Apocalypse Hotel

Episode 5

They may have beaten and eaten a sandworm, but it's time for the Gingarou Hotel to face an even more formidable foe: fermentation. It's no surprise that this week's episode is much smaller in both scale and scope than last week's. That was a wild swing that paid off beautifully, but Apocalypse Hotel's main concerns are more down-to-earth. That doesn't make them any less important. This week's narrative provides a perfect example of how one seemingly small problem can require decades of commitment to solve.

A hotel is, from a certain perspective, a refuge. Lodging is a basic need while traveling, but a hotel provides a necessarily different experience than one's home. Therefore, it opens up the possibility to think and behave as one normally wouldn't at their domicile. It's a chance to get away from it all. That's why alcohol can be so important—it's an enabler for that sense of freedom. While Apocalypse Hotel shows us an extreme case with the Prociones abusing that privilege to get soused until it becomes their new normal, the new guests provide a more typical case study. They arrive rude and absorbed in each other, but at the bar, they the merriment and make friends with the tanuki and the staff alike.

That party is an expression of the motto used for this week's episode title: “provide unlimited hospitality in a limited time.” Contained within it is the fundamental paradox of the service industry, but Gingarou's eccentric owner takes that as a challenge. Yachiyo's memories of him have been consistently rose-colored, and one has to wonder how much of that is her programming. At the same time, he's undeniably charismatic, and his lofty ambitions are an appropriate metaphor for humanity's restlessness.

Similarly, the whisky isn't just whisky. It's a layered symbol, and the episode spells out some of those layers directly. For one, it's the owner's legacy. After each batch, the gang samples a little bit of their original bottle to tweak their recipe closer to its taste, which is a beautiful little summation of time's effect on all human creations. We all have nostalgia for a past that is itself laden with unrealized dreams. I don't think humanity will ever be able to escape that. What we can control, however, is whether to channel that energy and longing into something constructive. Yachiyo doesn't let her memories of the owner stop them from utilizing every drop of that bottle, even though their new whisky brand will never be a perfect facsimile of the old one. What's most important in her eyes is the owner's intentions, and in that regard, their brew is the best inheritor he could hope for.

The whisky also represents uncertainty. When they start brewing, nobody knows what they're doing, and the first batch is merely functional. They have to recruit more help and more expertise before they begin to close the gap between the taste of the old and the taste of the new. However, they can never fully control the outcome. Fermentation is a natural process, and we can't forecast nature with 100% accuracy. Humans didn't and couldn't foresee their own extinction. The Gingarou Hotel doesn't know which alien species will walk through its door next. There's fear and excitement alike in the unknown. Whether or not a bottle of whisky will taste good is unimportant in the grand scheme of things, but it's beholden to the same fundamental forces.

Moreover, Apocalypse Hotel argues that such uncertainty should be celebrated. Yachiyo delivers her most important line of dialogue this week when she tells the lady alien amoeba the following: “I believe that being able to never stop changing is a wonderful trait.” It's not merely the fact that everything changes. It's the fact that everything can't help but change. Orb framed this theme in of scientific advancement, positing that it was a fundamental part of humankind to question and grow throughout one's life, as well as through generations beyond. This week, Apocalypse Hotel touches upon similar territory. Humanity may be gone, but its legacy of striving for more, even when it's inconvenient, lives on. Yachiyo and the rest of the hotel denizens are our inheritors. That's a more radical change than a pair of parents giving birth to a child, but it's a change nonetheless. That's life. The clock keeps ticking.

Yachiyo changes in other less metaphorical ways this week, too—and yes, I'm talking about her growing several cup sizes after downing some whisky. I know I tend to wax poetic on themes and characters in these reviews, but I'd be remiss to ignore how funny this anime continues to be. Yachiyo's achievement awards are the most delightfully unpredictable parts, and that unpredictability is especially relevant to the themes this week. The canoodling noodly aliens are fun to watch, and I like the contrast of their strange designs against their very human-like behavior. Ponko, as always, is a gift. Her swiftly waning enthusiasm after being brushed off by the new guests is relatable, and I like how she can play the straight man in response to the rest of her family's antics. I feel bad about how hard I laughed in response to the thousand-yard stare she developed after her mother confessed to her that she was an alcohol-induced accident. And I think Apocalypse Hotel's real magic is that it can craft a scene like that without it feeling mean.

This anime has barbs, though. It's just sneaky about it. For example, think about the timeline. Every so often, a character will remark that a hundred years have ed, or in this episode's case, Yachiyo is upfront about the amount of work and waiting required to make and refine whisky. These characters have aged decades in the span of this one episode. Robots and tanuki aliens have considerably more longevity than human beings, but they aren't immortal either. Yachiyo reminds us again of the many robots that went out of commission trying to find a hot spring. While the writing's sense of humor is infectious, I don't think it will conclude before it makes me bawl my eyes out at least once.

My final takeaway from this episode is that it's been years since I've sat down with a nice single malt scotch or whisky, and I might have to indulge in that this weekend. Usually, when I say an anime drives me to drink, it's not a compliment, but there are exceptions to every rule.

Rating:

Apocalypse Hotel is currently streaming on Crunchyroll on Tuesdays.

Steve is on This Week in Anime.