POKÉMON CONCIERGE

DESCRIPTION

CAST

ANIME ActionPocket Monsters (2023)
ONA FantasyPokémon Concierge (Zoku-hen)

REVIEWS

• 

  Juliko25

  80/100
  Pokemon Concierge is a cute, charming stop-motion series, but is really held back by being way too short.

  It really cannot be understated how great it is that in the 2020s, we're getting so many different Pokemon anime in very different animation styles. For decades, the only animated Pokemon property we got was the main TV anime starring Ash Ketchum. As popular as the games and the overall franchise is, and for all the innovations it provided across its associated media, the TV anime was pretty static and formulaic a lot of the time. But starting in the mid-2010s and into the 2020s, the Pokemon animated canon got to expand beyond just the TV anime. We got stuff like Pokemon Origins, followed by Pokemon Generations, which are animated retellings of various notable events in the games, and later, we would get short web anime such as Twilight Wings, Hisuian Snow, the PokeToon shorts, and Paldean Winds. Pokemon would later dip its toes into the world of stop-motion, with the subject of today's review, Pokemon Concierge, which was announced in the February 2023 Pokemon Presents video. I thought "Ooh! This looks cute! I'd love to watch it!" And just this December, Pokemon Concierge finally dropped for all to see. I'm glad to say that Pokemon Concierge is a pretty good short anime on par with the others I mentioned in terms of overall quality, but I feel like it could have been something more.

  So what's the story? A young woman named Haru has been having a tough time of it, and nothing's been going right for her. To get away from it all, Haru decides to take a job at the luxurious Pokemon Resort, a resort that caters exclusively to Pokemon guests and isn't the stiff, stuffy work environment that Haru is used to. Through trial and error, Haru manages to carve out a place at her new job, doing everything from befriending a shy Psyduck to helping a Magikarp that can't swim to save its life. Every day is fun and filled with new discoveries as Haru comes to enjoy her new life at the Pokemon Resort. Oh, side note: This is gonna be my last review of 2023, and I'm glad that this is the series I get to end the year on, because it's a pretty cute, wholesome little romp.

  For anyone who's only familiar with stop-motion animation via Tim Burton and the Rankin-Bass Christmas specials from back in the day, fun fact: A lot of the earliest stop-motion animation was done in Japan, including said Rankin-Bass specials. It's much harder to produce because unlike 2D animation which is just drawings made to move with technology, stop-motion is extremely intricate and labor intensive due to the level of technical skills needed for it being much higher than what's needed for 2D, such as prop setup and photography, among other things. Stop-motion as an animation form has actually evolved quite a bit and seems to be coming back into the limelight, what with stuff such as Pui Pui Molcar, Mad God, Guillermo Del Toro's Pinocchio, everything that Laika puts out, and so on. The animation for this was done by Dwarf Studios, who also worked on the Rilakkuma and Kaoru anime. As someone who's not familiar with their work, I have to say that the work they put into Concierge's animation is amazing. All the characters are made from different materials, and depending on the Pokemon, they can be either sleek plastic or soft felt. The fact that the animators put actually captured tiny details like the texture of a Pokemon's fur really helps the immersion. There's a lot of thought and care put into things like body movement and facial expressions for both humans and Pokemon, with some details about that being mentioned in this cute making of video that Netflix put up on their YouTube channel. The set pieces for the backgrounds are also very well done. I don't have as much to say about the soundtrack, as its cute and I did enjoy the Mariya Takeuchi song. I do appreciate that they made a remix for the evolution music at one point.

  I admit, I'm kinda mixed on the characters. They're not bad or anything, but I feel the series' short length of four ten-minute long episodes didn't allow the creators to let their characters to grow, nor do we really get to know any of them on a personal level. Because of the series' short length and focusing more on Haru learning about how the Pokemon Resort works, the side characters all feel very one-note and bland. Tyler is just a laid-back surfer dude, Alisa is just Haru's helpful senior, and Watanabe is just the nice boss. I'd very much like to learn more about this cast of characters and what they're like, but again, the series is so short that it's unable to do so. There's so many unanswered questions about all of them, such as: Is Watanabe the founder of the resort, or does she just work there? What are Tyler and Alisa like when they're off the clock? What made them decide they wanted to work at the resort? Do they all have lives outside the resort? How do they go about dealing with the guests? How do they handle stress? Seriously, there's so much potential with them and I do like them, but they really deserve to be fleshed out more. On the other hand, the Pokemon characters are all very expressive and full of personality, and the animators did their absolute damndest to bring them all to life.

  Actually, speaking of questions, there's a lot that I really want to know about the show's setting. Who founded the Pokemon Resort? Do Pokemon get designated rooms in the hotel, or since they're on an island, can they just go wherever they want? How do they accommodate big Pokemon like Metagross and Dragonite? Since Watanabe doesn't want her employees to treat working at the resort the same way as an office job based on how she reacts to Haru making data charts in the first episode, how does Watanabe handle the business side of things with the resort? How do they even get funding? As much as I like this short series and the idea behind it, its short length both in episode number and duration leave no room for fleshing out the concept and the characters more. Hell, it wasn't even revealed that Pokemon Concierge would even get just four episodes until it dropped on Netflix! The previous series Dwarf Studios made, Rilakkuma and Kaoru, had 13 episodes, so I was under the impression that Pokemon Concierge would have the same amount of episodes. Like...who decided it should just be four episodes?! And they could have at least mentioned this from the start!

  I hate to go on about Concierge's short length, and don't take this to mean I didn't like the show, because I did. I genuinely enjoyed Pokemon Concierge for what it is, a charming, wholesome, laid-back Pokemon series making use of stop-motion animation to bring the Pokemon world to life in a new way. It's a great new entry into the Pokemon animated canon, and I honestly wish there was more. Who knows, maybe they'll make another season in the future? I hope so, but if not, it's still a cute show for what it is. Whether you're a Pokemon fan or not, Pokemon Concierge is a nice kick-back-and-relax kind of show that's short, sweet, and to the point, and man do I wish there were more of it!

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• 

  Nekomina

  95/100
  Welcome to this cute Pokémon Resort, your stay will feel like a warm summer hug

  

  English Version

  Pokémon Concierge is a stop motion created by Dwarf studio, they give a twist to the great Pokémon world that we all know. Every minute of the story where we accompany the protagonist Haru in her new job feels like a soft and warm summer hug, it is the cutest thing you will see this year.

  The stop motion of this series is incredible, it has a fluidity that is easy to envy, Dwarf shows once again that they are experts in this animation technique. The pokemon design is very adorable. In addition, they managed to ensure that each Pokémon, even if it is the same type, has its own personality, making it unique, thus making the audience fall in love with each of them. Psyduck is super cute, anyone would like to adopt him.

  All the characters that are presented have their own personality, three-dimensional, showing a very colorful series when we refer to the character, making the viewer never get bored. The audience can connect a lot with Haru, the protagonist, as she always tries her best, but makes mistakes, has anxiety, and is constantly learning.

  

  Although it is a short anime, it talks about deep things, it has themes about life; about how you have to be happy and go little by little. That although we have responsibilities and jobs, we must enjoy and have fun in life more than just fulfilling obligations. Likewise, it talks about accepting yourself as you are and not trying to fit into stereotypes that can make us feel uncomfortable.

  Pokémon Concierge is a very short anime, but it will bring a tear to your eye because of how beautiful it is and the warmth it transmits, at the same time it leaves the viewer thinking, since in a very subtle way they give very important lessons for life.

  

  Versiòn en Español

  Pokémon Concierge es un stop motion creado por el estudio Dwarf, dando una vuelta al gran mundo Pokémon que todos conocemos. Cada minuto de historia donde acompañamos a la protagonista Haru en su nuevo trabajo se siente como un abrazo suave y cálido de verano, es lo más cuchí que podrás ver este año.

  El stop motion de esta serie es increíble, tiene una fluidez fácil de envidiar, Dwarf muestra una vez más que es un experto en esta técnica de animación. El diseño de los pokemones es muy adorable. Además, lograron que cada Pokémon, aunque sea del mismo tipo, tenga su propia personalidad, haciéndolo único, logrando así que la audiencia se enamore de cada uno de ellos. Psyduck es super cute, cualquiera quisiera adoptarlo.

  Todos los personajes que son presentados tienen su propia personalidad, tridimensionales, mostrando una serie muy colorida cuando nos referimos a personaje, haciendo que el espectador nunca se aburra. La audiencia puede conectar mucho con Haru, la protagonista, ya que siempre intenta lo mejor que puede, pero se equivoca, tienen ansiedad y está en un constante aprendizaje.

  

  Aunque es un anime corto, habla de cosas profundas, tiene temas sobre la vida; de como hay que ser feliz e ir poco a poco. Que aunque tengamos responsabilidades y trabajos, hay que disfrutar y divertirse en la vida más, que solo cumplir con las obligaciones. Asimismo, habla de aceptarse como uno es y no tratar de encajar en estereotipos que nos pueden hacer sentir incómodo.

  Pokémon Concierge es un anime muy corto, pero te sacará una lágrima de lo bonito que es y de la calidez que transmite, a su vez deja al espectador pensando, ya qué de forma muy sutil dan enseñanzas muy importantes para la vida.

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• 

  Kwunchy

  90/100
  This show gives that feeling of summer vacation flying by and suddenly it's over.

  

  I'm a huge Pokémon fan and have been since I was a little kid. I've consumed a lot of Pokémon media over the years. I'll admit that this show was such a breath of fresh air as it's completely different to everything I've seen from the franchise and I absolutely adore it.

  Pokémon Concierge is a short series created by Dwarf Studio made in stop motion animation. It follows Haru, a new concierge at a Pokemon resort who attempts to figure out how to do her job, as well as learn how to just relax and have fun. Along the way, she befriends a rather shy Psyduck who doesn't seem to be having a lot of fun at the resort.

  This slice of life show deals with themes like dealing with anxiety, learning to not worry as much and that it's important that you have fun, no matter what you do in life which I'm sure people of all ages can connect with. It's a very light-hearted and feel good show, which will leave you feeling good afterwards. Haru is also a very relatable protagonist as well as she comes to the resort anxious yet driven to do the best that she can at her job.

  Psyduck is another main character who I resonated with a lot as someone who is a shy introvert who struggles with interacting with strangers. You see a lot of personality shine through as he comes out of his shell more and seems to have good chemistry with Haru. As a big Pokemon fan, I've never been a huge fan of Psyduck but watching this show made me appreciate him a little more.

  

  The stop motion animation is absolutely stunning to look at with the movements feeling fluid and realistic. The Pokemon look accurate and are filled to the brim with personality, with none of them feeling like they looked 'off' or off-putting. You can tell they put a lot of care and consideration just from how all the Pokemon uniquely interact and move around. The colours are bright, giving off a warm, summery vibe which fits perfectly with the setting. It's very refreshing to see Pokémon experiment more with different mediums of animation and I hope they do it more in the future. I also hope they experiment more with unique settings like this one, though I wouldn't be opposed if they expanded more on the whole Pokémon resort thing since I think it holds a lot of potential.

  Honestly, I am very disappointed that this series only has a few episodes ( with there only being four, sadly ) but I still think it's worth a watch if you like Pokémon but also looking for something a bit different and more slice of life. The runtime is short but doesn't affect the quality, just wish there was more of it to enjoy.

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