The Roman Bathhouse Saga Returns to Jump+
Zoku Thermae Romae — the sequel to Mari Yamazaki's award-winning manga about a Roman bath architect who accidentally time-slips to modern Japan — published its 14th chapter on Shonen Jump+ on May 19, 2026. The previous chapter dropped back in September 2025, making this a roughly eight-month gap between installments.
The sequel picks up 20 years after the original story ended. Lucius, once a brilliant young bathhouse designer in ancient Rome, is now aging and weighed down by personal troubles. His wife Satsuki has vanished under mysterious circumstances, and his relationship with their son Marius has deteriorated. Despite all that, Lucius finds himself slipping through time to Japan once again — and slowly rediscovering his spark.
Chapter 14 shifts focus to Satsuki and her grandfather Tetsuzō, with the story set in Itō, a hot-spring town in Shizuoka Prefecture. It's the first substantial look at Satsuki's side of the story in the sequel's run.
The Original Goes Free
To celebrate the serialization's return, Shueisha announced that all chapters of the original Thermae Romae will be made available for free on Shonen Jump+, rolling out sequentially starting today. It's a smart move — readers who discovered Yamazaki's work through the live-action films or the 2022 Netflix anime Thermae Romae Novae now have a zero-barrier way to catch up on the source material before diving into the sequel.
The original manga ran in Enterbrain's Comic Beam from 2008 to 2013 and became a genuine crossover hit. It won the Manga Taisho and a Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize, spawned two live-action films starring Hiroshi Abe in 2012 and 2014, and got a second life as a Netflix original anime in 2022. The series' central joke — a stuffy Roman architect bewildered by Japanese bathing culture — turned out to have remarkable staying power.
Looking Ahead
Zoku Thermae Romae has two collected volumes out so far, with chapter 14 now advancing the story after a long wait. There's no announced schedule for how frequently new chapters will follow, so whether this marks a return to regular serialization or another burst-and-pause cycle remains to be seen.
For English-speaking readers, the original Thermae Romae is available from Yen Press, including a Complete Omnibus edition. The sequel has no English license announced yet. Shonen Jump+'s international counterpart, Manga Plus, does not currently list Zoku Thermae Romae — so for now, this one is Japan-only reading unless Viz or Manga Plus pick it up down the line.