Zatsu Tabi: That's Journey

ざつ旅 -That's Journey-

9.0(1)

OtakuDen

6.9(13,485)

MAL Score

Ranked #5241

Popularity #4111

Adventure
Slice of Life
Iyashikei

Episodes: 12
Duration: 23 min per ep
Aired: Apr 7, 2025 to Jun 23, 2025
Status: Finished Airing

Synopsis

Eighteen-year-old rookie manga artist Chika Suzugamori has a rough day when three manuscript drafts are rejected at once. Urged by her editor to draw from what she genuinely likes, Chika finds herself stuck—she’s a homebody whose world revolves almost entirely around manga. With no clear answer in sight, a sudden impulse to escape her routine pushes her toward the idea of traveling.

On a whim, she runs an online poll to decide her destination, then boards a train and heads north from Tokyo for an unplanned solo trip. Reaching the summit of Mount Haguro in Aizu-Wakamatsu leaves her feeling unexpectedly refreshed and newly driven. Even if rejection comes again, Chika decides to keep exploring Japan—sometimes alone, and sometimes alongside friends she’s known for years and people she meets along the way.

Otaku Consensus

Zatsu Tabi: That's Journey lands as a modest but distinct 2025 iyashikei entry: Masaharu Watanabe's direction and Yoshiko Nakamura's series structure give the 12-episode run a relaxed travel-diary rhythm rather than a conventional gag or drama engine. Fans responded most strongly to its location-based calm, train-and-food texture, and adult-leaning female cast, while the recurring criticism is that its storytelling and character development remain intentionally light to the point of feeling underpowered. Its 6.93 MAL score and 67/100 AniList score capture the split well: warmly received by viewers tuned to quiet itinerary anime, less persuasive for anyone seeking sharper narrative escalation.

Why You Should Watch

Watch Zatsu Tabi if you want the restorative travel mood of Laid-Back Camp without the hobby-instruction format, or the gentle observational pace of a seinen slice-of-life without a heavy comic hook. Its appeal is unusually specific: Japan-by-train atmosphere, food stops, sketchbook-minded looking, and a primarily female adult cast that lets quiet independence feel normal rather than dramatic. The show is also a good fit for viewers who like anime about creative burnout but prefer recovery through routine sensory detail instead of inspirational speeches. Studio Makaria's production leans on place, color, costume, and small changes in weathered mood, so the pleasure is in watching a trip become a way of thinking. If you need big jokes or romantic momentum, this will feel too soft; if you want low-pressure travel therapy, it has a clear lane.

Key Characters

C
Chika Suzugamori
Chika stands out less as a stock genki traveler than as a young creator whose observational habits turn stations, food, clothing, and local rituals into a quiet extension of her manga work.

What Makes It Stand Out

1
The title's key word, zatsu, can mean rough, crude, sloppy, or miscellaneous, and that double meaning fits the show's deliberately unpolished travel logic: it favors loose detours over a perfectly optimized itinerary.
2
AniList's tag distribution is unusually decisive for a slice-of-life title: Travel, Female Protagonist, and Primarily Female Cast are all listed at 100%, with Iyashikei close behind at 92%. That metadata makes clear that the series is built around mood and mobility first, not romance, school comedy, or workplace drama.
3
The production credits split the show's visual identity across several specialized roles: Kana Arai is Art Director, Emi Kesamaru handles Art Design, Kazuko Kikuchi handles Color Design, and Nanami Hakoda is credited with Costume Design. That staff layout matches a series where location atmosphere and everyday clothing carry much of the characterization.
4
The midseason episode titles point to the show's preference for itinerary variety over a single destination formula: episode 6 is titled 'An Epic Midsummer Journey!' and episode 7 is titled 'A City Where You Can Meet Gods? And Then...'. The run uses named travel episodes as tonal pivots rather than treating every stop as interchangeable scenery.
5
Its audience metrics show a niche rather than a breakout: 12,298 MAL votes, MAL popularity rank #4114, and 228 AniList favourites. Those numbers place it in the category of a small, mood-specific seasonal discovery instead of a broad 2025 conversation piece.

Fun Facts & Trivia

Fun fact 1: Zatsu Tabi: That's Journey aired as a complete 12-episode spring 2025 TV anime from April 7 to June 23, 2025, making it a compact one-cour travel series rather than an open-ended iyashikei adaptation.
Fun fact 2: The anime was produced by Studio Makaria, with Masaharu Watanabe as director and Yoshiko Nakamura in charge of series composition.
Fun fact 3: Kenta Ishizaka is credited as the original creator, while the anime's production side includes Kentarou Tsubone as editor, Ayumi Itakura as director of photography, and Yayoi Tateishi as sound director.
Fun fact 4: Episode 6, 'An Epic Midsummer Journey!', lists Susumu Yamamoto and Masaharu Watanabe on episode direction, Yoshiko Nakamura on script, and Hidekazu Hara with Masaharu Watanabe on storyboard.
Fun fact 5: Episode 7, 'A City Where You Can Meet Gods? And Then...', changes script credit to Masahiro Yokotani, with Susumu Yamamoto directing and Namako Umino plus Yōsuke Yamamoto credited for storyboards.