Hot Springs Episode: Difference between revisions

[[File:rsz_090113rsz 090113-lovehina_7571lovehina 7571.jpg|link=Love Hina|frame|Damn towels.]]

{{quote|'''Kamina''': Simon look! It's a hot spring! Ohh...Ohh, a hot spring! A veritable smorgasbord of everything a man's heart truly desires and craves! A building that's sole function is to accommodate to a man's passion, fiery spirit and raging soul!<br />

'''Simon''': Uh, Bro, what are you talking about?<br />

'''Kamina''': [[Fan Service|Boobshots, boobshots, boobshots, boobshots,]] boooooooobshoooooots!|''Gurren Lagann the Satire'', Chapter 1 act V}}

The cast finds a reason to spend an episode at an ''onsen'' [温泉], literally "hot spring" (which is [[Exactly What It Says Onon the Tin|exactly what it is]]) -- a popular type of Japanese resort/attraction similar to [[Skinship Grope|communal bathing]]. It's the Japanese equivalent of a European spa town. Naturally this provides an excusable opportunity for [[Fan Service]] if a show is so inclined, although some shows aimed at younger kids will use [[Modesty Towel|toweled characters]]. Some series that aren't geared towards younger viewers will broadcast with towels, but remove them from the DVD version as an incentive to buy the DVDs.

In milder situations, this is merely equivalent to a [[Furo Scene|bath scene]] where the episode slows down so the characters can relax and think about the events of the day. Often a trip to an ''onsen'' will lead to characters accidentally seeing each-other in the nude. Or ''intentionally'' seeing each other in the nude. Or falling onto each other in the nude... whatever they want, really, [[Naked People Are Funny|as long as someone ends up naked]].

{{examples|Examples}}

* Played for laughs and [[Lampshaded]] in the same chapter in ''[[Ai Kora (Manga)|Ai Kora]]'' when Hachibe invites all the girls along with him to an onsen he "won" tickets for (he really worked at a bunch of several part time jobs to earn the money to buy them, unsurprisingly.) simply so he can talk to Sakurako and figure out his feelings for her and vice versa, and also to peek at the girls of course.

* ''[[Ai Yori Aoshi (Manga)|Ai Yori Aoshi]]'' did this twice.

* In ''[[Axis Powers Hetalia]]'', Japan has a small hot spring in his [[Big Fancy House]]. Both in the manga and the anime, England gets to enjoy the warm water -- andwater—and befriend some spirits, like a ''kappa'' and a ''zashiki warashi''. [[Tear Jerker|Who have to leave the house since Japan can't see them anymore]].

* Episode 20 of ''[[Persona 4 (Anime)|Persona 4: The Animation]]''.

* Invoked in ''[[Darker Thanthan Black]]'' by the [[Cosplay Otaku Girl]] as a part of [[Clueless Detective]] activity.

* Kogoro Mouri's [[Crowning Moment of Awesome]] happens in the Hot Springs episodes (a two-parter) of ''[[Detective Conan]]'' {{spoiler|This time, both the victim *and* the murderer were dear friends of Kogoro, so he goes into a full [[ItsIt's Personal]] mode and we get to see that with a bit of nudging from Conan (who wanted to solve it at first [[This Is Something He's Got to Do Himself|but was moved]] by the other's [[The Determinator|utter determination]] to find the culprit and traitor), Kogoro *can* solve cases by himself. }}

** Reversed somewhat in [[Digimon Xros Wars]]. Akari, the lone girl in the party at the time, was alone on her side of the rocks. When she noticed the villains of the week approaching, she peeked around the side to tell Taiki and Zenjirou. However, Zenjiro gets all freaked out and accuses her of peeping.

* ''[[El Cazador Dede Lala Bruja]]'' has the main characters visit a hot spring in the middle of a Mexican desert. Lampshaded by having the characters actually say that it's common in Japan, and then by having one woman go in without a swimsuit on the grounds that that's how they do it in Japan.

* ''[[Full Metal Panic!|Full Metal Panic? Fumoffu]]''. Episode 9, alternatively titled "The Hot Springs Episode", is a direct parody of the hot springs cliché (among others), and features three male characters trying to infiltrate a women's bath, fully protected by a steel wall between the male and female sides to prevent peeking, sentry guns and mines. Oh, and <s>[[Gundam Seed|SEED]]</s> PANTIES Mode, we can't forget about that.

* ''[[Gakuen Heaven]]'' also has one of these episode.

* ''[[Get BackersGetBackers]]'' has two. One involves Ban and Ginji mistaking Kazuki for a girl at a distance and trying to peep on him, Juubei and Kazuki cranking up the [[Ho Yay]], and [[EverythingsEverything's Better Withwith Monkeys]]. The other involves Shido proving that his girlfriend Madoka has him whipped, Ban and Ginji being ''very'' intimidated by the size of Shido's... [[Gag Penis|um...]] and [[EverythingsEverything's Better Withwith Monkeys]]. Again.

* ''<nowiki>~[[Mobile Suit Gundam|Mobile Suit Gundam: The 08th MS Team~</nowiki>]]'' has a fairly contrived hot springs scene where the lead couple have to survive in a snowfield, and the hero creates an improvised hot spring to keep them warm by melting and heating the snow with his heavily-damaged [[Humongous Mecha|robot's]] [[Laser Blade|beam saber]]. It's even more contrived in ''[[Gundam Seed Destiny]]'', where two of the female leads discuss things in an onsen on board a ''battleship''.

* ''[[Hanaukyo Maid Tai (Anime)|Hanaukyo Maid Tai]]''. The second half of episode 7 (the first half was a [[Beach Episode]]).

* ''[[Love Hina]]'' is set in a girls' dormitory that used to be a hot springs resort; the girls living there use the spring, and the entire show can be considered a single continuous [[Hot Springs Episode]] (except, of course, for its several [[Beach Episode|Beach Episodes]]s).

* Early on, ''[[Mahou Sensei Negima]]'' involves quite a bit of action in the pool-sized bath, although not ''that'' kind of action. It dies down after the authorial feint runs its course and the genre shifts from ''[[Love Hina]]'' [[Spiritual Successor]] to ''[[DragonballDragon Ball]]'' [[Spiritual Successor]], the "it" dying down here referring to use of naked ladies in the bath, not ''that'' shriveling up. [[Hypocritical Humor|Get your mind out of the gutter.]]

** It came up again recently{{when}} as a [[BigNon LippedSequitur Alligator MomentScene|"break"]] between tense dramatic action sequences, in an apparent attempt to compensate for the slightly reduced Fanservice of the past year or two by turning it up past 11 to around fifteen or so, by heavy use of [[Skinship Grope]].

{{quote| "This week, we bring you a 100% in-the-nude chapter!"}}

**:* And, indeed, no clothing is to be seen, other than a strategically placed towel or three.

**:* It also inverts the standard "Guys try to sneak a peek at the girls side" idea. The only male who attempts this is Chamo, who's ''an ermine''. (Negi and Kotaro decide that it isn't the time to worry about something like that.) We also see several of the (female) Adiane guards plotting to sneak over the males' side to see if "Nagi" is over there, but get interrupted when Chamo pops out of one of the drains.

* ''[[Naruto]]'' has had a few hot springs episodes, mostly played up for comic value.

** In the same episode, Sakura, who is presumably naked, is seen kneeling in the adjacent bath, though they [[Fan Disservice|chose]] to give her a [[Modesty Towel]] instead of [[Censor Steam]].

** ''[[One Piece]]''They had a brief one at the end of Arabasta arc, although the fanservice there is strictly for females. In an amusing spoof, when Nami catches the guys peeking on her and Vivi, she gets rid of them by flashing them, causing them to pass out and fall back on their own side. She dubs this technique the "Happiness Punch" or "Paradise Punch", depending on the version.

* ''[[Outlaw Star]]'' Episode 23, "[[Exactly What It Says Onon the Tin|Hot Springs Planet Tenrei]]" (as might be suspected from the title) dropped its [[Hot Springs Episode]] dead smack dab in [[Breather Episode|the middle of the series' climactic plot]] [[Arc]]. This episode was dropped from the dubbed airing in the U.S. simply because of how much nudity would have to be edited out of it. However, unlike typical fanservice episodes, there is a significant plot point in this one that may lead to confusion in following episodes, as Gene obtains four exceedingly rare caster shells; that's why he really went there in the first place. Another discontinuity involves Tobigera, one of the [[Quirky Miniboss Squad|Anten Seven]], who is named in the group's introduction, but only seen in this episode. The [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oe4lEAIX_Zk reason] he's never seen afterward is just [[Rapid -Fire Comedy|part]] of why this episode is also highly regarded for being ''[[Crowning Moment of Funny|funny as hell]].''

** A later ''[[Patlabor]]'' OAV "Versus" could be considered a [[Hot Springs Episode]]. Although it would be better called a Ryokan (Inn) episode. The characters are only seen coming back from the springs and the whole episode is about a contest/rivalry between Kanuka Clancy (back off the bus, on vacation) and her replacement Takeo Kumagami. Which starts with trivia questions, escalates through drunken tongue-twisters, and ends up with seeing who can throw Ohta out a window better. The only character we see in a spring is Captain Gotoh (oh, and Ohta, but he?s wearing a robe).

** Episode 4 of the original OAV ("The Tragedy of L") features Captain Gotoh sending the SV2 pilots to a rural training camp, which includes a communal bath. (Amusingly, we get to see that Kanuka Clancy keeps a handgun with her even while she's in the bath.) During the bath scene, the water on the men's side suddenly turns red, scaring them, and from that point onward the episode becomes a ghost story. {{spoiler|Turns out it was just a [[Scooby -Doo Hoax|hoax]] plotted by the two captains, to teach the pilots a lesson about gun safety.}}

** ''[[Ranma One Half|Ranma ½]]'' has both variations; the bathhouse more often than the springs (the bath seemed to break every other week and this was sometimes just used to start the story). One time the hot spring is large and circular, with a rock outcropping providing a wall through the middle, separating it into men's and women's sides. The men try to peek around one end, and the women try to peek around the other end ''at the same time''. They don't see anything, so they dismiss the sounds they heard as delusions.

** [[Maison Ikkoku]] also does both.

** [[Inuyasha]] has one every dozen or so episodes, particularly early on; the villagers find Kagome odd for her love of "purifying herself" in springs, but she eventually turns Sango on to hot spring bathing. This results in one of the series' [[Running Gag|Running Gags]]s - [[Celibate Hero]] Inuyasha charging to the rescue after Kagome screams(sometimes even ''[[Say My Name|for him]]'') only to end up an [[Accidental Pervert]] and subjected to a "sit" command. Once [[Chivalrous Pervert]] Miroku joins the band, this escalates to Inuyasha's efforts to deter his [[Girl Watching]] not only getting the monk clonked in the head by Sango's boomerang([[Hyperspace Mallet|even if she's not CARRYING it]]), but Kagome "sitting" Inuyasha ''just for being present.''

* Somewhat subverted on ''[[Read or Die (Anime)|Read or Die]]: The TV''. They all go to the hot springs, but none of the main characters remove so much as their jackets. {{spoiler|The one 'guest star' who does take off her clothes ends up brutally murdered. In the spring. And then her bodyguard activates an ancient device that destroys the springs entirely in a massive explosion. Hmm. Maybe more than 'somewhat' subverted.}}

* ''[[Saber Marionette J (Anime)|Saber Marionette J]]'' had a Hot Springs episode, giving a chance for gay Hanagata to rub up on Otaru wearing nothing but a very small towel.

* ''[[Sayonara, Zetsubou Sensei-sensei]]'' has a hilarious episode in which the gang decides to detox at a hot springs facility. Fanservice is mocked, the class of highly problematic students end up losing their quirks and becoming normal... leading Itoshiki to re-tox them with highly caloric food. He then gets pushed onto the de-toxing spring himself, then dramatically disappears. He was ''all'' toxins.

* ''[[Sukisho (Light Novel)|Sukisho]]'' the last episode. Taking into consideration that it is more or less filler it is not surprising that fanservice should abound.

* Just about ''every'' episode in ''all'' the ''[[Tenchi Muyo!]]'' series have at least one scene in an onsen. The first series has [[Mad Scientist|Washu]] build one into a [[Pocket Dimension]] attached to the bathroom - a woman opens the door, and enters an opulent onsen with steaming water fountains. A man opening the door just enters the normal bathroom. ''Ryoko'' builds the onsen in ''Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-Ohki''. Lacking Washu's ubertech, she just put it on a [[Floating Island]] behind the house(!?).

* ''[[The Wallflower (Anime)|The Wallflower]]'' had an episode set in a hot spring, which featured a murder mystery, Sunako generally creeping out everyone staying at their hotel, and a truly awe-inspiring [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOE04nchmv0 game of ping pong.]

* Possibly the only time this has ever happened without ''any'' intended fanservice is on ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh! GX]]'', when Judai/Jaden and allies visited the school's ''onsen''.

* ''[[Gravion]]'', naturally, has a Hot Springs Resort episode, and naturally (being ''Gravion''), it still ends with a Giant Robot battle.

* ''[[Oddly -Named Sequel 2: Electric Boogaloo|Zoku]] [[Natsume Yuujinchou]]'' pulls this in one episode. Turns out that Natsume was invited along specifically {{spoiler|because there was a ''Book of Friends'' bound [[Youkai]] loose in the resort.}}

{{quote| '''[[Schoolgirl Lesbians|Sakuya]]:''' ''Aw, come on, Kanade-senpai.<br />

[[Lampshade Hanging|There has to be]] a hot spring when we take a trip like this.<br />

And the cliché says it's always an open-air one.<br />

It'll have [[Censor Steam|unnaturally thick steam]],<br />

* Episode 5 of ''[[Saki (Mangamanga)|Saki]]'' has the characters going to one for their Mahjong training camp.

** And then there's the Lavaridge Gym battle between Sapphire and Flannery -- yesFlannery—yes, a Gym battle in a hot spring. Sapphire wanted to do it right then and there, however; Flannery and Mack used their strongest fire powers to slow down Mt. Chimney's complete death after Team Aqua killed the volcano, and it was now or never for the hot springs.

* There's a short [[Super -Deformed|"chibi"]] anime special for ''[[Harukanaru Toki no Naka Dede]] 3'' that takes place at a hot spring.

* [[Sky Girls]] has one that also includes [[The Reveal|important and disturbing plot information]]. In a subversion of the usual "guys try to peek on the girls" scenario, Otoha accidentally knocks down the partition between the two sides and [[Hilarity Ensues|hilarity ensues]].

* [[Lampshade|Lampshaded]]d and subverted in ''[[Hayate the Combat Butler (Manga)|Hayate the Combat Butler]]'' Ch. 117. {{spoiler|After the characters spent about 5 chapters trying to get to a special hot springs, the first thing Hayate and Maria do is to relax ... in massage chairs. Another character even exclaims, "Why hasn't the bath scene appeared yet?!"}}

** The anime has at least two episodes centered around hot springs over its two seasons. It was inevitable, really, with the [[ImprobablyFundamentally Female Cast|disproportionate amount of female characters]] present...

* Subverted in [[So Ra No woWo To]], since the expected (from the preview) hot springs episode ended having under 1 minute of hot springs.

* Happens in one episode of ''[[Aria (Manga)|Aria]]'' with everyone wearing [[Modesty Towel]], but with a variation: most of the scene are set in the closed-air hot spring.

* Subverted (or at least weirdly played) in ''[[Working (Manga)!!|WORKING!!]]'' where the hot spring episode does not feature any hot spring scene at all (or 1 if you count the foot spring).

* Played with in ''[[Keroro Gunsou]]'', where one of Momoka's [[Zany Scheme|poorly thought-out plans]] to get closer with Fuyuki involves letting him win a set of four tickets to an ''onsen'', and hoping he takes her as a guest. Most of the action involves Momoka fighting with Natsumi's [[Romantic Two -Girl Friendship|friend/admirer]] Koyuki over the extra ticket, to the point where they don't actually get to the hot springs until the very end of the episode.

* In chapters 109-110 of ''[[Kuroko no Basuke (Manga)|Kuroko no Basuke]]'', all of the main characters, plus one of the main [[Opposing Sports Team|Opposing Sports Teams]]s, all go to an onsen. Naturally, Fanservice abounds.

== [[FanficFilm]] ==

* The [[Memoirs of a Geisha (film)|film adaptation of ''Memoirs of a Geisha'',]] has the titular character take some high ranked americansAmerican militarsmilitary men to a onsen resort.{{verify}} <!-- MOD: Is this only in the film, or in the original novel as well? -->

== [[Live Action TVLiterature]] ==

** The original bathing scenes in ''[[Tales of Phantasia (Video Game)|Tales of Phantasia]]'' had peeping on ''both'' sides: Chester on the male side, and Arche on the female. Chester also gained the title of Muscleman, [[White Magician Girl|Mint]] the title "[[Gag Boobs|Boin~chan]]". ''[[Tales of Eternia (Video Game)|Tales of Eternia]]'' had no wall-watching, although Reid did have to smuggle Chat into the men's dressing room to get one of her skills, which leads to a rather unfortunate scene between her and Keele. Also on a seperate occasion, Meredy decided to bath near the man's side instead, and [[Hilarity Ensues]].

** They're at it again in ''[[Tales of Vesperia (Video Game)|Tales of Vesperia]]''. There are three different scenes. To get the first two, you need to pay 300,000 gald for the first and 600,000 gald for the second. During the first two Raven keeps trying to peak at the woman's side of the spring, with little success. The third visit is free, During the third, the party winds up working there and at the end they all get [[And Your Reward Is Clothes|costume titles]].

*** In the [[PSPlay Station 3]] version, there were a few scenes added for the hot springs to accommodate Flynn and Patty being in the party.

** And before Vesperia, [[Tales of the Abyss (Video Game)|Tales of the Abyss]] also had it which had two scenes one gives you new outfits and another gives Guy the title [[Accidental Pervert|Naughty Devil]] due to him [[Thanks for Thethe Mammary|groping]] both [[Gag Boobs|Tear]] and Natalia after being shoved by Luke and Jade for [[For the Lulz|an experiment]].

* ''[[Riviera: theThe Promised Land]]'' and ''[[Yggdra Union]]'', two Gameboy Advance games developed by Sting, both feature a hidden "hot springs scene" where the games' female characters appear naked. Bafflingly, the American version of both games' hot springs scenes actually shows MORE than the Japanese version.

*** If anything, in ''[[Riviera: theThe Promised Land]]'' {{spoiler|you get your [[Infinity Plus One+1 Sword]] in the hotspring.}}

* Part of the Mt. Gagazet sequence in ''[[Final Fantasy X 2 (Video Game)|Final Fantasy X-2]]''. (But only as a reward if the player approaches the area in a particular, stealthy way. If they approach the Fem-Goons directly, then the scene is skipped.)

* ''[[Shin Megami Tensei (Franchise)|Shin Megami Tensei]]'' ''[[Persona 3]]'' and ''[[Persona 4]]''. The former also involves a [[Stealth -Based Mission]].

* The remakes of ''[[Pokémon Red and Blue (Video Game)|Pokémon Red and Blue]]'' (''FireRed'' and ''LeafGreen'') feature a hot spring that heals Pokémon. This being a Pokémon game, no fanservice is involved.

** Hot springs also appear in ''[[Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire (Video Game)|Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire]]''/''Emerald'', though there is no [[Fan Disservice]] here, either. (The NPCs in the Lavaridge hot spring are all elderly.)

** ''[[Pokémon Mystery Dungeon (Video Game)|Pokémon Mystery Dungeon]]: Explorers of Time/Darkness/Sky'', too, but since all of the characters are Pokémon...[[Rule of Three|yeah.]]

* Stage three of ''[[Touhou (Video Game)|Touhou]]'''s second fighter ''Hisoutensoku'' starts at the "The Geyser Underground Center Entrance" which Marisa describes as a hot spring. Considering this hot spring is directly a product of Touhou 11 ''Subterranean Animism'', and the next boss fight after Marisa takes place in the ''nuclear reactor'' powering the hot spring, this scene does not come out of nowhere at all. And no [[Fan Service]].

* Hot springs are ''[[Mother 3 (Video Game)|Mother 3]]'''s primary equivalent to the [[Trauma Inn]]. There's even a little sign by most of them with a haiku on it detailing the location ([[Lampshade Hanging|though the syllable count is rarely correct]]). It's played with on Tanetane Island, however; {{spoiler|while the human protagonists are hallucinating after eating some strange mushrooms, what appears to be a lavishly decorated hot spring is actually a pool of toxic-looking sludge, which [[Evil -Detecting Dog|Boney]] will refuse to follow you into (should you choose to do so). The actual hot spring is right next to it, though inaccessible until you've 'sobered up'.}}

* ''[[Red String]]'', which faithfully uses all the tropes of shojo manga, features an entire [https://web.archive.org/web/20151023031253/http://www.redstring.strawberrycomics.com/?p=619 chapter] about the cast spending a few days at an onsen. One of the male characters sees more of the anatomy of three [[Hot Shounen Mom|Hot Shounen Moms]]s than he intended to.

* ''[[The Heroes of Middlecenter]]''.{{context}}

== [[Western Animation]] ==

* The [[Animesque]] animated series ''[[Totally Spies!]]'' has an episode where the girls take a vacation to a ski resort and relax in a hot tub. It's not long before a snow-and-ice gimmick villain shows up to ruin everything.

* In the ''[[Futurama]]'' episode, "Teenage Mutant Leela's Hurdles", the crew takes the Professor to a spa to get a tar bath because it [[Fridge Logic|makes the bather younger.]]

[[Category:EpisodesUnusual Location Episode]]

[[Category:TropeTropes on a Trip]]