Pokemon Concierge Trailer Brings The Video Game Creatures Into Stop-Motion Animation At Netflix
Netflix is getting into the "Pokémon" business in a pretty interesting way. The streaming service has debuted the first trailer for a brand new series entitled "Pokémon Concierge" which marks not only the first collaboration between Netflix and The Pokémon Company, but it's also the first stop-motion animated series in the history of the franchise. See what that looks like for yourself in the trailer above.
The trailer is, in a word, adorable. There is absolutely a version of the Pokémon universe that is a little gritty and horrifying. After all, many of these are very dangerous animals. This is the polar opposite of that version, with all of the many familiar creatures just trying to relax and looking rather cuddly. Surprisingly, we've never seen the series take the stop-motion approach before having now seen it, as it looks very natural. The brief logline for the series reads as follows:
Set at a resort for Pokémon on a southern island, this is the story of a new concierge named Haru, who gradually discovers herself as she and her fellow staff members scramble to attend to the various Pokémon guests.
Gotta catch 'em all (in stop-motion)
The show does not feature familiar human characters such as Ash Ketchum. Instead, we're largely dealing with a new central human figure named Haru (not to be confused with Haru Okumura from "Pokémon Persona" and "Pokémon Persona Strikers"). As we can see in the trailer, she ends up bonding with a Psyduck, much like Ash bonded with Pikachu all those years ago. If nothing else, this might help fill the void until "Detective Pikachu 2" actually gets off the ground, which might actually be happening now that the sequel has a director.
The English dub version features the voices of Karen Fukuhara ("The Boy and the Heron") as Heru, Imani Hakim ("Everybody Hates Chris") as Alisa, Josh Keaton ("Voltron: Legendary Defender") as Tyler, and Lori Alan ("SpongeBob SquarePants") as Watanabe. The Japanese voice actors include Non ("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.
Iku Ogawa is in the director's chair working from a script by Harumi Doki. Also of note, the series is pretty short, consisting of just 4 episodes between 14 and 20 minutes each. So this should make for an easy binge and might, in the end, play more like one of the 24 movies in the franchise rather than a series, given how short it is.
"Pokemon Concierge" premieres December 28, 2023 on Netflix.