori Aoshi, in the extremely large and luxurious ofuro in the main house. Also at an outdoor ofuro during a Beach Episode. Also the subject of a good deal of sexual tension and humour in Kaoru's apartment during the first two episodes.
 * Agent Aika: Aika Zero has one in episode 1 and 2 involving the three main characters Aika Sumeragi, Karen Minamino and Eri Shinkai.
 * The "Miss Hungary and her Maiden Heart" strip in Axis Powers Hetalia features Cool Big Sis Hungary and her ward Chibitalia taking a bath together, which leads us to question how she never realized Italy was a boy....
 * Except she did know Italy was a boy...
 * 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 sentou public bath is the source of, or setting for, humourous antics (as well as Fan Service) in several espisodes of Chobits.
 * 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.
 * As quoted above, Eyeshield 21 has Monta, Sena, Mamori, and Suzuna take a rest here. There they meet their old enemies, the Poseidons, where the obnoxious Mizumachi tries to peek on a not-quite-Skinship Grope Mamori and Suzuna.
 * Sky Girls goes out of its' way to ensure at least one bath is in every episode.
 * Mai Shiranui has a Furo Scene in the second Fatal Fury anime and a brief shower scene in The Movie. In addition, she can be seen daydreaming while bathing in her Real Bout ending.
 * Full Metal Panic! has a very lengthy one involving Tessa, Kaname and Mao. The twist is, what they're bathing in is actually a tank used for chemically cleaning mecha parts, but Tessa reveals it is good for taking a hot bath too—a reason to take advantage of her rank as submarine captain sometimes.
 * Girls Bravo has several scenes like this, especially in the manga.
 * 'Several'? Try Once an Episode for the anime!
 * Rushuna Tendō in Grenadier, virtually every episode. Grenadier lives for this trope. Rushuna seems to spend every trip looking for another place to take a hot bath, when she's not shooting everyone in sight.
 * Hidamari Sketch has Yuno contemplating events in her bath at the end of every episode. The girls also attend a public bath together and Miyako doesn't have any inhibitions to hop into the tub with Yuno when the opportunity arises. Strangely this is only used more for comedic effect than for actual Fan Service as the characters are drawn in Super-Deformed style whenever they might otherwise show skin.
 * Shows up a few times in the Ichigo Mashimaro manga. Chika seems too embarrassed to join them (though it's implied that she probably joins Nobue, her sister, under normal circumstances) and opts to take one later.
 * There's one scene in One Piece at the end of the Arabasta Arc, there's a scene of everyone enjoying in the baths of the palace (men and women divided by a wall) and all men decide to espy, the response: Nami's Happiness Punch.
 * In the wartime Girls Love manga series Kurogane Pukapuka Tai, there's an unwilling one where stinky U-Boat captain Nina Stortebeker is hauled off and thrown in the tub before being scrubbed with a long-handled broom. Played for fanservice, naturally.
 * Love Hina makes this a reoccurring event (the onsen being a major feature of Hinata-so), and a regular reason for Keitaro to be the Accidental Pervert.
 * The Jungle Bath in Love Mode.
 * 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...
 * Actually there were two, with one as part of a longer scene and therefore even less naughty.
 * King of Thorn has flashbacks to a furo scene of twins Kasumi and Shizuku bathing together. The first flashback is initially played for Fan Service, but quickly turns disturbing. The second flashback shows what actually happened in the bath—an Interrupted Suicide.
 * Actually there were two, with one as part of a longer scene and therefore even less naughty.
 * Many times in Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha with various members of the mostly female cast, from Hayate and the Wolkenritter in A's to the Forwards in StrikerS. There was even a brief Furo Scene with Nanoha's father in the first season, whose heavily scarred body serves as a Continuity Nod to Triangle Heart 3 ～sweet songs forever～, where we learn that he was a bodyguard in his "old job". And that "bodyguard" was a bit of an understatement.
 * Mahou Sensei Negima has numerous scenes set in the Mahora baths, but chapter 235, set in a giant bathhouse in the Magic World, is the undisputed king of this. Soooo much Skinship Grope. So much.
 * Anyone else get the feeling the writer is required to stick a certain amount of fanservice into any given arc? It was originally supposed to be a harem series, not the action he wanted. So bam, a completely out of place, over the top Fanservice chapter that immediately switches back to action.
 * Then there's the bath scene in volume 3 when Negi's training in the mountains...
 * And the later one with Asuna and Setsuna. Complete with Fantastic Arousal!
 * In Mahoromatic, furo scenes provide occasional opportunity for plot development, as well as excuses to show off the assets of the primary female cast members. Note that only one major female cast member is over the age of sixteen, as Mahoro appears to be between the ages of sixteen and twenty, but is in fact only nine; see also Lolicon.
 * You forgot Shikijo-sensei!
 * Neon Genesis Evangelion has scene of Asuka standing next to a bath in the nude. It's not sexually appealing, since she's going insane at the time. To quote her:


 * Later on, she's found in a different bath in a run-down building. It could be that the tub is rusty and old, or it could be that she's lying in a pool of her own blood, implying a suicide attempt.
 * Actually, as noted by Misato before that infamous scene, she was only on day 2 of her period. It, like most, probably lasted longer.
 * There's also the scene featuring Shinji and Kaworu as they take a bath and talk...
 * This trope is played straight at the onsen that Shinji, Misato, Asuka, and Pen-Pen attend following the defeat of Sandalphon, the Eighth Angel.
 * 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.
 * Parodied in Ninin ga Shinobuden. Shinobu is... enthusiastic about the prospect of bathing with Kaede. And of course, Onsokumaru attempts join in, and ends up tied to a pile of garbage. Not to mention what happens in his imagination.
 * Almost every episode of Onegai Twins contains one of these scenes.
 * 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,
 * It happens in the Pokémon Special manga, at the start(ish) of the 3rd story arc. Red, the protagonist, is looking for some mystic/magic/healing springs that can cure his hands, which are constantly shaking due to his encounter with the ecoterrorist Elite 4 in the last story arc. Of course, when he finally gets there, Sabrina is already bathing, but she doesn't seem to mind and he gets in, of course carefully facing the other way. Then, the very moment he looks at her, she stands up, declaring that her treatment is complete.
 * Sapphire and Flannery enjoyed the Lavaridge hot springs and had a Gym Battle at the same time. The Sinnoh Trio conveniently found a bathhouse after they were sprayed by a Stunky. They smelled so bad that they had the baths to themselves.
 * In its usual parodic fashion, Puni Puni Poemi shoves almost a dozen naked women into a small furo with a Scenery Censor—each possible flash of a "naughty bit" is hidden by a rubber duck that just happens to get in the way of the camera every time.
 * A fair amount of action in Ranma ½ occurs in and around the Tendō home's furo as well as public baths elsewhere in Nerima. Considering the cast's involuntary transformations are caused by exposure to hot/cold water, scenes in the furo are almost always because of the need to turn back to their usual form. If it's not, they'll end up changing before the story is over.
 * The "waterproof soap" storyline has a ton of fanservice in the form of Shampoo, Ranma and Ryōga chasing each other around public baths in varying states of undress.
 * Chibi-Usa and Usagi are shown squabbling in the bath tub at least twice in the Sailor Moon anime.
 * One early episode was noted for being censored by raising the water level to hide Usagi's cleavage when she was shown in the bath.
 * Femme Fatale villainess Esmeraude from the R season has a hot bath scene as well before she goes in a mission.
 * Usagi and her family also visit an Onsen during the first season. It's played for laughs with Shingo not wanting to join the family and later stealing Usagi's towel causing her to hide herself under the water. The other Senshi snow up during the inevitable monster attack and all 5 of them are shown enjoying the hot spring at the end of the episode.
 * Similar goings-on occur in the first episode of Sayonara, Zetsubou-sensei. When Kafuka arrives in the classroom, it appears to be a large furo/indoor onsen. Filled with every female student in class. Every time anything naughty would be visible, however, there's both steam AND Maeda-kun's face (the uncensored version removes Maeda-kun). It turns out to have been an Imagine Spot.
 * In Saiyuki's bath house episode, Gojyo and Hakkai have one. Tenpou also gets one, in a bath tub (he's fallen asleep) in the gaiden manga.
 * The characters of Saki seem to get a lot of these in the anime version, complete with Censor Steam that get removed in the DVDs.
 * The last part of an OVA of School Rumble, although if you want to watch it, bring some Brain Bleach.
 * One episode had Eri going to a public bath for the first time.
 * Shikabane Hime has almost the entire female cast in a furo at one point, with strategically placed bubbles, of course.
 * Simoun replaces the traditional furo scene with a number of scenes set in the shower instead. The scenes give the cast ample opportunity for skinship, but interestingly contain remarkably little actual Fan Service. The shower scenes are ubiquitous enough that every level of the Simoun video game features one as well.
 * The various Steel Angel Kurumi series show off their female leads' impossibly pneumatic figures with bathing scenes.
 * In Street Fighter Alpha: Generations, there is a furo scene between Sakura and another girl.
 * Quite a few scenes in Strike Witches revolve around the base bath.
 * Relatively common in the Tenchi Muyo! storylines as well. In the TV series and the OVA, the bathroom is a piece of alien tech to begin with. And, living up to the name, Tenchi isn't always in there (though he gets dragged in on occasion, or the girls walk in on him, or girls walk in on him after another girl dragged him in...).
 * In the series Zero no Tsukaima, Saito basically introduces the concept to the rest of the cast. Although they apparently already had one.
 * Hanaukyo Maid Tai. Taro and several of the maids, during the Hot Springs Episode. Also Taro and Konoe together in Episode 14.
 * In Hell Teacher Nube, we see the main characters being chased out of their baths by horrendous mold, hauntings, and worse. Then they all visit a public bathhouse while they figure out who's causing all this trouble. Bath scenes were split evenly between the male and female classmates and teachers.
 * Izuna also got the majority of gratuitous bath scenes in her own apartment, to the point that her Tube Foxes often popped up with signs reading "Fanservice!" to conveniently cover her assets.
 * Highschool of the Dead deftly blends in its gratuitous Fanservice without slowing down the plot pacing or dominating the action. The episode where they reached a safehouse permitted them a cool-down interlude, which was packed with drunken, groping female bathers. Highest ecchi quotient of the series, yet still managed substantial Character Development.
 * Outlaw Star's penultimate episode is their Hot Springs Episode, with the female members of the cast enjoying a number of onsen (the Cute Monster Girl complaining that it wasn't hot enough and winding up in a lava pool). At the same time, the episode's A-plot involves Gene climbing to the top of the mountain to get nude footage of the priestess whose temple was built there. When he arrives up at the top of the mountain, he finds himself on the snow-covered glass roof looking down on what is either a giant stripperiffic laundry, or an odd sentou, filled with barely-dressed miko.
 * The anime version of Fate/stay night has one, as Shirou accidentally walks in on Saber, who, compared to the previous occasion this happened earlier in the anime, was actually embarrassed to be seen, believing her body which is more toned than Rin's makes her less attractive to Shirou, for whom she is beginning to become something of a Defrosting Ice Queen for, though Shirou tries to convince her he finds her body attractive as best he can without making the situation more awkward than it already is, with little real success. She was mostly concealed by the water though. The manga has a scene at the beginning of the fifth volume set earlier in the series that partially defies this trope in the anime since he was about to walk into the furo just as she was coming out, where Shirou actually walks in on her while she's still in the furo, standing up, and completely naked. He freaks out. Big time.
 * Popotan has a mandatory Once an Episode furo scene... except for those episodes that have more than one furo scene culminating in an onsen episode where the girls try every bath at a hotsprings resport.
 * In Wild Rock, the Child Rock chapter features doting uncles Yuuen and Emba spending some quality bathing time in the lake with baby Nava.
 * Several chapters of Kochikame have Ryotsu and fellow police officers relaxing in a sentou and even flashback stories Ryotsu's boyhood life involving sentous.
 * As a running gag in Doraemon, poor Shizuka never gets to finish a bath or shower, and takes them all the time. Literally so, as she's tried in other time periods, just to be interrupted by Nobita and Doraemon. Heck, a good percentage of his gadgets have very little purpose other than to peep on Shizuka, teleport to Shizuka, brainwash Shizuka into becoming a nudist, etc etc...
 * Wandering Son has a few. The first one is to illustrate how different Nitori is from the other boys, and to give some insight into some of the male characters. The second is used for talks.
 * See this Naruto manga two page color spread featuring Naruto and his friends in two separate furos. Compare the girls chatting happily and relaxing, while the boys fight and show far more skin than the girls.
 * Maicchingu Machiko Sensei has a few episodes with these scenes. Expect one or more male students (or even a teacher) to sneak a peek. One episode had a teacher and student flying in a kite and landing in a furo by accident. Of course, the eponymous Miss Machiko and her students were there at the time and the men (mostly) hid themselves.
 * Averted in The Tower of Druaga, where Fatina is only briefly shown to be bathing for a few brief seconds, and even then only from a distance, splashing around. The scene quickly cuts to Kally complaining about the noise she's making, after which Team Leader Neeba gives him permission to "take a peek". Kally responds to this incredulously.
 * A central theme in Thermae Romae, which also has the equivalent Roman bath scenes—though without the fan service unless you like handsome young Roman male bodies.
 * Bathtime With Hinako And Hiyoko is an extended full-OAV-length furo scene.

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.
 * Has happened at least three times in Kyon: Big Damn Hero.

Films -- Animation

 * In The Girl Who Leapt Through Time Makoto can be seen thinking things over in her bathtub quite a few times. It's surprisingly devoid of Fan Service though, what with her big feet dangling over the edge (Unless you're into that kind of thing...)
 * My Neighbor Totoro features a furo scene, with the father taking a bath with his two daughters. This scene was allegedly considered disturbing when the film was originally released in the US, despite its complete lack of sexual content by Japanese standards.
 * The Miyasaki film Spirited Away is based around a bathhouse for the spirits.

Films -- Live-Action

 * Austin Powers has one of these with Italian secretary "Alotta Fagina".
 * In Back to The Future II, Marty interrupts Biff with two ladies in one of these, to ask about Gray's Sports Almanac.
 * In Original Sin, Angelina Jolie and Antonio Banderas take a bath together in a tin tub. Jolie's breasts are readily visible. In a case of Everybody Remembers the Stripper, this and the actual sex scene are probably the only things anyone takes away from the film.
 * James Bond and KGB agent Pola Ivanova share a bath together at an oriental bathhouse in San Francisco in A View to a Kill.
 * A rare, 'non-sexual Western example happens between a man and a woman in Buffalo '66.

Literature

 * 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.

Music

 * Yoshiki shows that it is possible to combine a furo scene and a guro scene. Not safe for work.

Live-Action TV

 * Sentai in general will often have at least one episode that involves a sentou during the course of a season.
 * Tokusou Sentai Dekaranger's Umeko was often seen in a bathtub.
 * A character from Kamen Rider Kiva would often be shown in the tub.
 * Funnily enough, though, it was always the male characters... sometimes two or more of them together.
 * An episode of Terminator The Sarah Connor Chronicles shows Sarah shaving in the tub, when she accidentally cuts herself. Cue dramatic shot of blood in the water.
 * British celebrity chef/sex symbol Nigella Lawson has done this at least once: while waiting for something to cook in the oven, she pours herself a glass of wine and, just as the screen goes into the shows' trademarked soft-focus-mode, slips out of her clothes and into a tub.

Video Games

 * Riviera: The Promised Land offers two. They even replace the normal character portraits with nude ones (with a full range of expressions, and of course Barbie Doll Anatomy). For the first one, it's theoretically possible to stumble into it without knowing what you're doing, but the second one is guarded by a Giant Mecha that you have to take down, so it'd be hard to argue your innocence there.
 * The Suikoden series is known for having funny and/or character-developing bath scenes.
 * Tales of the Abyss has an entire set of costumes related to the bath episode. Actually wearing them into a fight nets you hilarious skits, including one where a character blames the fact that they're fighting in swimwear on mind control.
 * Tales of Symphonia, the predecessor to Abyss, and its sequel included furo scenes, and also provided new costumes for the characters. Both times, Lloyd is made to look like a complete pervert, but he's more of a victim of circumstance.
 * The Persona series is also well-known for its bath scenes, although those are more of the Hot Springs Episode variant.
 * Raidou Kuzunoha vs. the Soulless Army has the public bath house variant—sort of. It's the local Yakuza's hangout, and Raidou needs some information the boss has. There is a (player-controlled) naked fight scene, with an altered camera angle and less 3D movement for censorship purposes.
 * The furo scene in Final Fantasy X-2, even though they were in bathing suits. And then later on you can view the onsen through Shinra's Sphere thingy, and there's all these people taking a bath, most in clothes, and also some chocobos...
 * The Rune Factory games typically have a bath house and bath scenes.

Visual Novels

 * There are a couple such scenes in Shikkoku no Sharnoth, most notably when Angie visits Mary's flat and they take a bath together. Despite her bath being so tiny only one person can fit in, and only just.

Web Comics

 * In Devil Bear, cleanliness is next to Daiva-liness.
 * Supernormal Step gives us a bathtub scene here.
 * Parodied in Megatokyo, where Ping needs to visit a public bath and Miho needs to show her how it works, with Piro and Largo in a nearby room. Piro's anti-conscience actually plans to use this to drill the concept of fanservice into his head, except by the time he gets the chance, the whole thing has already taken place. Offscreen. Nice going.
 * Not Quite Daily Comic has a fairly long and fanserving one that ends in destruction and mayhem.
 * Red String includes a very rare onsen scene that not only involves a traditional mixed-gender bath, but is played fairly seriously and realistically, not primarily for Fan Service or titillating humour.
 * El Goonish Shive's manga parody "The Lucky Bunny Bounty Show" had a furo scene here

Western Animation

 * Done a few times with Yumi Ishiyama of Code Lyoko. Although set in France, her family's house is equiped with a typical Japanese furo.