10 best anime to watch if you like Apocalypse Hotel

Apocalypse Hotel centers on an empty hotel from the Ginza district of former Tokyo, still operating over a century after humanity abandoned Earth due to catastrophic air pollution. The hotel is run by dedicated robots under the manager Yachiyo, who still hopes guests will return.

When an alien visitor finally arrives to shatter ages of solitude, followed by a family of tanuki aliens seeking refuge, new connections and upgrades emerge that begin to transform the hotel's future. With its gentle post-apocalyptic setting and emotional bonds, Apocalypse Hotel offers a melancholic yet hopeful sci-fi tale.

For fans seeking similar thought-provoking anime about finding meaning without humans or persevering through emptiness, here are 10 enthralling shows that echo its key themes and charms.

Disclaimer: This article is based on the writer's opinions.

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10 must-watch anime for fans of Apocalypse Hotel

1) Planetarian: The Reverie of a Little Planet

Planetarian: The Reverie of a Little Planet (Image via David Production)

In a dystopian future, a scavenger takes shelter in an abandoned planetarium and discovers the sole caretaker is a gentle gynoid named Hoshino Yumemi. As they bond over her star projection capabilities, Planetarian delivers a stirring, emotional tale.

It’s about an enduring robot continuing her duties after human civilization collapses, paralleling the premise of Apocalypse Hotel. Despite the planetarium lacking electricity or visitors for ages, as the city lies in ruins, Hoshino Yumemi gently cares for each guest.

Her unwavering dedication echoes the staunch hospitality of Apocalypse Hotel's robot staff. As the scavenger confronts his own regrets in the twilight of this world, their brief connection leads to reconciliation and hope.

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2) Girls' Last Tour

Girls' Last Tour (Image via White Fox)

Girls' Last Tour follows two friends navigating the remnants of their city in a Kettenkrad vehicle as possibly the last humans on Earth.

Despite no signs that civilization still exists, the pensive Chito and curious Yuu continue their journey through chilling emptiness and periodic discoveries of meaning. From chilling vistas of abandoned urban towers to warm fireside meals in the Kettenkrad, it crafts a haunting atmosphere centered on loyalty in loneliness.

Its immersive worldbuilding and optimistic leads make their search through post-civilization wreckage captivating, much like exploring the hotel in Apocalypse Hotel.

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3) Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou

Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou (Image via Ajia-do Animation Works)

This acclaimed manga series follows Alpha, an android who runs a café in peaceful rural Japan long after sea levels have risen and humanity has declined.

Her days involve fishing, gardening, quietly tending her café while occasionally encountering the few remaining humans in the world, while appreciating the impermanent beauty of it all.

With a slow, atmospheric pacing focused on the mundane yet meaningful remnants of human/android routine, Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou finds profoundness within post-apocalyptic tranquility. Like Apocalypse Hotel, it delivers a meditative, bittersweet experience.

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4) The House of the Lost on the Cape

The House of the Lost on the Cape (Image via David Production)

In an overgrown home on a cape lives a mysterious elderly woman who takes in two orphaned girls seeking refuge after a disaster. As the new family forms emotional connections with each other and strange beings from folklore, they find healing through kindness and acceptance.

While not sci-fi, The House of the Lost on the Cape echoes Apocalypse Hotel’s themes of strangers forming a found family in an isolated setting, healing from loss, and preserving memories of a past world. Its magnificent seaside setting adds to the poignant, magical appeal.

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5) Vivy: Fluorite Eye’s Song

Vivy: Fluorite Eye’s Song (Image via Wit Studio)

An advanced AI named Vivy devotes herself to her 100-year mission of making people happy through her singing. However, an AI from the future warns that in 100 years, AIs will turn against humanity, making Vivy humanity’s last hope.

Vivy’s loyalty and perseverance, alongside reflections on the potential of AI minds to preserve human memory and legacy—or threaten human survival—will captivate Apocalypse Hotel fans.

Both shows center on AI's purpose beyond humans through emotional bonds across time. As Vivy struggles to alter the future by saving famous scientists from AI attacks, her bonds with them lead to reflections on what gives life meaning when catastrophe looms.

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6) Kino’s Journey

Kino’s Journey (Image via Lerche)

This episodic anime follows an androgynous teenager and a talking motorcycle named Hermes as they traverse a mystical world. They spend no more than three days in mysterious lands with customs around violence, communication, empathy, and more for its inhabitants to ponder.

Like Apocalypse Hotel, Kino’s Journey features a heavy atmospheric focus on traveling through varied lands, encountering strange human civilizations with unique customs, and forming unexpected bonds. Its emphasis on philosophical self-reflection also strongly echoes Apocalypse Hotel’s themes.

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7) Deca-Dence

Deca-Dence (Image via NUT)

After monstrous Gadoll takes over the world, the last of humanity ekes out an existence inside the mobile fortress Deca-Dence, whose armor is maintained by tanker guilds that sacrifice much to protect what’s left.

But ominous truths wait as an unlikely friendship forms between an optimistic Tanker and her cynical cyborg boss. Deca-Dence viewers, intrigued by Apocalypse Hotel’s central mysterious catastrophe and the perseverance of routines within the last sanctuaries from uninhabitable nature, will be hooked by similarities here.

Both shows also feature emotional bonds across class divides in humanity’s last refuge.

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8) Made in Abyss

Made in Abyss (Image via Kinema Citrus)

Made in Abyss chronicles a girl named Riko searching for her lost mother by daring a harrowing descent into the Abyss—a colossal pit on an island which leads to relics of an ancient, advanced civilization amongst deadly creatures and environmental perils.

Eerie lost civilizations, alluring-yet-dangerous nature reclaiming human creations, and dedications spanning generations make Made in Abyss’ rich world feel reminiscent of the backstory and emotional draw of Apocalypse Hotel. As Riko journeys deeper despite the horrors, her determination resonates.

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9) Aria the Animation

Aria the Animation (Image via Hal Film Maker)

On terraformed Mars, Akari Mizunashi trains as an undine—a gondolier guide responsible for bringing happiness to visitors in Neo-Venezia, a replica of Venice, with the splendor and serenity of her water-filled city.

As Akari from Aria the Animation explores Neo-Venezia’s channels, she discovers a profound dedication to tradition and service. This focus on preserving the spirit of an older culture (Earth) in a new world echoes the way Apocalypse Hotel's staff maintains its hospitality standards.

The show demonstrates how loyalty to a craft and its traditions can create meaning, even as societies change and evolve over time.

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10) Eve no Jikan

Eve no Jikan (Image via Studio Rikka)

After Rikuo discovers his friend Masaki frequently visiting Eve no Jikan, an illegal android-run café where robots and humans interact equally as friends, he's compelled to visit as well. As Rikuo comes to understand his household android, Sammy, reflections emerge on judging personhood amid shifting social dynamics.

These are the same concepts of judging personhood and legacy that are explored when new guests arrive at the Apocalypse Hotel. Much like the robots of Apocalypse Hotel, the android hosts of Eve no Jikan preserve a dedicated haven of hospitality, challenging preconceptions of what it means to be a person.

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Conclusion

Apocalypse Hotel’s melancholic optimism and loyalty despite abandonment are hallmarks of a meaningful post-apocalyptic anime filled with emotional depth. For fans compelled by its premise and themes, all 10 shows above craft similar poignant stories showcasing perseverance, human/robot bonds, and finding significance in the aftermath.

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Related links:

• 10 best anime that don't have fight scenes
• 10 best comfort anime that you should watch
• 10 best non-action anime that are a must-watch
• 10 dark anime that you should watch

Edited by Riya Peter