Tasokare Hotel

Episodes 1-3

On the border between life and death lies a hotel surrounded by a wasteland and bathed in the orange glow of twilight. You must recall your name and your circumstances before you can leave. You may die or continue your life, perhaps a little wiser. Rooms are free, but they do not have Wi-Fi. Good luck.

Tasokare Hotel is an anime adaptation of a game with the same name. While I've never played it, it is a visual novel with point-and-click adventure or escape room elements. That certainly falls in line with the setup described in the anime, where each hotel guest checks into a room modeled after their missing memories, and by finding the trinkets hidden in them, they piece their identity back together. This adaptation isn't averse to those game-derived elements, either. At one point, our heroine Neko picks up such an item, and it plays a little “you found the thing!” jingle. That's cute.

However, playing an adventure game is a vastly different experience than watching someone else play through one. I'm thinking of Kōtarō Uchikoshi's 999. You could turn that into an anime, but you'd have to be extremely careful about doing so. Without getting into spoilers, while it has a great story and eclectic cast, much of 999's impact comes through one's individual experience of working through its puzzles and similarly labyrinthine plot. It's about reaching those “aha!” moments yourself. That's the stuff that makes your brain feel good. An anime wouldn't be able to replicate that, so it would instead need to rely on the strengths of animation and present the story in a unique and standalone way.

Tasokare Hotel has yet to rise to the occasion of translating its game into an anime. It's an adaptation with some potential but a paltry amount of punch. Most of that lack stems from its visuals, which I would describe as profoundly sauceless. It looks flat and generic. The storyboards aren't adventurous and the direction is boilerplate. Just take note of how many shots are of a character speaking at eye level with the camera. It's not bad, but it's merely functional. That's not surprising if we look at the staff. This is Kōsuke Kuremizu's first credit as a series director and he only has a handful of prior key animation credits to round out his resume. It's instructive to compare the show with its OP, where more seasoned artists like Goichi Iwahata and Dashi Katō can put together a more eye-catching tableau.

It also doesn't help Tasokare Hotel that its premise has so much overlap with the critical darling Death Parade. I don't even think Death Parade fully utilized its potential, but that's a show that had style and substance to spare. Tasokare Hotel further exacerbates this contrast by leading with the worst episode of this opening trio. I can imagine this plotline works better in game form, where the comprehensive rollout of the hotel, its employees, and its mechanics don't need to be attached to the most compelling mystery because the main concern is orienting the player. However, the anime audience doesn't get much to latch onto. We learn that Neko is an idol otaku and that the other guest likes fortune-telling more than she likes Twitch streamers. It's not exactly edge-of-your-seat entertainment.

It's a shame that Tasokare Hotel gets off on the wrong foot, too, because I'm serious about it having potential. I like the setting a lot. The fin de siècle style of the hotel is distinctly anachronistic, and its location in the middle of proverbial (and purgatorial) nowhere adds to the surrealism of the series' basic conceit. Death Parade worked in a similar aesthetic space but Tasokare Hotel is more whimsical about it. I also like some of the character designs. It's cute that the manager's flaming head changes colors like a mood ring. The random items standing in for new guests' heads are a cool visual concept. And hottest of all, bartender Menou is a flapper with ibex horns poking out of her hat. That's an A+ character design.

The second and third episodes are also more interesting than the first—although I wouldn't call them exceptional. The gambler in episode 2 extracts a modest amount of pathos out of his downward spiral and relationship with his mom, and the killer in episode 3 lets us see firsthand that the hotel works on morally neutral ground. The latter story is the best Tasokare Hotel has shown us, even if the mystery element left a lot to be desired. It's obvious from the onset that Masaki is a bad guy, but it's more important that the hotel doesn't care about judging or punishing him for his earthly misdeeds. Only killing the hotel staff will merit a condemnation to hell. Otherwise, the hotel functions as a metaphysical space bridging life and death. I hope the show explores that neutrality further—and Masaki joining the staff should facilitate that.

Other mysteries about the hotel's origins and functions are still at large, but those remain a background concern. I can't say that Tasokare Hotel is interesting enough to justify following purely for the potential of later developments. However, it might be good enough for some light weekly offbeat mystery vibes. Its relatively unique concept helps it stand out from the seasonal crowd, and its characters have been growing on me. “Good enough” isn't high praise, but sometimes I need a solid 6/10 anime to chill with. That's why I'm not in any hurry to check out of Tasokare Hotel.

Episode 1 Rating:

Episode 2 Rating:

Episode 3 Rating:

Steve is on Bluesky now. He can check out of social media any time, but he can never leave. You can also catch him chatting about trash and treasure alike on This Week in Anime.