Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		3.5
Overall		4.0

Okko's Inn Blu-ray Movie Review

A beautiful anime which is inspired by the works of Studio Ghibli

An imaginative and entertaining spectacle, Okko’s Inn is a thoroughly engaging animated production which is full of family-friendly charm and unexpected magic. The film focuses on a young girl named Okko and her stay in a magical Inn which is home to a variety of otherworldly creatures and ghosts. The sweet-natured girl named Okko befriends friendly ghosts and goes on a fantastical adventure in style with one surprising turn after another (while she discovers her inner voice and meaning in life at the same time). After Okko loses both of her parents in a tragic car accident at the start of the story, she is left without a parent to care for her so she thrusts herself into working at the Inn with due diligence.

Okko ends up living in the Inn and helps with the upkeep while having room and board covered. Despite the tragic circumstances surrounding her life, she still manages to find the courage and hope necessary to continue to live her life with a sense of optimism. The film will strike a chord with anyone who has ever lost a parent and the story has a heartfelt message about never giving up despite the many challenge’s one might face in the course of life and it’s unexpected journey.

The film is beautifully animated in every aspect of the production. There is something impressive about the lush background artwork and it’s beautiful use of color in every frame: from the enormous cherry-blossom trees to the textured architecture of the Inn itself. The film is a wonderful anime production which feels heavily inspired by the work of Studio Ghibli and especially Miyazaki's masterpiece Spirited Away.

Featuring beautiful animated cinematographic work by Michiya Katou (Paprika), the animators imaginative use of colors and creative animated sequences lend to the storytelling an impressive landscape that thoroughly engages the senses. It’s a wondrous creative landscape which will leave audiences feeling enchanted. The art is full of beautiful colors and vibrant landscapes.

Heading through life with a dedication to succeed

The story is heart-felt and feels genuinely moving. The filmmakers made this production with a young audience in mind but according to the producers they were surprised by how well the film played with audiences of all ages (as the film found success with film festivals and even won some awards which recognized the film as a crowd-pleasing gem).

Fans of fantasy anime will thoroughly enjoy this creative endeavor and will find that this film has plenty of merit. With engaging storytelling and a beautiful visual palette, Okko’s Inn is a visually charming anime full of creativity and which is well worth one’s time. The film has a breezy and charming score composed by Ken'ichi Suzuki which is well-suited to the art style. The melodic fundamentals of the score are serene and engaging.

Featuring a creative screenplay written by Reiko Yoshida (A Silent Voice, The Cat Returns) as based upon the novels by Hiroko Reijo and Asami, Okko's Inn succeeds at forming a story that is creative throughout the entire journey. The characters feel fully formed and distinctive. The young character, Okko, is particularly well developed with an emphasis on exploring her hard-work after the trauma of losing both of her parents.

Directed by Kitaro Kosaka (Nasu: A Migratory Bird with Suitcase, Nasu: Summer in Andalusia), Okko's Inn is an impressive anime which fans of the medium will no doubt enjoy experiencing. Featuring top-notch animation (full of beautiful wonder), a strong storytelling narrative, and great characters: one simply cannot go wrong with this quiet anime gem inspired by the works of Studio Ghibli.

Okko's Inn Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Okko's Inn arrives on Blu-ray with a 1080p MPEG-4 AVC encoded high definition presentation. This is a visually stunning presentation which has a high-quality encode which beautifully reproduces the film's imaginative animation. The transfer preserves the 1.78:1 widescreen theatrical aspect ratio. Colors are especially impressive on this release and seem to generally "pop" off the screen with their bright and deep tones.

The image is stunning, clear, and immersive throughout. There are few faults to the presentation and even issues such as banding (which is often a common issue on many modern anime productions) are not to be found on this excellent encode. The strong presentation has a healthy bit-rate and it's clear the caliber of the transfer does a terrific job of preserving the artistry of the filmmakers world and its vivid animation.

Okko's Inn Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Presented with a 24 bit high-resolution Japanese 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio presentation, the audio track for the original Japanese language version has excellent clarity and fidelity and sounds impressive with its lossless encode. Okko's Inn features a highly engaging surround sound design that creatively uses each speaker in the surround fields to form a much more enjoyable experience. This definitely was a rewarding sonic experience which completely absorbs one into the filmmaking with ease. An English 5.1 DTS-HD MA track is also provided.

Optional English 5.1 descriptive audio and French 5.1 Dolby Digital are also on the disc. The included English subtitles are excellent and do not disappoint in any regard. The release also includes a optional English SDH subtitle track (for the deaf and hard of hearing), French and Spanish subtitle options.

Okko's Inn Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Interview with the Director (HD, 4 min. 16 sec.) is a sweetly enjoyable feature in which the filmmaker of Okko's Inn discusses the origins of the theatrical project and his involvement in its development. Kitaro Kosaka discusses how the film differs from the previous projects he has worked on and is the first film he has made which was made primarily created with a younger audience in mind.

Interview with Seiran Kobayashi (HD, 3 min. 39 sec.) spotlights the young voice actress of Okko from the Japanese language version of the film. Kobayashi offers her thoughts on her character and the artistic process behind the scenes.

Q&A at Japanese Premiere (HD, 20 min. 52 sec.) is a terrific panel which occurred during a film festival discussion featuring producers Masahiro Saito and Satoki Toyoda and Okko's Inn Director Kitaro Kosaka about its premiere, audience response, and box-office results. The discussion also includes reactions to the reception from the Bucheon International Animation Festival, the film's awards received at film festivals (including the recognition of the film with an audience award), discussing the international response (and how audiences reacted to some of the film's jokes: comedic moments which the producers did not expect international audiences to respond to given the Japanese style), discussing how the fanbase responded (and how surprised everyone was that the film played so well to older men, having expected the primary audience to be young girls when it was instead much more diverse), other ideas for the film studio, and other film related questions. The discussion also showcases a special sketch done at the festival which features the cast of characters from the film.

Trailers and TV Spots (HD, 4 min. 43 sec.) includes the U.S. Trailers and the original Japanese Trailer and Japanese Teaser.

Okko's Inn Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Okko's Inn is an imaginative animated odyssey about a young girl's journey after experiencing the trauma of losing her parents. This is a heartfelt story which blends drama with moments of charm throughout. Fans of Studio Ghibli and other high-caliber anime will find much to appreciate with Okko's Inn. The Blu-ray features a superb video-audio presentation and a collection of absorbing supplemental features which make the release an easy recommendation. Highly recommended.