FiFirechick12012
November 28, 2024
Mixed Feelings
One of the reasons I love anime so much is that Japan is totally okay with allowing any ideas to become reality? Want a story about children bonding with cute monsters and saving the world? We have a bunch of them right here? Want to play a video game about a little boy spending summer in the countryside doing nothing but catching bugs, exploring, swimming, and making fun memories? Sure, go nuts! Want an anime about girls who sing to heal people's injuries and illnesses? Who cares if it sounds stupid, let's greenlight it! So yeah, not all anime, manga, or games just consist ofshounen series that go on for hundreds of episodes and have nothing but flashy fights. Anime is well known by many for its abundance of ideas, crazy and mundane. But whether you're able to execute an idea well is another story. One such story, The Concierge, completely runs with a fun idea and commits to it, which is all well and good...but one part it doesn't do all that well unfortunately really hinders it from being anything other than just okay.
At the Hokkyoku Department Store, animals of all shapes and sizes can shop for whatever their hearts desire—everything from gifts for family members to gourmet dinners. Extinct animals in particular are considered VIPs deserving of the absolute best of the best in terms of service. Yet, what makes this store so great is not just its wide selection of items but its astounding customer service. Beyond the clerks working at each shop, the department store itself features several highly-trained concierges who strive to make each and every customer's experience a pleasurable one. But does Akino, the newest concierge at the store, have what it takes to help all her animal clients with their myriad of problems, or will she be searching for a new job?
Based on the two-volume manga by Tsuchika Nishimura, The Concierge is an equally short one hour movie showing Akino's experiences in her new job at a luxury department store and all that it entails. Not gonna lie, the setting is definitely the most interesting thing about the movie. A department store that caters to animal clients, with extinct ones receiving the VIP treatment is a really interesting idea, one that both tickles your imagination and raises a lot of questions. How were these animals even brought back to life if they're clients at the store? Is this some sort of universe where some kind of science managed to bring them back? How are they able to talk? What's the department store's history with extinct animals? All we really know about the store is that it's run by a Great Auk and that said Great Auk's family founded it around the time of the species' extinction. I really want to know more about this weird setting! The extinct animal angle also adds to just how delicate being a concierge at the store is, as Akino has to be careful not to step on any of her smaller patrons, who happen to be smaller animals like birds or raccoons, and considering how clumsy she is...yeah, she's got her work cut out for her.
Not to mention the animation for this movie is just fantastic. 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, really making it appear as the magical, high-class store it's supposed to be in the eyes of its visitors. One thing I do appreciate about The Concierge as a movie is that it doesn't follow your typical first/middle/third act structure. It's more like a series of vignettes, each of which revolve around Akino helping a customer either find an item they need or just help with their issues. These are cute and enjoyable—relating to things like connecting with family, finding love, and dealing with the lingering pain of loved ones long gone. Moreover, there is a strong animal conservation message woven throughout as many of the animals shown are extinct—and by human hands at that. The soundtrack is also pretty nice, even if it's not all that memorable. I do help this tofubeats person/group (There isn't much info about them) gets to do more work outside of this and ClassicaLoid, as I'd love to hear more of their stuff.
So yeah, this movie has a unique setting, great animation, a lovely soundtrack, and strong themes about both animal conversation and what it truly means to provide good customer service. I'd have enjoyed this movie a whole lot more...if every character wasn't a one-note stereotype. Seriously, all of the characters in this movie are either just so bland, forgettable, and uninteresting, or rely on their gimmick way too much. Akino herself is your typical overly kind yet perpetually clumsy girl who can never seem to go a day without messing something up, and is so spineless that she literally lets people walk all over her. Hell, when a monk seal Karen (Yes, really) gets mad at her over the store not having a dress in a certain size and openly expressing that she sees store staff as little more than servants, Akino literally gets on her knees and apologizes to her when the fault isn't even hers, allowing herself to be humiliated just before a coworker steps in. Like...girl, put your foot down! Grow a back bone! You shouldn't have to prostrate yourself to a customer just because they're butthurt over an item being out of stock! Not only that, I really didn't like that Todo guy, as he spends all his time being a ridiculously overbearing micromanaging manager who does nothing but berate Akino for every mistake she makes no matter how small, and the few times he does praise her don't amount to much. Is it any wonder she's always so nervous? Hell, one character pops up in the last third of the movie just to tell Akino she sucks at her job and then disappears. I feel like this guy was just shoehorned into the movie for forced third act drama.
Another thing I didn't like about the movie is that all of its problems are solved in ways that feel way too clean and neat. Need a perfume that was discontinued years ago? Well, the former head of the department store oh so conveniently managed to find said perfume after making some calls and reaching out to certain people! Need to actually identify this perfume? Let's have this random bear do it! A kid broke a super expensive ice sculpture that can never be replaced? It's fine, the kid made a cake for the sculptor and all is forgiven! Also, this series seems to believe that a concierge should always strive for perfection and be some sort of magical therapist who manages to solve everyone's issues. I admit, I know little about the hospitality industry and how hard it can be, but there really needs to be some kind of line drawn here. There's showing what it's like to work in the hospitality industry, and then there's idealizing it, and I don't think The Concierge does enough of the former, preferring to do too much of the latter, the aforementioned monk seal Karen notwithstanding. There's also the fact that the movie is only an hour long, and I feel like it would have benefited from being just a bit longer so it could flesh out its characters a bit more. Maybe the manga has more details that the anime left out, I don't know.
Man, it's a shame I couldn't enjoy this movie more, as there is quite a bit to like about it. It fully commits to its crazy idea and has fun with it, and the animators did a fantastic job of bringing the manga to life in ways only they could. It's a nice, cozy movie to watch if you want to kill an hour, but pretty animation can't hide the fact that its cast of characters are as bland and dull as white rice, nor fix it. It's a light-hearted look at the service industry that doesn't break any new ground...but that's all it is.
