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Fans of Pokémon will soon have a chance to discover the softer, more tactile side of these frisky creatures when Pokémon Concierge comes to Netflix this winter.
The charming miniseries tells the story of Haru, a young woman working at a resort that serves many Pokémon guests. She has just started her job and there’s a lot she must learn about dealing with Pokémon. She works with her partner, Psyduck, and the two of them discover how to do this job together. On top of figuring out what the Pokémon want, Haru also has to manage co-worker relationships with Alisa and Tyler.
There will also be appearances by beloved characters such as Pikachu, Eevee, Dragonite and Magikarp. The series also promises additional surprise characters and staff members who will appear at the resort as well.
The show is directed by Iku Ogawa, who is also known for the animated thriller Hidari, which came out this year. Harumi Doki wrote the episodes and previously worked on Anniversary and Re/Member. Concept art and character design was done by Tadahiro Uesugi, who also has worked on Coraline as a concept artist, Big Hero 6 as a visual development artist and Luca as a development artist.
Short and Sweet
Based on the popular characters created by game designer and director Satoshi Tajiri in 1996, the series breaks with what’s expected because it’s done entirely in stop-motion animation. The first season is made up of four episodes that are about 14 to 20 minutes long and all of which were created at Dwarf Studios in Japan. Considered one of Japan’s leading stop-motion studios, the company recently celebrated its 20th anniversary.
“Focusing on stop-motion animation shoot, the production took four-and-a-half months, with each animator responsible for four to five seconds of production per day,” says Ogawa. “We took 86,000 shots for a total of four episodes of approximately 60-plus minutes.”
The series marks the first collaboration between Netflix and The Pokémon Company, but the streamer has worked with Dwarf Studios in the past. The studio also produced Rilakkuma and Kaoru and Rilakkuma’s Theme Park Adventure, which are both available on Netflix globally. Rilakkuma’s Theme Park Adventure has been nominated for an International Emmy Award in the Kids Animation category. Rilakkuma and Kaoru was nominated for Outstanding Achievement for Directing in an Animated Television/Broadcast Production at the 2020 Annie Awards.
‘I approached this world thinking what it would be like if Pokémon were part of human culture, hoping the show could be seen by a global audience.’
— Director Iku Ogawa
Dwarf Studios has a strong reputation for its stop-motion work and was also behind the 2016 series The Curious Kitty & Friends, which was aimed at a preschool audience and appeared on Prime Video. This was the first collaboration with a Japanese studio for the streamer. The show was the brainchild of revered animator and Dwarf Studios founding member Tsuneo Goda, who also created the Japanese sensation Domo, the official mascot of the Japanese public broadcasting company NHK.
“Netflix is looking forward to delighting fans in Japan and around the world with Pokémon Concierge, an entirely new visual and storytelling experience featuring groundbreaking stop-motion animation set in the Pokémon world in close collaboration with The Pokémon Company,” says Minyoung Kim, Vice President of Netflix Content in Asia.
The show features both a Japanese voice cast and an English dub cast. Japanese voice actors include Non, also known as Rena Nōnen (In This Corner of the World) as Haru, Fairouz Ai (JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Stone Ocean) as Alisa, Eita Okuno (Yell) as Tyler and Yoshiko Takemura (Tiger & Bunny) as Watanabe.
In the English-dubbed version, Haru is played by Karen Fukuhara (The Boy and the Heron), Alisa is voiced by Imani Hakim (Everybody Hates Chris), Tyler is played by Josh Keaton (Voltron: Legendary Defender) and Watanabe is portrayed by Lori Alan (SpongeBob SquarePants).
When Ogawa began working with the voice actors, he decided to film Non while she performed her role of Haru. As she made each facial expression, the animators carefully studied her face and then worked to incorporate her mannerisms into Haru. The studio uses the technique of 3D printing dozens upon dozens of facial expressions of its characters to give them the maximum flexibility to create character performances. So, in Haru’s design DNA there is a bit of Non, who is well known in Japan for her work on the drama series Amachan and as a singer.
“I approached this world thinking what it would be like if Pokémon were part of human culture, hoping the show could be seen by a global audience,” says Ogawa. And the trailer certainly shows the human and Pokémon worlds colliding as Haru tries to balance learning her duties, pleasing the Pokémon guests and getting along with her co-workers.
Non adds, “I had so much fun [playing Haru]. She works so hard, but sometimes things just don’t work out. It’s endearing to me. I’m a bit reckless as well, so it was great to feel a connection to the character. It’s really exciting to me because this was the first time my body language was also recorded during voice acting. Even if many things go wrong and [Haru] feels upset, Pokémon will always be there for her. I felt it would be wonderful to have Pokémon with me. I was thinking of that when I acted. That made Pokémon Resort even more of a place where I want to be.”
Pokémon Concierge will also have some of its music performed by Japanese pop culture royalty. The show’s theme song, “Have a Good Time,” is sung by the iconic Mariya Takeuchi, who is one of the bestselling Japanese pop singers of all time. In addition to selling more than 16 million records, she’s also composed and produced songs for many other artists. The singer is particularly known for a genre called “City Pop,” which came to incorporate a wide range of styles such as disco, funk and R&B.
Sunny Colors and Outlook
The series is bathed in a sun-washed color palette, and the Pokémon in the series look more playful than in previous incarnations now that they’re stop-motion characters, each with a fuzzy-looking coat. There’s a meticulous attention to detail that the director intended to draw the audience into the stories. And Haru inhabits both a human world and the world of the imaginative little monsters as she tries to accommodate guests who can’t really tell her what they want. All her comedic struggles start there while she tries to navigate her work.
“I hope that everyone will think that it would be happy to have Pokémon in their daily lives after watching this series,” says Ogawa. “I believe that there are always new discoveries upon each viewing, whether it’s the sets, character movements or the movements of Pokémon, including the subtleties of what’s happening in the background. I hope everyone enjoys watching it again and again.”
Pokémon Concierge premieres on Netflix on December 28.
