A yakuza messenger on a motorcycle carries out his final “delivery,” paying off his debt and lining up a new chapter in his life. Except that the new “Second Head of the Family” isn’t so keen on letting him see the dawn of a new tomorrow, and sends a fleet of gun-toting snarky yes-men to send him into endless night. But he’s not the Family’s top messenger for nothing, and he manages to escape, leaving a bloody trail of broken bodies and scrap metal once shaped like cars behind him as he heads to the one place a man like him can be safe—a place recommended to him by the First Head when he was but a boy in training: the Hotel Inhumans. With just two concierges at the welcome desk and no one else to be seen, the imposing edifice may seem to be running on the bare minimum, but Ikuro and Sara quickly demonstrate that they are more than enough staff to solve any problems thrown their way, providing the hotel’s guests with everything from life-saving medical care to stealthy detective work to assassin-level martial arts and protection services. The pair may look vaguely like a Victorian butler and governess, but they are not to be trifled with! What’s more, they aim for excellence, not just satisfying the requests of their deadly clients, but also giving them what they don’t even know they need.
Huh, that was unexpected! This one caught me off guard in a couple of ways, narratively and emotionally, and ultimately in a good way. First, there was the bait and switch: The set-up is full-on yakuza action drama, but when the OP bursts onto the screen after the bike messenger arrives at the hotel, he is nowhere to be seen, and the intro is dominated by the concierges we have only just barely met. But the shift onto these new MCs, well into the episode, nevertheless works, largely because of the subsequent emotional arc offered for the messenger, bringing his life story to a satisfying resolution. Which is the second unexpected element here: For a series about a secret hotel whose clients are exclusively killers, the emotional journey was compelling, effectively humanizing a character who traded away his humanity years ago. It even strikes a hopeful note in the final instance, which was a pleasant surprise. I’m reminded of Tasokare Hotel from earlier this year, in which each episode provided a full character arc for the guest star. It’s a formula that isn’t used often in anime, but when it’s done right, it can be really rewarding. I’m not sure yet whether Hotel Inhumans will be able to pull it off consistently, but I’m happy to give it a few more weeks at least to see if the underlying story develops into something interesting.
Hotel Inhumans is streaming on Crunchyroll.
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