What to Watch: Okko's Inn

by Chelsea House, GGR Contributor

Tonight my family hunkered down for a typical weekend dinner and movie family night. We all huddled on the couch with pillows, blankets, and the small ball of excitement you get when you're about to watch a new movie. The choice for tonight? Okko's Inn by Kitaro Kosaka, adapted from a series of novels by Hiroko Reijo called Waka Okami wa Shogakusei! (The Young Inkeeper is a Grade Schooler!)

The film is about a little girl named Oriko, who prefers to be called Okko. In the wee minutes of the movie she loses her parents to a horrific car accident. Although the scene lacks gore or violence, you have the idea of the magnitude pretty quickly when you see Okko on top of another car, miraculously not a scratch on her. The film follows her as she moves from Tokyo to her grandmothers inn and her journey as she tries to wrap her twelve-year-old mind around the horrific loss of her parents, and the fact that she came to near death herself. 

This film is filled with so many take away nuggets for you as an adult, as well as your kids. The biggest being that loss happens in so many shapes and forms, it's a part of life, and you deal with it the way you deal with it. Another is that you are never alone in all things you go through. There are always people, or in Okko's case, spirits looking after you. This is so comforting for a child to know! One nugget I loved dearly is the main theme of Okko's grandmother's inn "The hot springs welcome everyone and they heal everyone." This is such an important message in today's society as well. Everyone is different with different views, opinions, religions, and backgrounds. We all deserve to be accepted, loved, and the chance to heal from wounds seen or unseen. That was beautiful to me. 

When Okko arrives as the inn, she accidentally becomes the Junior Innkeeper, which teaches her the value of respect, authority, responsibility, and hospitality. She learns that making others happy in turn also makes you happy! (Who knew?) 

This film was beautifully animated and so well written. It truly puts you on the level of a young child, and therefore can sometimes be random, but I never felt this in a distracting or confusing way. Any film that teaches the young how to grieve and through grief even become a better and stronger person gets a huge thumbs up from me. I will say it took me a minute at the end to stop my jaw from quivering, and if you have a heart, it will do the same to you. If you're an anime fan, if you like to find anime that are appropriate for you to watch with children, if you like a good applicable-to-life story, this movie is for sure for you!