Thanks for visiting Anime Rants! The final episode of Tasokare Hotel was surprisingly enjoyable and well-executed compared to what I was expecting. There was a lot to cover in just 23 minutes, but the makers of the anime pulled it off and made an emotionally satisfying ending. Let’s recap and discuss what happened.
Episode 12: Revenge
Episode Rating: 8/10
Neko was fired from her position as a hotel employee and asked to check out. Before she left, the Manager handed over her salary in the form of a stopwatch. At this hotel, payment was equal to time. The longer someone worked, the more seconds they were given to go back in time. Neko had earned five seconds, so she could reappear five seconds before her stabbing in the real world and try to prevent it.
When Neko heard time travel was possible, she immediately wanted to save Atori’s life and prevent him from ever coming to this world. She begged the Manager for another chance to earn more, but he refused. However, Ruri then offered her own salary, transferring several more seconds to Neko. The Manager couldn’t say no to this. In fact, he gave Neko the rest of Atori’s time salary, too.
When I said this episode was well-executed, I meant it in a relative way. Tasokare Hotel isn’t some masterpiece of storytelling. It’s just an adaptation of a game that happened to leave a good impression on me as a series. There are still issues with the narrative, including the lack of world-building and absence of rules when it comes to the magic. Because there’s no limits, the story can infinitely pull out Deus Ex Machinas and say it’s just how the system works.
What I mean mostly is the elevator introduced by the Manager in this episode. Before, we established that most people lose their memories of the hotel when they return to the real world. But in this episode, we learn that anyone who rides the magic elevator back in time will keep their memories. The Manager never explained this before because he didn’t want Osoto to know about it, but it still seems like a bit of a stretch.
Before going on the elevator, Neko said goodbye to everyone. She asked the Manager to give her contact information to Ruri. She drank one last glass of delicous ginger ale from Ms. Menou. Finally, she went to bid farewell to Kiriko. The creepy monkey explained that Hell was his old home, and that he was banished for some reason. That’s why he wanted so bad to see the landscape of Hell once more. In order to call Hell a home, one must be a demon. That definitely sounds accurate for the impish monkey.
Kiriko gave Neko a box that would supposedly open the gates of Hell once when opened. I don’t know why Kiriko wouldn’t use it himself, when he apparently gets so much joy from simply seeing Hell. They would probably turn him away, but would that matter? Regardless, Neko accepted the gift. She was clearly willing to try to send Osoto to Hell again even after the disaster that happened last time.
Neko took the elevator and found herself at the platform where Osoto killed Atori. Before Osoto could approach Atori, Neko stopped him. She had temporarily saved Atori, but she still needed a way to stop Osoto for good. When she saw that there was a random man drunkenly snoring on the benches, Neko decided not to use the Hell box. She had learned that involving others was too risky.
Though Neko thought she convinced Osoto to leave, it was only a trick, and he returned. He pushed her down the stairs and was planning to question and torment her elsewhere. Just then, the Hell box fell out of Neko’s pocket. She warned Osoto not to open it, but he did anyway. A portal to Hell opened and dozens of creepy hands grabbed Osoto. Unfortunately, he also grabbed Neko, dragging her into the portal as well.
The conversation between Neko and Osoto in this episode was fairly interesting and possibly worth an analysis later on. But for now, I don’t have the mental energy to do anything but recap the main events of the episode. So, getting back to it, Osoto and Neko were hanging from a cliff above the burning lake of Hell. Osoto tried to stab Neko to make sure she fell with him. However, Neko acted faster and stabbed Osoto through the eye with an umbrella.
Osoto finally fell into Hell. Neko almost got trapped in there too, but Atori helpd pull her out of the portal just in time. Then Neko quickly left Atori alone, not wanting to disrupt his life further. After this, the story skips ahead a year. Atori was alive and well, working as a hotel concierge. Neko was meeting up with Ruri. Neko’s internal monologue revealed that she was happy and would never regret her decision. Even if she went to Hell after she died, Neko would be glad she saved Atori.
I would like to at some point write what I think about Neko’s decision. In short, I believe she was perfectly justified in doing what she did to save someone else. I have more details and thoughts to add, but that will have to wait for a separate post.
~Thanks for reading~
Written by 7Mononoke
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