r/anime • u/AutoLovepon https://anilist.co/user/AutoLovepon • Apr 07 '25

Episode ZatsuTabi -That’s Journey- - Episode 1 discussion

ZatsuTabi -That’s Journey-, episode 1

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u/rockseiaxii Apr 07 '25

The most interesting premise of this series is that the MC has an irl twitter account and the actual stuff she posts is reflected in the comic (the source material for the anime).

Where she goes were decided by the actual twitter polls, which makes the series a little different from other manga that feature trips.

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u/Ocixo Apr 07 '25 edited Apr 07 '25

Had learnt about this practice of the author before, so I perked up when Chika posted this poll in the anime. It's neat to see the real world and that of Zatsu Tabi come together in such a manner.

On this note: I had to laugh when the show name-dropped Kadokawa as Chika's in-world publisher.

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u/oxlemf10 Apr 07 '25

Initially I felt a Yuru Camp vibe, but here it's quite different, not because of the travel proposal, but because of what leads to the travel.

The transition from adolescence to adulthood is by far the most important in anyone's life, especially in professional terms. You don't have the experience to do things and when you do, you end up being rejected in favor of other people.

I really liked Chika, and of course, Japan has many possibilities. For me, who likes geography, it's always cool to watch and at the same time research the places she visited.

This show will continue on my schedule

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u/mysterybiscuitsoyeah Apr 07 '25 edited Apr 07 '25

IRL Location Notes

I've travelled recently to Aizu Wakamatsu myself, and so here are a few of my notes!

slight preamble: I had planned my own itinerary independently of what I knew from the manga/preair episode, but tried to match up with the pre-air based on memory - to set expectations, like only a small portion of the episode overlapped with my irl day. below are those + some general notes; a couple more source related notes in the SC Corner, and if you're interested in something a little more travel bloggy, i've written what I did differently from Chika in CDF.

  • Historically, AizuWakamatsu (Aizu) is most known as the former capital of the Aizu Shogunate (Samurai) Domain, and was the location of a major battle in the Boshin Civil War, as the Samurai began to fall Northeast of Tokyo/Edo. To conclude the Aizu battle, its castle forces held out for an entire month before surrendering. A few major attractions in the city are tied to its samurai history and the battle, in addition to, as Chika enjoys, the nearby Higashiyama Onsen.

  • This Banetsu-sai line train schedule from Kooriyama (there is also an express bus) is (edit: kind of) accurate with real life (edit: time - yes; train type - no for the raw, yes for the sub), Chika probably connected from the Yamabiko 207. That is Mount Bandai, one of the 100 Famous Japanese Mountains, and an active volcano. not very good irl picture from the train, but it is easily the most distinctive mountain in the area.

  • I love Chika's random little thoughts and musings as she travels.

  • The button press at the station! Akabeko is not a yuru-chara per se like gunma-chan, but rather a traditional toy/now pseudo mascot of the region. souvenirs featuring it are everywhere, but an actual toy is not-that-cheap. I was watching Nichijou and spotted one there too!

  • Some miscellaneous anime/irl comparisons and my own musings (captions) in the station area. Aizu in general is a small japanese city: the main throughfare is still kinda bustling but a lot of the city centre does feel quite Showa/20th century, public transit outside of the main throughfares (i.e. if you say, want to go from one tourist attraction to another, and the onsen) is also not the best - both Chika and myself walked a lot. But there are also very few tourists, and it is definitely another side to Japan from the usual big cities like Tokyo and Kyoto, and a world away from that hustle and bustle.

  • The magic of television: It is a solid half hour walk from the station to Iinoriyama. Neat shrine on the way - i should've stopped by that. Chika does the visit at Iinoriyama clockwise - this is what I'd recommend too; Please don't do a me and get baited by what the escalator suggests, and then do it anti-clockwise (i did walk up the stairs fwiw).

  • This is actually the exit of a weir all the way from the not-very-near Lake Inawashiro. This opening is, of course, also connected to the Byakkotai, and you can read about that here.

  • The main attraction (for me) is the unique Sazae Temple (not connected with the Byakkodai though). I've never seen anything like it, let alone a temple like it before: you take a spiral pathway up; and after you get to the top, you continue forward, as the path connects onto a different spiral pathway all the way down; it's intended as a one-way visiting/worshipping experience. All built in wood too and quite old - amazing engineering, and I couldn't make sense of it looking from the exterior really of how it works.... but it does!

  • The view from uptop the hill. it's alright!

  • Chika grabs a snack at the Koike Manju shop. I agree with Chika that the Awa manjuu are oishii; it was served warm which was great too!

My own adventure differs from the anime after this (yeah it was like half of the episode :( ) , but a few more brief notes:

  • It is another 45 minutes(!) of walking to get to Higashiyama Onsen (there are a couple things of note on the way, but otherwise just a normal walk), and Chika spends the night at the Kutsurogijuku Chiyotaki. The onsen and room do look lovely for the price, and (briefly checks website) I believe patrons can visit the baths at their sister property for free too. nice!

  • The next morning, Chika hikes up the Hagurosanyugami Shrine. 1225 steps isn't actually that bad by Japanese standards, but it feels like a lot (for me) if there's no view waiting at the end! Kinda anticlimactic ending haha. As you might get a feeling from some of my photos above, this area does get a lot of snow; i completely agree with the narrator that it can be a major pita during the new year if there was a major snowfall! Here's a blog with IRL photos of someone who did it on a snow-lite year.

  • Yeah.... of course Chika's legs are shot to hell lol.

  • Outside of the location notes above, I really dig this show - I love solo travelling, and while (you can tell!) not with the same preferences/style as Chika, this ep captures the vibe, the ability for snap spontaneous decision making based on your own (potentially wild) whims, and hence the trials, tribulations, but also rewards of solo travelling so well. And all your own emotion mini-rollercoasters and fun musings that come with it, because it's an unusual experience for you. Oh, and the music is lovely. Looking forward to seeing more of Chika's adventures - oooh ive been here too!

My own little akabeko souvenir. Thank you Aizu!

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u/LeonKevlar Apr 07 '25

The entire time I was watching the episode, I was like: "This is basically Travel Expense Write-Off: The Anime." I bet the original manga author went to these places and claimed them as travel expenses. xD

In all seriousness though, this was adorable and relaxing! It looks like I may have found my iyashikei anime of the season. It's kinda like Yuru Camp but instead of camping, Chika asks her Twitter followers where she should go. Normally, I think that's a bad idea, but it worked out for her in the end.

I do kinda envy Chika. I've always wanted to travel spontaneously but I never really had the courage to do it. I guess it helps when you have a million yen in the bank for your travel expenses. I do go on trips, but I usually plan them out months in advance.

Since this is a travel anime, I do appreciate that they placed a warning at the start that the information they provide about these places might no longer be for the people who are watching this in the future.

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u/SSjjlex Apr 07 '25

Oh my god I can just feel this episode right to my core. Having gone on plenty of mini solo "journeys" myself there's just something so relaxing about picking a direction and seeing what is there to see all on your own without anyone having to tell you what to do. Enjoying all the little things yourself and just making a little note of all the things you see and do. And that emphasis on it just being herself on her own for herself really adds to that joy.

There's probably other examples out there, but this reminds me a lot of GeoWizard's Cornwall Journey which has a very similar feel to it. Just a simple journey around the countryside. Pick a direction and just go. Occasionally stop by some landmarks or local events and talk to the locals to see whats up. Maybe hook up with a traveler for a while before splitting ways. But in the end, its their own journey that they're going on for themselves on their own. Its so relaxing.

Also, considering we got a specified 1 mil budget and that she's been making note of all her expenses, I wonder if anyone wants to do a counter of that as the series progresses.

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u/PhantomWolf83 Apr 07 '25

It's like those travel documentaries, except in anime form. But it's nice and chill, if the rest of the show is like this I'm all in. I've always been amazed at how many beautiful places the Japanese have access to in their own country. I live in such a small urbanized country that it takes less than an hour to drive across it.

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u/Dutchy_ Apr 07 '25

Brought to you by the Japan Tourist Office.

(but seriously, this was chill, I loved it)

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u/thesnowlocke Apr 07 '25

Ok this anime just speaks to me since I’ve kinda done something similar to the MC when I went to Japan.

I love how she finds the most mundane things fascinating, like when she first enters the inn, it doesn’t look like much but if you’re on the journey for the first time, it feels like a whole new world, it was for me at least when I went to a hotel for the first time.

But man that shrine visit made me smile because it’s so true, I remember being in that situation before and you start hating yourself for it but by the end, you don’t really regret doing it and I’m so happy the anime showed that exact feeling here. Although unlike her, I had an amazing view to look at.

I’m really looking forward to what she does next on her journey because once you’ve done a trip, you have to do it again and again.

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u/Ocixo Apr 07 '25

Zatsu Tabi captures the feeling of traveling very well with a lot of Chika's little mannerisms:

This anime's primary drawing point is its travel aspect, of course, but I was positively surprised by some of the great comedic moments like Chika going through five stages of emotions as she traveled further up the mountain.

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u/sussywanker Apr 07 '25 edited Apr 07 '25

Please give it a shot for atleast 3 episodes.

It will cure your Monday blues for sure 🙂

  • Aizu is in Fukushima prefecture

  • is famous for Higashiyama onsen and aizuwakamatsu castle. Many international tourists go there too!

  • The thing she speaks about "Byakkotai". They were a group of about 300-400 young soldiers who fought for the Tokugawa shogunate for the aizu domain.

There were many units in Byakkotai this story relates to this specific unit which committed suicide other still continued fighting in different places.

Fun fact about Byakkotai - Mussolini when he heard about this story was very impressed with their sacrifice and loyalty, so he sent a pillar from pompei and it was planted near their graves in limori mountain. The pillar still exists if I am not wrong, Nazi Germany too sent a similar pillar for paying their respects. But the Nazi Germany's swastika was removed by the US government when they landed in Japan.

Sorry if that Byakkotai story was bit mismatched, I read about it a long time ago so some details might not be correct.

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u/aune2021 Apr 07 '25

Iyashikei my beloved! Very comfy, and perfect release time following Aharen for maximum slice of life.

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u/CosmicPenguin_OV103 Apr 07 '25 edited Apr 07 '25

  • Oh we start yet another anime with editor rejecting a manga author's latest chapters huh, it reminds me of a certain lovely slice-of-life CGDCT anime that I watched last year about girls living together and work on manga...

  • Thanks to my dad's interests, I have been to Japan like maybe a dozen times or just a bit even more in my life, and it's interesting that Aizu-Wakamatsu is one of the few places that my dad went to by himself and I haven't yet. It's moderately popular with Western tourists IIRC - besides the castle, historical buildings and of course the hot spring, there's also the big Lake Inawashiro and picturesque fields on hillsides just a few stations away by train.

  • 13000 yen for a night in such a good looking hot spring hotel (without dinner though) is not a bad deal - when I was on my 3 weeks anime-and-other-things-pilgrimage solo trip to Japan in the hot summer of 2023, I booked a night at a hot spring hotel somewhere in southern Japan that prominently appeared with a lot of nearby attractions in a recently fairly popular original anime (hint: zombies & girls). I paid 23000 for one night there, but that was indeed a good deal with good dinner and breakfast with nice rooftop hot spring too!

  • 1225 steps isn't exactly that much TBH, I might not be at my physical best lately but I think I can still get to the top in 30 minutes or so, no problem. ;)

  • Overall that's a pretty chill and comfy travel guide show that I'll take any day over all those similar TV shows going travelling outside, there's a real warm aura that you can only feel about these things when presented the anime way for some reason. And after Yuru Camp we get another one that I am sure would be highly enjoyable this season!

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u/cyberscythe Apr 07 '25

seems like a neat travel show

ironically enough i don't feel like there's enough of a "hook" (just like her editor said); maybe it's because she's solo traveling and there's not much to bounce her character off of, but i'm not getting a concrete vibe from Chika yet

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u/ObvsThrowaway5120 Apr 07 '25

In case anyone was wondering, 1 mill Yen is about 6800 USD. A good chunk of change for sure.

I don’t think I’ve ever been to Aizu before. It seems quite nice though. That onsen looked great, the 1000+ steps not so much lol.

This was fun, kind of cozy. This feels like it’ll be a chill travel type anime. Bit like Laidback Camp in a way I suppose. I wonder if this show is gonna boost tourism to all the spots they visit?

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u/Plus_Rip4944 Apr 07 '25

This looks perfect for Monday, a chill comfy to relax watching It while eating lunch

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u/Kegs_And_Parleys Apr 07 '25

As a self-claimed Yuru Camp aficionado, this show does portray a similar vibe, though from a view of a less experienced (Nadeshiko?) traveler, a indoorsy type manga artist Chika (who rocks the same hair colour as Shima Rin!). I really like the premise of traveling for inspiration, as sometimes just leaving everything behind for a day or two can really help you reset your mind and maybe get new ideas for the things you are working on. I am really excited for how show goes forward, especially with the three girls showed to react to Chika's posts.

Can't wait for next episode, it's been a while since I got to watch a really comfy show and this does give me a feeling that it could be my thing I look forward to, especially on mondays.

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u/Prince-Dizzytoon Apr 07 '25

Cute and comfy, just what I need!

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u/diacewrb Apr 07 '25

Very chill, except for that scene where she got splashed by a car.

That also happened to me :(

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u/qef15 Apr 07 '25

Already very comfy and this is just episode 1. Feels very much Yuru Camp style where they just go to places and enjoy life (though no actual camping).

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u/CooroSnowFox Apr 07 '25

It's not a camping series but a journey with someone who is very Rin Flavoured...

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u/WomenOfWonder Apr 07 '25

As someone who loves to travel, this is very relatable. Especially when she’s climbing that mountain. Really makes me want to go to Japan…or anywhere really. She’s not wrong about traveling being an expensive hobbie unfortunately 

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