北極百貨店のコンシェルジュさん

HOKKYOKU HYAKKATEN NO CONCIERGE-SAN

MOVIE

MOVIE
Dubbed
SOURCE
MANGA
RELEASE
October 20, 2023
LENGTH
70 min

DESCRIPTION

“The word ‘no’ doesn’t exist in a concierge’s dictionary.”

That’s just one of the demanding rules that Akino must abide by in her new job as a saleswoman at the elegant and expansive Hokkyoku Department Store. It’s a very special store — the customers are all animals, and the most valued among them are of extinct species. Sea minks, laughing owls, Japanese wolves, even an enormous mammoth — that’s Mr. Woolly, the celebrated sculptor whose works are showcased at the store. It’s still a luxury retail space, though, and anxious Akino finds her hands full with the customers’ challenging requests. These range from hard-to-find merchandise to more complicated matters of the heart. Can the inexperienced Akino fulfill their whims and meet their expectations? If she wants to keep her job, she’ll have to succeed while under constant observation by the fussy floor manager Mr. Toudou, a creepy consultant eager to downsize the staff, and the store’s enigmatic president (who is not a penguin, by the way!).

(Source: Fantasia International Film Festival, edited)

CAST

Akino
Natsumi Kawaida
Elulu
Takeo Ootsuka
Woolly
Kenjirou Tsuda
Warai Fukurou Tsuma
Sumi Shimamoto
Barbary Lion
Ayumu Murase
Neko
Sumire Morohoshi
Umibeminku Musume
Minako Kotobuki
Iwase
Natsumi Fujiwara
Warai Fukurou Otto
Danshun Tatekawa
Barbary Lion Kanojo
Emiri Suyama
Gokurakuinko
Risa Shimizu
Maruki
Eiji Yoshitoshi
Umibeminku Chichi
Hiroshi Yanaka
Toudou
Nobuo Tobita
Osukujaku
Hiroki Nanami
Kyuujichou
Jun Fukuyama
Nihon Ookami Kanojo
Kana Hanazawa
Karibu Monkuazarashi
Kyouko Hikami
Mori
Megumi Han
Nihon Ookami
Miyu Irino
Tokiwa
Yuuichi Nakamura
Mesukujaku
Maria Kano

RELATED TO HOKKYOKU HYAKKATEN NO CONCIERGE-SAN

Cover Art for Hokkyoku Hyakkaten no Concierge-san

MANGA FantasyHokkyoku Hyakkaten no Concierge-san

REVIEWS

Mykurr
70/100
Welcome to the Hokkyoku Department Store!
Watching this anime movie makes me believe in the better of people. It conveys the message of how everyone who works all around you, despite the cynical truth of just wanting the paycheck at the end of the day, still wants you to at the very least enjoy yourself. This works really well with the animals being part of the setting as a way to display the harmony of society despite certain animals being shaped differently and in size, even accounting that some are natural predators to others. The Concierge is essentially the story of Akino as she begins her job as a concierge in-training, and from this we get to see her slowly get better at her job in entertaining customers. Being able to see her overcome trials and tribulations is just incredibly uplifting and makes it so you really want to root for her in becoming a competent concierge.

What is most likely to hook someone in watching the movie has to be the Hokkyoku Department store itself though, with its colorful cast of animal customers each with their own quirky personalities and wants in arriving at the department store. The highlights of this movie has to be in learning what their problems are and seeing how Akino can help in resolving them, creating this believable environment of a location you want to visit yourself. There was also some grand message about the reason of the Hokkyoku Department Store existing and its ties to the extinction of many animals with a lot of plot points meaning to parallel to real life events but I’ll be honest, I’m no expert in all that but it's definitely interesting to follow especially if you’re knowledgeable on the topic.

Being a feature film, the movie boasts a presentation befitting of its scope. The department store is portrayed beautifully with its bright yet warm colors, and every sector of the building feels incredibly distinct especially the interior of the individual stores. The character designs for the animals make each one distinct from each other which made it easy to differentiate even with the same species, but were also very close to the actual depiction of the animal without resorting too far in anthropomorphizing them. The human characters were also great with their designs really highlighting each personality quirk a person had which can be best seen with how stern the floor manager was and how his figure depicted that. Sound design was also great with a fitting soundtrack exemplifying all of Akino's struggles and solutions in balancing to please her clientele.

Overall the movie was simply entertaining on the base level and is a very comfortable seventy minutes in getting lost in a fantastic imagining of a Department Store following Akino’s struggles. Since it ran for seventy minutes, it’s only natural it would be a 7/10.
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