An awkward blend of documentary and melodrama hobbles ¡°Komada: A Whisky Family,¡± a new anime film about a small whisky distillery in rural Japan.

The film is the latest production by anime studio P.A. Works, which centers its content on places of, well, work. For example, 2014¡¯s ¡°Shirobako¡± was a fun and engaging dive into what it¡¯s like to work behind the scenes on an anime series. ¡°Komada¡± does the same for whisky production, minus the fun and engaging part.

The film kicks off as Kotaro (voiced by Kensho Ono), a peevish young news site editor, is assigned a series of stories about whisky. He¡¯s set to write about Rui (Saori Hayami) who, despite her youth, is the CEO of a distillery called Komada and a rising star of the whisky scene. Rui¡¯s dream is to revive Komada¡¯s flagship tipple, Koma, which financial circumstances forced them to stop making years earlier, back when her father was in charge.