Given how relaxing Netflix and Dwarf Studios’ Rilakkuma and Kaoru was, it seemed like Pokemon Concierge could be ready to also fill a cozy spot showing what life could be like with Pokemon. Now that it’s streaming on Netflix, it is truly an example of what everyday situations would be like in a world where Pokemon are all around us.
Editor’s Note: There will be no Pokemon Concierge spoilers below.
Things start out in a very relatable way. Following a string of bad luck in her personal and professional life, Haru decides to start over as a concierge at a Pokemon Resort. It is a place where we see people visiting and trainers dropping of their Pokemon to relax.
In a way, it’s even made easier to self-insert into it due to the execution of the four-episode series. Haru is coming from the city. She’s used to a job that involves a lot of checking in, graphs, outlines, and deadlines. She’s also all alone, due to a break-up. So she’s going in completely unfamiliar with the resort and lifestyle, just as the viewer is. While it is an all-ages show, it also almost feels like it is geared toward an older audience because of this protagonist. Haru is probably about the age people would be if they started with Pokemon Red, Blue, and Green, after all. She’s also at a point where she’s been at a day job enough years for burnout to sink in too.
Which is why it is also great to see Pokemon Concierge embrace a slower pace. The first task is for Haru to just… be. She’s told to go through her first day as though she’s a guest, rather than an employee. Everyone else does their best to encourage that, be they human coworkers like Alisa and Tyler or Pokemon ones like Pansage, Pansear, and Panpour. The Pokemon she encounters in her first day of life at the resort can be cute and a little mischievous, like the elemental monkeys or Mudkip. They can be helpful, like the Dragonite she sees flying other characters around. They also might just… act like ordinary animals, such as the Furret playing with the Rattata.
What’s more is it gets better from the second episode on, when we get to see Haru interact and work with Pokemon more in her duties. Her second day illustrates that she doesn’t even really know what daily life with Pokemon should and would be like in Pokemon Concierge. She’s constantly trying to do research online while she works or check with her coworkers for advice or directions. Until she really gets into it and… finds there are no directions. You just pay attention to the Pokemon around you and take cues from their own actions.
Plus, we get to enjoy a bit of personal growth on Haru and Psyduck’s parts, even though Pokemon Concierge is criminally short. The third and fourth episodes really show Haru starting to settle into the community. She gets to see Pokemon evolve. She finds a niche for herself. She starts to develop a rapport with the human and Pokemon characters. It’s so reassuring, but developing at this natural pace as she settles down.
Pokemon Concierge is unabashedly pleasant. It’s a relaxed look at how people and Pokemon might interact in that idealized world, outside of battling or training. The whole goal is for the humans and Pokemon in the series to relax, be happy, and help others feel the same way, and the show’s existence means anyone who watches it also comes away with those same feelings. I can only hope it gets a second, perhaps even longer, season.
Pokemon Concierge is available via Netflix. Some of the anime adaptation series are also present on the streaming service. The most recent Pokemon games are Pokemon Scarlet and Violet, and those are available worldwide on the Nintendo Switch.
