Tasokare Hotel

Episode 8

Atori had his jazz mentor, Ruri had her surrogate mother figure, and now Neko has one of her (literal) idols walking through the doors of the hotel. She isn't going to let her lack of penlight stop her from geeking out to her little wota heart's content. While I'm happy for her, I can't say the same about this episode. It's a step back that meanders too long without ever finding its footing.

I can't write up this installment without getting into the fact that it's only the first part of a multi-episode story. This isn't a problem on its own—plenty of narratives need longer than 20 minutes to properly develop themselves. However, Tasokare Hotel has not convinced me that this is one of those narratives. This episode feels slower than the previous couple, and that's buoyed by its lack of forward momentum. Even though Neko's defining character trait is that she's a proud idol otaku, her connection to Kaneko is more specious than Atori's or Ruri's to their guests of the week. There's no emotional payoff, so this episode falls flat. Furthermore, Tasokare Hotel doesn't even attempt to come up with a proper cliffhanger or transition to the next half. It's like they wrote a two-parter and cleaved it in twain with the roughest axe they could find.

While Kaneko is a guest with potential, I don't believe this episode utilizes it. In fact, it goes out of its way to undermine some of that potential. For example, it's interesting that she arrives with her head intact. That's a first for the audience, and it opens up questions about the hotel that we previously took for granted. However, Atori's routine explanation deflates that mystery, and her “strong sense of self” doesn't play into the episode's later developments. It's a missed opportunity to throw a curveball at the audience, which is a particular shame when Tasokare Hotel's library of pitches is already looking small and predictable.

Tasokare Hotel's attempts to engage with idol culture are also surface-level. It's 2025, and everyone knows that the idol industry is just another arm of the entertainment industry, privy to both its excesses and its foibles. We've all watched Oshi no Ko. Thankfully, the show is at least semi-aware of this, because Neko doesn't act scandalized that one of her idols is dealing with serious personal demons. Kaneko suffers from bulimia and abuses sleeping pills. Those are real issues. However, the episode just drops that information and doesn't really confront her or do anything with it, so it comes across as poorly thought-out shock value. Maybe the next episode will confront Kaneko's depression and psychological hangups more earnestly, but I have to work with what it gives me this week.

My favorite scene is the short yet unsettling conversation between Neko and Masaki, where he gives her the “we're not so different, you and I…” speech. Yes, this is a cliché, but the context gives it more bite here. I think Masaki might be onto something. Neko's behavior as part of the hotel staff has, at times, been marked by a profound emotional distance. She's taken a lot of wild (and occasionally awful) developments in stride, like that time the gates of hell devoured a guest while she just kinda shrugged her shoulders. I had been chalking this up to awkward character writing, but if Tasokare Hotel is legitimately interested in exploring whether or not Neko is a sociopath, then I'm willing to meet it halfway. Honestly, I'd love for Masaki to be the Hannibal to her Will Graham. At least that wouldn't be boring!

Back to reality, though, I'm left not knowing where this arc intends to go, and I don't feel very compelled to find out either. Neko's plan to put on a concert feels half-baked because it's only half-done by the time we hit the credits. There are threads leading to next week—Atori has to get over his sax hangups, someone has to solve the mystery of the missing staff schedule, and we need to find out why that one guy is such an asshole to Kaneko. However, what I want to know is how Kaneko's character arc and resolution will inform Neko's. That's the most important thing for Tasokare Hotel to pull off, and I hope it's more focused on that next week.

Rating:

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