The first thing I’m going to do is give credit where it’s due. This was a really good finale, one fully worthy of the first six episodes of the series. In fact the last two episodes of Apocalypse Hotel were outstanding. #11 reflected the Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou that’s always been a little part of this series’ DNA. And the final ep was consistent with the themes of the first half of the series, and both funny and uplifting because of that. It’s an Enzo truism to be sure, even if I didn’t invent it – endings are important.

All that, however, just makes the run from 7-10 that much more inexplicable. It’s like the show had some kind of weird seizure or something (like Yachiyo when she wigs out, maybe). I’m frankly at a loss to explain it – to have a series turn it off like a light switch for a pretty long stretch (7-9 were especially misguided), and then just as suddenly switch it back on. How does that happen? Why does that happen? As far as I know there were no major staff changes for those eps, and in fact Apocalypse Hotel seems very much to be a personal expression of writer Murakoshi Shigeru and director Shundo Kana. But Episodes 7-9 being by the same writer as most of the other nine beggars belief, at least for me.

That’s all the more true because not only was that four episode stretch not all that funny or entertaining, the first park of it was in total thematic defiance of what came before – and after – it. I thought maybe it was just Murakoshi-san’s true colors revealing themselves, and the early part of the show was a misdirection. But in the end it’s like he pretended those eps never happened. No acknowledgement of them, no admission that what Ponko did was wrong and offensive and really stupid. Just a big Emily Litella “Never mind”.

But in the end sanity was restored, and I guess you don’t look a gift horse in the mouth. We close with the return of humanity, as I always strongly suspected we might. One tiny sliver of it, anyway – an astronaut named Tomari Iori (Komatsu Mikako). She’s on a solo survey mission to Earth, which is about the most logical way to make this development happen. She’s rather astonished to find that there are humans on this planet supposedly now devoid of sentient life. And even more so to learn they’re actuallyhotelier robots and Tanukians.

Naturally Yachiyo books Tomari-san in as a guest. The latter is wide-eyed at a hotel full of extraterrestrials, soft beds, free shampoo. Even a shampoo hat – but she quite rightly points out that it would be pointless to put one on over her suit. Tomari’s bioscanner was damaged on impact, and she’s operating under the assumption that the virus is still rampant. So she enjoys the hospitality as best she can while Yachiyo has an existential crisis over her presence. Once she’s established that Tomari is indeed human despite – unthinkably – turning down a shampoo hat, she starts malfunctioning and doesn’t understand why.

All this screamed for the intervention of Environment Checker Robot, and if it’d taken one more minute for him to show up I’d have plotzed. Fortunately he did, and immediately escorts Tomari on a tour. This is without a doubt the emotional highlight of the episode for me. ECR is a truly wonderful (and underutilized) character first of all, with a wonderful performance by Miki Shinichirou. This is his very reason for existence, and his emotion at finally being able to tell a human that the Earth was virus-free (thanks to the first extra-terrestrial guest’s gift, just as I predicted) hit me like a ton of bricks. Add to that Tomari’s wonder at seeing this Eden Earth and the whole thing is wonderfully effective. I actually thought ECR was going to shut down right then and there, but thank goodness they didn’t go that route.

All the while I was thinking, “you know, I don’t really want humans to come back to this world. This Earth with its pristine environment, where everyone is getting along so well”. I actually thought Tomari might have the same thought but no, she didn’t. We got there, but the decision was taken out of her hands. Almost as soon as she took off her helmet to breathe in the idyll, she turned green and keeled over. According to Ponstin, because of a severe allergic reason. And according to Environment Checker Robot, because humans have now evolved to a form unable to remain in Earth’s atmosphere (and a good thing too, if you ask me). So it’s back to their arks in space, at least for now (say hi to Tom Baker if you see him).

As for Yachiyo, her wonky functionality is a function of angst – which goes to show just how human she is. When you’ve been anticipating something as long as she has the reality can’t possibly match the anticipation, and that’s really the issue here. Yachiyo is just as happy about her extraterrestrial guests as her human one, as Ponko (in a marked turn from her recent annoying behavior) points out. And that’s as it should be, frankly. That’s what Apocalypse Hotel was preaching for half its run, before it bafflingly decided to preach the opposite for three weeks. It’s “people are people” leveled up to “sentients are sentients”. Just accept them as they are and get along. Is that really so hard?

I think this amounts to a happy ending in almost every sense, albeit dependent on how you view the human return factor. Yachiyo did indeed get what she dreamed of. And in doing so she finally fulfilled her promise to Owner-san – only to have Tomari unwittingly rope her into another open-ended promise (I don’t blame Yachiyo for being pissed). Humans did survive, and they can visit just like anyone else. But this isn’t their planet anymore – it belongs to the universe. And it has soft beds, onsen, and whisky so it’s pretty much perfect as is.

So where does all this wind up in terms of rehabilitating Apocalypse Hotel’s reputation? That’s a tough one to answer. The year is only half-over, and summer is if nothing else a monstrously huge season. This series went from a cinch top 10 and possible masterpiece to most likely off the year-end lists altogether to- what? My instant reaction is probably back in the 11-20 list somewhere, but I’m honestly not sure how I’m going to feel about this show with the passage of time. Endings are, again, important. And Apocalypse Hotel managed some truly impressive peaks, with real profundity and beauty. It’s a hard show to classify in every sense, but it certainly isn’t one I’m going to forget anytime soon.