Summary
Pokémon Concierge reinvents the world’s most popular IP as a cuddly, laidback reminder to have as much fun as possible. Who can argue with that?
Pokémon is probably the biggest IP in the world, all told, and for basically its entire existence it has revolved around more or less the same thing – being the very best. It even says that in the theme song! Pokémon has always been, at its core, about battling; whether that’s good versus evil on TV, rival trainers squaring off in the games, or schoolkids taking each other on with cards in the playground. Pokémon Concierge, a rather delightful stop-motion miniseries streaming on Netflix, asks what might happen if we just gave all those pesky pocket monsters the day off.
Let’s be clear – Pokémon have always been cute. And it has always been easier to swallow the “trainer” dynamic by imagining them as pets rather than, you know, slaves. But Pokémon Concierge is pretty unique in the franchise in the way it focuses almost exclusively on the adorable allure of Pokémon as, essentially, personable wild animals. Nobody’s mad, nobody wants a fight. Everyone just wants to have a nice time.
Pokemon Concierge Season 1 review and plot summary
This is true about the show’s protagonist, Haru, more so than anyone else. Haru is the titular Pokémon Concierge, who takes a job at the Pokémon Resort after a run of bad luck leaves her personally and professionally adrift. A twenty-something having a minor existential crisis, Haru is a people-pleaser who believes she needs to go above and beyond to prove herself.
Haru’s employer, Mrs. Watanabe, thinks otherwise. The Resort, which plays temporary home to all kinds of guests and even several wild Pokémon who wander in, is all about just allowing the creatures to be themselves and have a little fun while doing it. The four 15-minute episodes are about Haru gradually realizing this, and, in so doing, learning how to let go and just enjoy her life.
It’s a simple theme, but it fits right in with the show’s stop-motion animation, which leans on fuzzy cuteness, slapstick comedy, and enthusiastic facial expressions to do all of the heavy lifting. It’s rare to watch a show with zero real conflict, but that’s what we have here. It should be boring. And yet there’s a soothing quality to its slice-of-life approach that is impossible to dislike, even for a 33-year-old man who doesn’t know any of these creatures beyond the original 150 I spent all my spare time catching as a kid (I wanted to be the very best, like no-one ever was. I wasn’t.)
RELATED: Will there be a Pokemon Concierge Season 2?
Hardcore fans will have a field day spotting all the various Pokémon in and around the resort, and seeing how they behave in a non-battling context. Most are just background-dressing. Some have tiny little subplots, like a Magikarp that can’t swim, and some have more complete character arcs like a Psyduck Haru befriends and a shy Pikachu who is the focus of the finale. Sometimes a particular Pokémon is wheeled out for a gag, like a Diglett causing a scooter crash or a Snorlax crushing a floaty.
The array of Pokémon present at the resort helps to give it a real sense of place. It and the human characters are sculpted out of clay, but the Pokémon are sprung to life from a variety of different materials, helping them all to feel distinct. It’s a world with surprisingly rich and considered details, one that could host many more stories than the handful offered in this four-episode run. One imagines that this is more a proof of concept than anything else and that if it proves popular – which it surely will – Netflix will be all over a proper extension.
A reinvention of a franchise
I, for one, would welcome more of Pokémon Concierge, which surprised me at virtually every turn. I fully bought into Haru’s story of self-discovery and felt right at home in the Resort, which is a setting that’d suit a very different type of Pokémon game in the same way it suits this very different type of Pokémon show.
I’m all for new ways of exploring old concepts and ideas, and Pokémon Concierge feels like a spirited attempt to do just that. It isn’t a replacement for Ash and Pikachu and the general thrust of catching and battling Pokémon with sometimes world-ending stakes, but it is a nice complement to it, and proof that sometimes chilling out and finding the fun in life is a valuable use of your time.
What did you think of Pokemon Concierge Season 1? Comment below.
