by The original TV anime “Apocalypse Hotel” aired its final episode on June 24th, with episode 12. This is the second original TV anime from Cygames Pictures, following “Courage Explosion Burn Braveburn”. We bring you an interview with Cygames Pictures’ representative, Takenaka Nobuhiro, and screenwriter Murakoshi Shigeru, conducted just before the final episode aired.
“Apocalypse Hotel” is exciting! My 9-year-old and 8-year-old nephews and 4-year-old niece are also enjoying watching it. My 4-year-old seems to like her especially, saying “Ponko is so cute!”, and my younger nephew was excited when Ponko held a chainsaw in episode 4, saying “Wow, that’s cool!”. Takenaka Nobuhiro (hereinafter Takenaka): That’s good. However, I am concerned that episode 10 might not be perfect for education (laughs).
After episode 10 aired, when I searched for reviews of “Apocalypse Hotel” on X, the word “ethics” was listed a lot (laughs). Murakoshi Shigeru (hereinafter Murakoshi): I’m grateful that you brought that up as well (laughs). I’ll ask you about episode 10 later, but each episode is varied and interesting. Saho Shirasuna, who plays Yachiyo, said that X is a “classic hotel anime,” but as a viewer, there were many moments where I thought, “Huh? What anime was I watching now?” (laughs).
Especially after the monster panic story that paid homage to “Tremors” in episode 4, I got the impression that the genre was changing with each episode. Was that something you were conscious of? Murakoshi: The visuals and direction are compelling, so I can understand why people get that impression. But when I was writing the scenario, I didn’t intend to change the genre. Instead, I talked about each episode with Takenaka and scriptwriter Takataro Wada, starting from the question, “What will happen as a ‘hotel story’?” I see, and each episode has parts that make you think, “I guess this is what hotel work is like.”
For example, in the first episode, the “lack of amenities” of “no shampoo hat” is used as a comedy. The story continues with alien hospitality as the primary focus, and Ponko grows as a hotel employee, so it seems to have kept to its “core” as a “hotel story”. Even so, episode 6 turns into a battle action scene (laughs). Takenaka: But even in episode 6, the primary focus of the story is still “entertaining a guest named Harumage”. We don’t think it’s straying at all from the “classic hotel anime” genre.
