Pokémon Concierge is a Breath of Fresh Air

As part of my New Year’s Resolutions, I’ve been trying to take more time to sit back and relax, which has naturally conflicted with my other resolution: to stop procrastinating so much. So, to do this, I took a moment to take some time out of my day to watch some Pokémon Concierge.

I have to admit, when Pokémon Concierge was first announced in the Pokémon Direct, I can’t say I had any strong feelings. I was sure that I would watch it at some point, but I wasn’t expecting it to be so relatable. Sure, it was already going to look cute, but I didn’t think it would resonate with me in the way that it did.

As there were only four episodes, I thought I would sit down and enjoy it all in one sitting, and I’m glad I did. Each one is only between 15 and 20 minutes long, so they’re just small bite-sized episodes, but I would say that’s the weakness of Pokémon Concierge. They gave us a taste of slice-of-life without supplying us with more.

But while I will lament the absence of more episodes of Pokémon Concierge, let me explain why it’s such a breath of fresh air. Instead of following the usual battle formula of the mainline anime, this series seemed to be made for older fans, who can no longer enjoy the call of adventure because we need to deal with bloody reality.

No, Pokémon Concierge embraces the needs of the fans to take a break. In fact, Haru, our protagonist of this bite-size series, is a young woman whose boyfriend has left her, and she just wants to start life anew. So, she moves to The Pokémon Resort, where her first order of business upon meeting her boss, Ms Watanabe, is to spend the day and relax, which, in this day and age, is really difficult to do.

After all, how many of us have spent so long working and spending all of our time coming up with plans to be noticed, only to burn ourselves out? Frankly, if someone tells me to rest and enjoy myself, I assume that there’s an ulterior motive. So, Haru’s belief that this is all some kind of test makes perfect sense, and then she spends all of her time overthinking everything and assuming that she needs to create a graph and a report to show that she wasn’t really relaxing, even though that was all she had to do.

It feels like Pokémon Concierge's writers realised that many old-school Pokémon fans are adults who want to rest but don’t have time. So, they created these episodes to show that you can just live in the moment and take a breather. However, that’s not all it teaches you. We’re all so busy trying to be the best that we don’t consider that it doesn’t matter if you’re not having fun doing what you want to be the best at.

Pikachu was so nervous, and yet, it may have been the cutest Pikachu I've ever seen.

As a whole, Pokémon Concierge basically took me to the side and said, “It’s fine to be yourself, and you don’t have to change for others as long as you’re happy.” While it’s a simple lesson, it’s one that I think everyone needs to hear at one point or another. So, if you’re ever feeling low, consider sitting down and taking a little over an hour to watch these four episodes and recharge. Trust me, it can do you a world of good.