Okko's Inn is a 2018 anime movie created by Madhouse and directed by Kitarô Kôsaka. It is based on the Japanese novels Wakaookami Wa Shogakusei (The Young Innkeeper Is a Grade Schooler!), which got an anime adaptation in Spring 2018. While based on the same property, the series and movie are unrelated.
The movie focuses on Okko, who, after losing her parents in a car crash, is sent to help run her grandmother's Japanese inn. It's not long before she meets mischievous ghosts, the entitled rival innkeeper Matsuki Akino, and several customers, which is a lot to handle, especially when Okko is convinced her parents are still alive. At Hananoyu Inn all are welcome, and Okko learns that helping others can help herself as well.
This movie contains examples of:
- Alternate Continuity: The series and movie are both alternate retellings of the original novels. The TV show is much lighter, more comedic, and focuses more on slice of life, whereas the movie focuses much more on Okko, her grief, how she copes with it, and having her deal with aspects of her past that catch up with her, along with the revelation that her ghost friends might leave.
- Beware the Nice Ones: Uribo is basically a nice ghost, but when he sees Okko being insulted, he rushes to her defense by either insulting said offender or, in Matsuki's case, draws mustaches on her face.
- Big Ego, Hidden Depths: Matsuki acts like a spoiled princess and is very proud of her inn and the prestige it comes with, but near the end of the movie, it's made clear that she wishes she could have gotten to know the sister who died before she was born. It helps that not only is she very knowledgeable about her line of work, she offered to take in the Kise family when it was revealed Bunta was the one who had a hand in the deaths of Okko's parents.
- Big Sister Instinct: Miyo is actually Matsuki's older sister who passed away before she was born. When she thinks that Okko is being mean to Matsuki, she draws on her face with a marker.
- Book Ends: The story begins with Okko and her parents watching a ceremonial shinto dance at a festival and muse they would have liked to do the dance or to see Okko do it. It ends with Okko and Matsuki doing that same dance at said festival while Glory and Shota watch.
- But Now I Must Go: After Okko learns all she can and comes to terms with her parents' deaths the ghosts leave to be reborn in human bodies.
- Coming of Age Story: The story is about Okko learning to come to terms with loss, and also to be more self-sufficient and helping others.
- Cool Big Sis: Glory acts as one to Okko, from comforting her when she has a panic attack to taking her out shopping afterward.
- Darker and Edgier: While not overtly so, the movie is a much more serious and emotional retelling of Okko's story than the TV show is, focusing more on her grief, her struggles with coping with her parents' deaths, and the ramifications that come from running into the person that had a hand in said parents' deaths.
- Deceased Parents Are the Best: Okko's parents die within the first five minutes of the movie, but she has fond memories of them.
- Mouthy Kid: Uribo can be a bit of a mouthy little prankster at times.
- Naïve Everygirl: Okko is perfectly normal other than being able to see ghosts at first, and in the beginning, she knows nothing about innkeeping and being a host, so she messes up a lot.
- Oh, Crap!: Okko's grandmother has one of these when she recognizes Bunta Kise's name in the inn's registry book, running back to compare it to some papers presumably related to the accident.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: Okko's real name is Oriko Seki but she mainly goes by Okko.
- Ojou: Matsuki runs a luxurious inn and acts like a bratty princess.
- The Reveal: Bunta Kise, the man who who stays at the inn with his wife and son, was the driver of the truck that crashed into the Seki family's car. This revelation causes Okko to break down, and Kise himself nearly leaves the inn because of the overwhelming guilt.
- Ryokan Inn: The backdrop of this series is a resort town, with most of the cast involved in the operation of these. The title of the original novels refers to the fact that Okko works at one.
- Sacred Hospitality: The core tenet of working at the inn is that anyone who stops in is welcome and must be served to the best of the staff's ability.
- Shopping Montage: At one point, the fortune teller Glory Suiryou takes Okko to the mall to go shopping and there's a montage of clothes they try on, set to a bubblegum J-pop song.
- Spiders Are Scary: Okko is scared stiff of spiders, as well as lizards.
- Trauma Button: When Okko sees a truck passing her and Glory while on their way to the mall, Okko suffers a panic attack because of having lost her parents in a car accident and needs to calm down. Glory manages to help her through it.
- Unfinished Business: The ghosts Okko encounters all have ties to the living world, and are able to move on once Okko helps them and herself.
- You Can See Me?: Suzuki, Uribo and Miyo are ecstatic that Okko can see them, and it's one of the reasons they prefer her inn over Matsuki's.
