For Akino it’s a big step: measuring up to the impeccable customer service standards at the prestigous Hokkyaoko Department Store, where she is their newest concierge, tasked with ensuring that each client leaves the building satisfied, no matter how demanding his/her expectations. And one more thing, the store’s caters exclusively to animals, including (the VIPs) extinct species…
Yoshimi Itazu’s lighthearted anime is a wry look at the best — and worst — aspects of a career in the service industry.
With a lively, expressive art style and wonderfully absurd characters, The Concierge’s little vignettes, and low-stakes affairs paint an enthralling picture of the Hokkyokku Department Store’s fantastical ecosystem and a more far-reaching commentary on humanity’s relationship with ecosystems in the real world. Through its light and adorable premise, The Concierge smuggles in a rather tragic environmentalist message, but not at the expense of its incredibly well-crafted gags.
Kambole Campbell, IGN
The Concierge is a wonderfully animated film. While the character designs are simple and only lightly detailed, for the most part, the fluid and expressive animation makes them come alive. Meanwhile, the department store is highly detailed in nearly every aspect, making it appear as the magical, high-class store it’s supposed to be in the eyes of its visitors.
Richard Eisenbeis, Anime News Network
Yoshimi Itazu
Natsumi Kawaida, Takeo Otsuka, Kenjiro Tsuda
Japan
2023
In Japanese with English subtitles
Book Tickets
Indigenous & Community Access
Indigenous Access Tickets Community Access Tickets Ticket Donation Requests
Also Playing
That They May Face the Rising Sun
John and Kate have moved from London to a farm in Ireland, to the bemusement of the locals. This lyrical Irish reverie taps deep wells of feeling in the stuff of everyday life.
Secret Mall Apartment
The stranger-than-fiction true story of a group of artists who built and furnished a hidden apartment inside a mall, remaining undetected for years. This is an absurdly fun and surprisingly profound film about gentrification and art.
The Encampments
When pro-Palestine protests took hold of Columbia last year, the filmmakers were there from the beginning. This documentary charts the mounting tensions between students and the administration, as the protests were picked up across North America.
The Teacher
In this potent thriller, English teacher Basem witnesses the murder of a teenager by a Israeli settler. While the subsequent investigation rolls slowly towards a foregone conclusion, the teacher is caught up in a parallel kidnapping case...