Director: Kiraro Kosaka

Writer: Reiko Yoshida (Screenplay) Niroko Reijo, Asami (Novel)

Starring: (Voice Talents) Seiran Kobayashi, Nana Mizuki, Satsumi Matsuda, Rina Endo, Etsuko Kozakura

Plot: After losing her parents in a car accident, Okko starts living in the countryside with her grandmother who runs a traditional Japanese inn. While she prepares to be the next owner of the inn, Okko can somehow see friendly ghosts.

Runtime: 1 Hour 34 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Story: Okko’s Inn starts when young girl Seki Oriko, or Okko for short loses her parents in a car accident, forcing her to move in with her grandmother in her welcoming Inn. Okko is lined up to become the junior innkeeper.

Okko finds herself meeting Uri-bo a ghost that lives in the inn, one that used to be a friend with her grandmother, when they were young. She soon starts meeting another ghost Miyo who is the older sister of her rival, as she learns how to make people happy in their stay, while dealing with her own trauma.

Thoughts on Okko’s Inn

Characters – Okko is a recently orphaned young girl that must move in with her grandmother, an innkeeper in the city. Okko becomes a junior innkeeper, where she starts to meet ghosts around the area, ones that will guide her, as she learns what the importance of an Innkeeper is, facing the grief, she hasn’t let out yet. Okko is such a beautifully written character, one that will be showing us just how difficult it would be to lose their family. She is filled with the positive attitude to help the guests along the way, with how she deals with problems. Uri-bo, Miyo and Suzuki are different spirits that visit Okko, that will help for, guide her through the next most difficult part of her life.

Story – The story here follows a young girl who gets orphaned and finds new hope with her grandmother as a junior innkeeper. The grieving process for this character is different to anything we have seen before, showing us that we could see the goodness in someone motivating them to improve everyone around him. We do get to dive into cultural learning, as Okko hasn’t always known about the importance of this position and must learn just how much it means to the community around her. There will be an emotional gut punch in the end, as we see she deals with the change all together.

Themes – Okko’s Inn is a beautifully drawn out animation, that shows the compact lives next to the cultural importance of the area, the different shades for the ghosts, show us just how important there wait has been in life too.