One of the most delightful moments in Production I.G.’s feature-length anime movie The Concierge involves a very nervous ferret businessman wearing a wee little suit. He’s visiting a fancy department store, because he’s entertaining two of his company’s most prestigious clients: a tiny owl and his wife, both wearing smart jackets for their shopping trip. Mr. Ferret wants to show them a good time, since the owl could give his company some good work. So he enlists the help of the department store’s newest concierge, a human who must crouch down in order to see eye-to-eye with the small animals.
Seeing a cute animal fretting about such a human concern is so endearing — as is the fact that the concierge is bending over backwards (sometimes literally) to help out a tiny ferret. And that isn’t even the most special element of this movie, which will be in American theaters for one day only, on Sept. 11.
Based on Tsuchika Nishimura’s manga series The Concierge at Hokkyoku Department Store, The Concierge was adapted for the screen by director Yoshimi Itazu (The Deer King) and screenwriter Satomi Ôshima (Fortune Favors Lady Nikuko). The setup is simple: A young woman named Akino (Natsumi Kawaida) becomes a concierge for a department store that caters to animals. Her job involves making sure all of the customers’ needs are met — especially the Very Important Animal customers, creatures that are extinct in the wild, like sea minks and Japanese wolves. Akino is determined to do a good job, but she’s anxious about the possibility of messing up.
If you’re looking for some deeper explanation for why these animals wear clothes and conduct themselves like humans, don’t bother. The movie includes some ruminations on how lonely some of the extinct animals must be, and how the department store exists as a refuge for them, but there’s no significant world-building or information about how the rest of this world works. That’s entirely OK, though, because it’s such a sublime world to witness as it unfolds on screen.
The animation is simple and colorful, really emphasizing the animal characters’ distinct shapes and design. They all have unique ways of moving and interacting with the setting, from the great auk who requires a little push so he can slide across the glistening floors to the giant woolly mammoth whose heft makes the elevator run slower. Akino makes sure to bend down to talk to the smaller animals, especially after a disastrous moment during her first day, where she almost steps on a few of the store’s tiniest customers, including a mole, a bunny, and a mama duck with her ducklings.
The movie is episodic, with Akino helping different animal customers and bouncing around the department store. But there’s more connective thread than just some stitched-up episodes or chapters, especially as Akino grows more self-assured and uses what she’s learned from previous clients to help her new ones.
Seeing Akino’s confidence blossom throughout the movie is gratifying. And as she grows into her role, she’s more emboldened about really connecting with her clients. There’s a soft plot thread about interpersonal (inter… animal?) connection weaving throughout The Concierge; it’s subtle at first, but by the time the movie finishes, it’s at the forefront, a slow build of emotions that all coalesces wonderfully at the end. It’s a heartwarming, surprisingly poignant, movie that also makes its point by putting a variety of animals into natty human clothes.
Crunchyroll will premiere The Concierge in American theaters for a one-day-only special showing on Sept. 11. Polygon will update this post when Crunchyroll announces a streaming date for the movie.
Source：https://www.polygon.com/anime/449553/concierge-movie-review-release-date
