Welcome to Gingarou Hotel! A slick ad reel showcases what makes the hotel so luxe, presenting a world where the customer is king and life is good—until flashes from the news media begin to intercut, revealing that all is not well on planet Earth. In fact, the air is so full of poison that humanity must evacuate to space! Cut to a century later; It’s the year 2157. The city has been taken over by vegetation and wildlife, yet one lone structure remains intact. Its doors are manned by Doorman Robot, who flings them wide at the slightest provocation, overheating himself (his coolant has run out). If Yachiyo has told him once, she’s told him 4,682 times that he doesn’t need to open the door for her—she’s not a guest. Instead, she’s the android acting acting manager, and after dousing Doorman in water to cool his head, she assembles the remaining staff for their daily roll call. They make for a motley crew of service robots, ranging from Flycatcher Robot to Maintenance Robot, Cleaner Robots A and B, Cook Robot and Bartender Robot, Gardener and Porter Robots, and of course, Driller Robot, who’s working on the hotel’s onsen development. Wait, where’s Driller Robot? Before setting out in search of him, there is work to be done to ensure readiness should the anticipated guests finally arrive today. Yachiyo reviews the hotel’s Ten Commandments for excellence in hospitality, and completes her daily rounds of room inspection before heading off in search of Driller. Sadly, the time has come for him to go on indefinite leave, and she lays him to rest with the scores of robots who have gone before him. But tomorrow is a new day! And Yachiyo has a feeling the long-awaited guests will finally show. Instead, crisis hits as Yachiyo discovers during daily inspections that the shampoo hat is missing from room 405, triggering the BSoD for our protagonist. Without shampoo hats, guests cannot enjoy their stay at the hotel. It’s all over. She has failed. Just as she is surrendering to despair, Doorman flings wide the doors…
I’ve already raved about CygamesPictures once this season, but here I go again! This one is an original series—I do so enjoy an OG anime!—and the animation sparkles, albeit in a soft, rosy-hued kind of way, reminiscent of Do It Yourself! The character designs are deceptively simple, managing to make hulking masses of non-anthropomorphized metal quite elegant and personable, each in its own way. Meanwhile, the backgrounds are pretty lush, as befits both an elite hotel and a “return to nature” post-apocalypse. There are some parallels here with The Concierge, which is set in a (likely) post-apocalyptic high-class shopping mall frequented by anthropomorphized extinct and endangered animals, and which similarly raises more questions than it answers. This bodes well for Apocalypse Hotel! The pace is steady and the humor, unforced, but it doesn’t drag, as new details of worldbuilding and foreshadowing pop up every few seconds, providing just enough mystery to intrigue. Why does Yachiyo take a few extra seconds to complete her tasks on the second day? What is that flash of…something as she reviews the day? What happened to Driller? And of course, the bigger question: What has happened to humanity? It’s basically a more upbeat, slice-of-life version of NieR: Automata Ver1.0. As such, there’s potential for the series to engage in some metaphysical reflections on humanity, on navigating crisis and coping with the kinds of things that no one should ever have to face, and yet which are sadly endemic in this troubled world of ours. Or it might not. Following the final scene (not spoiled above), I have no clue what direction this is going to take, but I’m very happy indeed to check in for a 12-week stay at this hotel!
Apocalypse Hotel is streaming on Crunchyroll.
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