Yoshimi Itazu’s The Concierge is an animated delight. Based on the 2017 manga by Tsuchika Nishimura, it follows the travails of Akino – a newly-hired concierge-in-training at the lavish Hokkyoku Department Store. It is a store with a difference: all of its clientele are animals.

Anime films come and go every year, and most of them share a broadly common visual aesthetic. The Concierge stands out: simple lines and broad, bold sections of colour actively resemble any number of American or British children’s books. In terms of aesthetic it strongly resembles noted Disney colourist Mary Blair; although I have no idea whether or not she was a specific influence. A particular surprise is that this film has come from Production I.G, a studio whose most famous works include Patlabor, Ghost in the Shell, Miss Hokusai, and The Deer King.

The film’s narrative also resembles children’s literature more than a typical anime. It is light, earnest, and episodic, detailing a series of challenges that individual customers present to Akino (voiced by Diary of Our Days at the Breakwater‘s Natsumi Kawaida). All the while she is surveilled by her managers and assisted by her co-workers. Those managers include the bird Elulu (Takeo Otsuka), and the aggressive Todo (Nobuo Tobita, Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam). In a charming fashion, those episodes that seemed largely unrelated do culminate in a satisfying climax.

A talented cast populate the various supporting characters. These include Megumi Han (Hunter X Hunter) as the concierge who first inspires Akino, Sumi Shimamoto (Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, My Neighbor Totoro) as a delighted owl, Minako Kotobuki (K-On) as a mink shopping for her father, and Miyo Irino (Spirited Away) as a Japanese wolf in love.

Superficially the film seems to be about customer service, but of course what it ultimately reveals are the peculiarities of human behaviour: love, grief, and other states of emotion are expressed, planned for, and resolved. It is this additional layer of depth that allows the film to genuinely excel. The children will come to the film for its amusing hijinks and creatively developed animal characters, while older viewers will appreciate the artistry and the emotional depth.

There is yet another layer to the film: all of the animal customers, including Japanese wolves, laughing owls, sea minks – even a mammoth – are functionally extinct in the real world. In Nishimura’s shopping fantasy these species get a chance to live again, and to be happy. It is a pleasure human activity never afforded them, and a subtly melancholic aspect of this wonderful, charming film.