Apocalypse Hotel
Entry updated 28 July 2025. Tagged: TV.
Japanese animated tv series (2025). CygamesPictures. Directed by Kana Shundo. Written by Shigeru Murakoshi. Voice cast includes Chō, Hina Kino, Shin-ichiro Miki, Sumire Morohoshi, Saho Shirasu and Kazuhiro Yamaji. Twelve 23-minute episodes. Colour
It is 2057 and the promotional video for Tokyo's Gingarou Hotel, early adopters of hotelier Robots, is increasingly intercut with the news story of a virus, first reported in Mexico, that first kills off apes, then spreads to humans and seemingly all other primates. Initially people are instructed to wear protective masks outdoors (see Pandemic), but the situation worsens. Directly breathing untreated air is deemed unsafe; shelters Under the Sea and in space are constructed, then "interstellar arks" (see Generation Starships). Waves of people leave the Earth, though later we see signs that many were left behind to die. After a century there are no more humans on the planet (see Disaster), Cities are overgrown and non-primate life thrives in a Pastoral Post-Holocaust landscape.
Meanwhile, at the Gingarou Hotel the routines of the robots continue despite the absence of guests; however, the status quo is not sustained as robots break down and there are no spare parts, so – as per hotel regulations – they are considered to be on "indefinite leave". Currently there are ten active robots, led by acting manager Yachiyo (Shirasu), the only remaining Android; they eagerly await humanity's return and their first guest for what would be decades. Then one arrives, an Alien. There are Communication difficulties and its behaviour is puzzling; paying the bill is also a problem, so Yachiyo collects some money from the ruins of a nearby bank. The alien also gives her a phial with something organic inside, some of which gets into a lake. A brash Environmental Checker Robot (Miki) turns up and reveals it has been sending thousands of environmental reports into space, but for the last few decades humanity has not been replying.
50 years later, more guests arrive: a Spaceship crashes, a human-like family climbs out and the father, Bumbuku (Chō) declares: "We are Earthlings, take us to your leader." Each family member claims to be an Earthling, except the youngest who calls himself a Tanukian and has forgotten to tuck away his tail. Yachiyo is initially oblivious and delighted; Environmental Checker Robot – who has remained – is suspicious. They are indeed Tanukians, who can Shapeshift but whose natural appearance is racoon-like (though from this point they usually keep their human-with-tail look). They are refugees, their fluency in Japanese a result of finding an Earth spaceship en route; Yachiyo happily infers the people on board were alive and, out of kindness, the Tanukians do not disillusion her.
Desertification is encroaching into the city, seemingly caused by a giant worm resembling those in Frank Herbert's Dune (fixup 1965) and Tremors (1989). Ponko (Morohoshi), the Tanukian daughter who now works at the hotel, recognizes it as a Nudel, which destroy every planet they infest (they are perhaps engaged in Xenoforming); they manage to kill it. Meanwhile, more alien guests arrive, some because the very first had spoken highly of the hotel. Another, Harmy (Yamaji) – a cat-like kangaroo in Powered Armour – has come to end all civilization on Earth, but Yachiyo points out there is no civilization to end, so he becomes a guest. During his stay Harmy helpfully kills all the other Nudel on the planet and defeats some alien Superheroes seeking him. When asked why he destroys civilizations he explains that he has seen the consequences of their unbridled progress (the mass murder this implies is not addressed); on departing he says to Yachiyo, "Build a civilization that will make me want to come back and destroy it." (Ponko suspects romance.) Ponko is a graduate in space engineering and persuades Yachiyo the hotel should be defended by an armed satellite (see Weapons). Yachiyo, needing no weighty life support equipment, goes into space to set thus up, but a solar flare causes problems and she ends episode 7 adrift in space. Episode 8 opens with Ponko as acting manager. Decades later Yachiyo falls from space in a meteor shower and Ponko restores her, albeit now with a miniature tank instead of legs and pincers for hands. Yachiyo finds the hotel now has many alien guests and is self-sufficient; she undergoes a personal crisis, pimps her ride (the tank) and has a rebellious phase, with Ponko having to battle her in a Mecha, but they reconcile and Yachiyo goes back to her old job, eventually having her limbs restored. In the largely reflective episode 11, Yachiyo is persuaded to take the day off and wanders the city; asked how it went she replies, "I felt alive."
In the season finale, the human Tomari Iori (Kino) arrives. She is from a fleet of interstellar arks which have been searching for habitable planets (see Colonization of Other Worlds); none suitable have been found, so she has been sent to find out if Earth is now free of the virus: the Environmental Checker Robot confirms it is – killed off by vegetation that grew from the phial left by the first visiting alien. Tomari removes her helmet, but collapses shortly after – the virus has gone, but she has had an allergic reaction to Earth's atmosphere, with which humanity – after centuries living in enclosed arks – is no longer compatible. Yachiyo points out that they can still visit, albeit in their hermetically sealed suits, like guests to a hotel.
The robots are conscious (see AI) but initially limited by their programming: Yachiyo gives the same staff speech every morning for decades about fully expecting a human guest that day. But that routine is broken by the arrival of, and her interactions with, aliens (particularly Ponko and her family); individualization (see Identity) results, so much so that when the first human does arrive it is an anticlimax: Tomari is essentially another alien, no better, no worse. Apocalypse Hotel argues we should accept change and treat people as if they were, metaphorically, guests in our hotel – the financial aspect being irrelevant due to the hotel's self-sufficiency and the money from the bank piled up on the reception desk to pay the bills (see Economics; Politics). An analogy with refugees is also implicit. Though it takes a little while to find its feet, particularly the Humour, once up and running this Anime establishes itself as a very good and enjoyable work, tonally varied from farce (see Absurdist SF) to reflectiveness. As for influences, it might be significant that the English subtitles to a news headline in episode 1 read "Lem receives Fiasco science award". [SP]
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