Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I thought we’d head downtown and check out the Gingarou Hotel, which I hear has recently expanded its clientele base and diversified its catering options. With the addition of Ponko and her chaotic companions, Apocalypse Hotel has bloomed into a delightful found family drama, expanding beyond the gags and melancholy of its opening act through the strength of Ponko and Yachiyo’s relationship.
Our last episode was a clear standout, as the pair were forced to square off with a gargantuan space worm in order to protect the earth’s fragile ecosystem. With lots of dynamic storyboarding and flourishes of animation, the episode was likely the most visually ambitious so far, while also furthering Yachiyo and Ponko’s collective interrogation of what it means to be human. Yachiyo’s directives are essentially the end result of thousands of years of attempted coexistence, the guard rails placed atop a presumed understanding of what we owe to each other – now, with Ponko at her side, the two are steadily filling in that underlying sense of collective responsibility. Let’s see how their journey fares as we return to the Gingarou!
Episode 5
Our cold open offers a tempting allusion to some upcoming event, as the clock strikes eight and Ponko reflects on all the hardships they’ve overcome
This OP is definitely growing on me. Love all the unique dances for each member of Ponko’s family, and that vertical pan at the end is a remarkable cut, given how much the camera’s perspective is shifting relative to Yachiyo’s continuous dance
Ooh, lovely establishing shot, panning down as a shooting star crosses behind the Gingarou. In spite of the night scenery, the colors are warm and inviting, and there’s a welcome sense of uneven texture to these buildings. In this age where backgrounds and layouts have largely surrendered to the convenience of CG, it’s nice to see such care taken in setting the scenery
“No guests today either.” Unsurprisingly, Ponko is a bit less patient than Yachiyo regarding their once-a-century bookings. I suppose that too is something Ponko can teach Yachiyo about being human: how swiftly our lives progress, and how fleeting everything feels as a result
But what’s this? Two guests arrive, both of them looking like giant amoebas! Nice gag of them being gendered by color-coding, with the blue one bearing a briefcase and pink one a purse
“We offer our beloved Gingarou our heartfelt Gingarou and our brightest Gingarou!” Ponko offers a Nisio Isin greeting
Apparently the guest from the second episode recommended this place. Word is spreading in the galactic community!
I appreciate that we’ve shifted from waiting for humanity to return to accepting that humanity is probably over, but that might not be so bad. Frankly seems like an appropriate concession for our modern age
Apparently Ponko taught Yachiyo all the standard space languages
A fresh disaster – Ponko’s family has drunk all the hotel’s alcohol! “I apologize for my family of alcoholic dranukis” is a fantastic translation
My god, Ponko’s look of disdain is so good. Her malleable face is an incredible boon to this production
“We really do need alcohol!” “That’s right Ponko – without it, you wouldn’t have been born!” My god these tanukis
Ponko finds one more display bottle of scotch, but Yachiyo says they can’t use that one, as it’s the owner’s bottle. Still holding out hope in spite of it all – or at least, if she’s accepted that the owner is not returning, she still wants to maintain these talismans to remember him by. The one hope all of these employees can share; even if they’re gone, they will not be forgotten
Rather than searching for alcohol in a wider radius, Yachiyo says they’ll make their own. A hopeful framing – they’re not simply scavenging the embers of the past, they’re building a foundation for an enduring future. Of, you know, getting drunk
“I want to get smashed soon.” “Well, you can get smashed in a hundred years or so.”
“It has to be whisky, or all of this will be pointless.” Still driven by her loyalty to the owner. But an inherited dream is far better than no dream at all!
Nice flourish of the owner pushing his desk clock forward an hour to justify his glass of whisky. A very human gesture, one of those little lies we’re always telling ourselves
Yachiyo pours out drinks from the owner’s bottle to demonstrate the flavor she is seeking. As with the shift from scavenging for alcohol to making her own, it’s a choice that emphasizes her looking towards the future, bringing the owner’s dream to life rather than preserving a small fragment of it in this one bottle
Fun variation on a montage sequence as the family gathers ingredients, conveyed as chibi forms marching across Yachiyo’s powerpoint presentation. As economical as it is charming
More lovely painted textures as the group marvel at their distillery. The quality of background art feels particularly significant for this show, which is generally so preoccupied with managing the little background details of the hotel experience. In order to marvel at your handiwork, you have to depict handiwork worth marveling at!
As one might expect, their first stab at distilling whisky results in something that’s perfectly drinkable, but no real comparison to the owner’s private stash. As the owner said, all the effort in the world won’t necessarily ensure an ideal result – but it’s certainly better to be putting in that effort than languishing, and every failed attempt brings you closer to success
Thus they add peat to their second attempt, sourcing it from way up in Hokkaido. As the owner said, the important thing is that you have a goal, not that you necessarily achieve it – for in setting yourself to a long-term task, you will inevitably find new sources of motivation, new insights that draw you further along your journey
Yachiyo with her post-liquor kissable lips feels like a jump scare every goddamn time. This gag has definitely gotten stronger the more it’s repeated with no attention drawn to it
Nice visual refrain of the owner’s bottle steadily depleting as they work to establish their own flavor. The past may slip further and further into memory, but that’s only a tragedy if it’s not inspiring future creations. As Yachiyo seeks her own flavor of whisky, she becomes less reliant on this link to the owner
“It’ll take a few years… maybe even a few decades. And we have no idea how it will taste.” “It’s exciting, isn’t it?” With such a clear goal in mind, the endless road towards the future becomes a source of hope rather than despair. They’re in a far better place than where they started this episode, when they were simply waiting for a new guest to arrive and give their lives meaning again
Thus we at last return to the taste-testing of the cold open
“Time has its own hues, I see.” There is a fundamental difference between whisky you’ve purchased and whisky you’ve produced, as it goes for all things. Effort is a sweet flavor in its own right
“We finished off the owner’s whisky, huh?” “It’s all right. Because this whisky has inherited his dream.”
Thus Yachiyo is prepped to pour a glass for our poor amoeba, who apparently broke up with her boyfriend
“Years of my life, wasted.” “Time isn’t something you lose. It changes constantly, and adds layers to your life.”
Oof, the water sweating off this ice like Yachiyo’s tears for her owner. What a final image!
And Done
Damn, that was one hell of an episode! A multilayered reflection on grief and purpose, employing whisky as a flexible stand-in for all sorts of human instincts: our tendency to both venerate and blot out the past, our need to find excuses for connection with others, our tendency to both shed and gain texture through the years, our search for meaning in a world with no inherent reason for our existence. Through whisky, the difference between existing and truly living is made clear in the division between the owner’s old bottle and this family’s fresh creation; and with all those barrels stewing in their distillery, they have gained even more reasons to look forward to the future. There is no inherent meaning in existence, but we sure are good at crafting our own!
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