'Zatsu Tabi: That's Journey' is one relaxing and introspective anime. It's basically Suzugamori Chika's travels all over Japan. It's one of the anime I adore this Spring 2005 season.
§ Overview
Chika's drafts have been rejected consecutively. One day, posting a poll, she got inspired to travel all over Japan, hoping to find inspiration.
§ Notes
The anime's story is really basic: A mangaka is stuck in something like writer's block and magnified that Chika herself must draw the manga panels. The anime is about finding inspiration through travel. It's really about the places featured. In short, its purpose is to promote domestic tourism.
We can compare this to the Winter 2025 seasonal 'Okitsura: Fell in Love with an Okinawan Girl, but I Just Wish I Know What She's Saying' as both are about tourism, and Okitsura is specifically about Okinawa. If you've been following my reviews, I gave Okitsura a dismal score but I am giving Zatsu Tabi an above-average score. What does Zatsu Tabi do right that Okitsura failed to do?
Okitsura promised a romcom but failed spectacularly in its execution. Zatsu Tabi is about getting inspiration to create manga, a plot point that sounds almost non-existent but it is tightly linked with the places visited.
Okitsura's Okinawa Memo feels distracting, but the corresponding exposition in Zatsu Tabi doesn't feel distracting. The background musick that started before the exposition continues to play as the narrator gives the cultural trivia. As a result, it doesn't break immersion.
I, therefore, conclude that Zatsu Tabi is the superior tourism anime.
Let me address a criticism that since this is an anime about promoting certain tourist spots, it is worthless. Such people are speaking hogwash!
The producers may have the idea of promoting domestic tourism in mind when they commissioned this anime, but a creative's sense of burnout is a common experience. Thus, using travel to overcome that burnout is a valid premise for an anime about travel.
Zatsu Tabi's art direction as well as its sound design and musick are great for keeping you immersed in the places being featured. Whether you're interested in going to the places featured or not, it cannot be denied that it gives you a strong sense of warmth and satisfaction. Its ED "bookmarks" by Sizuk is great by itself, but the fact that its musick is played before we see the credits, aka 'pre-ending theme insert', adds so much in terms of mood. (This phenomenon can also be seen in Bartender [2006] and Oshi no Ko.)
Its energy and vibe mean that it's an anime about introverts for introverts. Even though Chika also interacts with other characters, there are significant moments where Chika is only travelling alone and just experiences the vibe of the environment.
In contrast, I reckon that Bocchi the Rock is an extroverted anime about an introvert. Bocchi is often seen in situations where she is forced to interact with unfamiliar people and the struggles of an introvert in an extrovert world.
I am also glad that we see Chika making progress with her manga as a result of her travels. Her breakthrough comes from incorporating the feelings she felt or some character drama she experiences in her manga. If not for such progress, this would have been a source of addiction, and we can read reports of people addicted to travelling.
§ Conclusion
'Zatsu Tabi: That's Journey' is a chill and immersive travel anime. I enjoyed it so much, and it resonates with my introverted nature. If you're an introvert, I believe it will resonate with you as well.
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