While you are probably most familiar with the souless hotels of the west, Japan occasionally takes their hospitality very seriously. An inn is a different experience than a hotel, one that is slightly more pampering with a staff dedicated to make sure you have a good stay. As such, it has been the inspiration for a few anime series showcasing how much work goes into making you feel like a very special guest. If you have a particular thirst for a little healing escape, but can’t actually go to an inn, these anime recommendations can soothe.
Best Anime About Traditional Japanese Inns
Konohana Kitan
This is a simple tale about spirits serving spirits. The main character is a fox girl with no work experience working at a high class inn for spirits. She tries hard, but often gets in the way. Yet, over the course of that series you see that hard work pay off in order to keep the visitors happy. This series is part soothing and part comedy, but all wonderful slice of life.
Hanasaku Iroha
While also a coming of age story, Hanasaku Iroha is the quintessential series about inn work and hospitality. It shows every aspect of running a small country inn, including how much of a struggle that is in the modern age. The plot follows a girl that is sent to live with her estranged grandmother after her actual mother runs off on her. She then starts working at the inn her grandmother runs in order to both earn her keep and her approval, because who doesn’t crave the earned affection of a cold elder, right?
Kakuriyo: Bed and Breakfast for Spirits
After being sold off to marry a demon to pay off her grandfather’s debt, the main character instead decides to work it off at a inn for spirits. Now, at a glance, this looks like a solid reverse harem show. However, you would be wrong. The focus isn’t on romance, despite an abundance of cute male spirits. Instead, it is highly focused on the hospitality that an inn provides. There is a particular focus on delicious food and the affect it has on people.
Okko’s Inn
This series (and also movie) is based off a series of children’s novels. As such, you will note that this is aimed at a younger audience, but it still has those same themes of hard work and hospitality as you watch Oriko train to become an innkeeper. Though not a supernatural series quite like some of the other anime recommendations here, it does have a bit of a ghost element to it.
Love Hina
This series qualifies in this category in only the barest sense. The central location of Love Hina used to be a hot springs inn, but as the main character discovers in the first episode, it was converted into a girl’s dorm. However, as a manager of it, he ends up with a lot of similar duties including cleaning and helping the residents with their various issues.
Sparrow’s Hotel
This last one is less of a poignant slice of life show and more or a ridiculous comedy, complete with some of that stereotypical comically huge-eyed anime art. Essentially, it follows a busty front desk lady that has no problem kicking thug ass that threatens her business hotel, but can’t stand up to her boss.
Do you have any more anime recommendations about anime series that take place at inns? Lets fans know in the comments section below.
