When I heard Netflix was working with The Pokémon Company and dwarf studios (Rilakkuma and Kaoru) on a stop-motion animated series, I could not have believed it would look this good. Pokémon Concierge follows Haru (voiced by Karen Fukuhara), a new staff member at a resort for Pokémon, as she meets and interacts with fan-favorite creatures.
Whether or not you’re a fan of the franchise, it’s hard not to be spellbound by the stunning stop-motion work on display in the official trailer for Pokémon Concierge:
In addition to Fukuhara (who you might recognize as Kimiko in The Boys), the English dub voice cast features Imani Hakim (Everybody Hates Chris) as Ilisa, Josh Keaton (Voltron: Legendary Defender) as Tyler, and Lori Alan (SpongeBob SquarePants) as Watanabe.
If you watch in the original Japanese, the 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.
Pokémon Concierge was written by Harumi Doki, directed by Iku Ogawa, and features character designs and concept art by Tadahiro Uesugi. The main theme song is “Have a Good Time Here” by Mariya Takeuchi, an incredibly popular Japanese city pop artist.
The series will consist of four episodes that last between 12-20 minutes. All four episodes will be available to stream on Netflix starting on December 28, 2023.
