Disclaimer: This is a review of the feature film "Okko's Inn," and not of the television series of the same name and year.I usually make an effort to see animated films as soon as they release, in whatever format I can, both from within America and the international world. However, I initially passed on "Okko's Inn," a 2018 anime film. I have a personal bias towards 2D animation, and the initial posters and trailers strongly suggested that the movie would be made primarily with computer animation. That in itself isn't always a bad thing, but at the time, very few anime had proven to be able to adapt the Japanese cartoon-style properly in 3D. I intended to get around to it eventually, and finally got my chance when a local "Japanese-studies" group offered a free screening. Immediately, I regretted everything. Not only is "Okko's Inn" almost entirely 2D-animated, it's animated beautifully, and with a strong story, it turned out to be an excellent family film that I can highly recommend. I wish I had seen it sooner.There's even quite the background for the "franchise:" the movie is based on a series of popular children's novels, later adapted into a manga, and even a television anime. That anime was released shortly before the film, by the same studio collaboration of DLE and Madhouse... strangely, it's incredibly difficult to find any evidence of the tv series existing, let alone an international release like the film received (it appears to have been a series of 24 10-minute episodes, with expanded story elements). In any case, the film is plenty fine on its own, but Japanese viewers probably already have a fondness for the source material, and if they don't already, there's plenty to find. The movie is a story about Oriko Seki, a young girl with a loving mother and father... who quickly into the film, die in a car crash (miraculously, Oriko, also in the car, survives). In their absence, she moves to live with her grandmother, who manages an old-fashioned inn and hot spring. The country-style living, full of bugs and other icky things, are new to Oriko, but a bigger surprise is the ghost of a young boy hiding in her new room. With his encouragement, Oriko agrees to become the new "young innkeeper," volunteering to help manage the place like her parents used to, and is referred fondly by the inn's guests by her nickname "Okko." It also turns out Makoto isn't the only bare-footed ghost brat running around town, and they lend a helping hand to Okko's new life. "Okko's Inn" strives to be a universally-appealing movie, taking inspiration from the works of Studio Ghibli, and some of Madhouse's own background with family films (see Mamoru Hosoda's work as a subset). The comparison is closer than you'd think, in multiple ways. Regarding the story, Okko is a fun and relatable character that drives everything. She's honest (both in good an bad ways), doesn't like gross bugs or lizards (like most young girls), and is still grieving for her lost parents, but is also sweet and hardworking, quickly becoming the heart of the inn, pending some extra training. Added subplots include making new friends at school, including the same-aged rival of a much fancier inn/resort in town, and figuring out the mystery behind the ghost friends who keeping finding her. Much of it is standard expected fare for the subject and genre, but a brisk pace keeps the movie engaging, and not too depressing or sentimental. 
Most importantly, the movie remembers the most important aspects of the story, and keeps them as the focus. The first is how Okko deals with her grief: she manages to carry out a normal life, and the inn keeps her busy, but she continues to have dreams where her parents are still alive. A tense scene of her in a car triggers PTSD, making clear how hard the event was on her. The second story element is the inn's guests, who each seem to have their own troubles, be it with deaths of loved ones, personality issues, or health problems. As per the inn's motto, "the hot springs are a gift from the Gods, and welcomes everyone, no matter who they are." Indeed, the inn manages to heal all visitors, if only temporarily, and Okko is happy to witness and assist. These two themes come together at the film's climax, making it clear the writers knew their priorities. In short, the story is just busy enough to be consistently engaging, its characters fun and kind enough to love, and the themes deep enough for all ages to appreciate. All traits that any Studio Ghibli movie can claim, and very few other anime films can... impressive!The comparison goes further into the production. Hand-painted backgrounds look beautiful, again as if they were ripped from a Ghibli movie. Character animation is consistent but delightfully consistent... again, like a Ghibli film. While I can't confirm any relation to the rest of the cast, the director, Kitaro Kosaka, was notably a key animator at Ghibli, and it's a delight to see such talent being put to use. Regarding character animation again, and the character designs... the film uses 2D animation for virtually all scenes, except a final dance ritual at the end. But I strongly suspect that 3D models were used as reference for character shapes and shadows throughout most of the movie, as animation is often "too" consistent. This causes some limitations to how characters could be designed: Okko's hair has a very simple polygonal shape to it, and faces (eyes, mouths, etc.) often look like flat textures applied to a 3D sphere resembling a head. This causes an uncanny effect that I expect less than 1% of people would ever pick up, and if it results in animation that looks this good (in scenes that didn't require the extra attention, no less), or if it makes the production any easier, than by all means. And if the film somehow IS entirely 3D animation, then consider me a convert, ready to throw away the pencil, paper and lightbox. Regardless of good or bad animation (and the animation is good here), "Okko's Inn" is a delightful treat. I can't think of a better modern Japanese family film to share with the young and old people of yours.