Like Psyduck wandering around in a headache-fueled daze, so we too ponder through a miasma of longing and despair: When will we get more Pokémon Concierge? One of the most adorable arms of the vast Pokémon universe dropped on Netflix December 28; the series follows humans and Pokémon working together at an island resort that caters to other humans and Pokémon who need to reset, recharge, and relax. Like another great Japanese import from early 2023, The Makanai: Cooking for the Maiko House, the story centers on a burnt-out millennial (Haru, voiced by Rena Nōnen) who blossoms amid the slower pace and spontaneous freedoms of her new environment. The animation is fantastic: The creative team, led by director Iku Ogawa and concept artist and character designer Tadahiro Uesugi, pairs stop-motion puppets of different sizes and materials (some fuzzy, some slick, some stony, some feathered; all tactile in their own unique physicality) with colorful digital backgrounds to make layered island landscapes.
But four episodes is an appetizer, not a meal, especially when the episodes are only 20 minutes each. Stack all those together and the binge-watch doesn’t even reach feature-film length! Netflix hasn’t yet announced if Pokémon Concierge will get a second season, a level of inactivity that is only cute when it involves a Snorlax, so for our own wish fulfillment, here are five events, subplots, or moments we want to see play out in the next installment.
1.
A staff meeting
Haru moving to the resort for her new job as concierge is our entry point into the series, and we see through her eyes how the resort is run — which is pretty casually! Her first task when she arrives is to simply enjoy the island and have fun, an assignment that allows Haru to embrace its different pace of life. Trained and wild Pokémon hang out as they please, while there only seem to be a half-dozen human employees, including Ms. Watanabe (Takemura Yoshiko), who hired Haru; the bro-y Tyler (Okuno Eita), who leads fitness lessons and teaches water sports; and part-time summer employee Alisa (Fairouz Ai), who does arts-and-crafts projects, rock-climbs around the resort, and is basically the coolest staff member. I appreciate the ease with which this place is run, but I want to see an instance in which all the humans and Pokémon who work together are brought to one place to perform the menial and tedious tasks anyone working in hospitality has to endure. Is Diglett lightly chastised for tearing up the resort paths? What kind of high jinks would Pansear, Pansage, and Panpour get up to when told to lay off the pranks for a while? Will Rattata and Furret chase each other throughout an entire HR training session? Give me the unexpected absurdity of Pokémon being told to do their jobs!
2.
Ms. Watanabe’s backstory
We know what brought Haru to the resort: a bad breakup, a disappointing setback at work, and a general sense of malaise. Working as a concierge forces her to let go of her obsessive need to prove her worth, and those lessons come to her through Ms. Watanabe, who tells her in the premiere to have some fun instead of thinking too much about what the job entails. That’s a nice let-go-and-let-live message, but I’d love to know what led Ms. Watanabe to the resort in the first place. Was she, too, escaping a boring life? Did she actually build the resort, and is she its benefactor? What are her qualifications aside from being maternal and wise? She’s so pleasant and put together, like Ms. Frizzle if that kooky science teacher dialed back her eccentricities. I think there are hidden depths to Ms. Watanabe, though, and a stand-alone backstory episode could give them to us. (No trauma, please!)
3.
More wild Pokémon!
When Haru arrives at the resort, Ms. Watanabe tells her it both employs Pokémon and welcomes wild ones like Wooper. In a later episode, Haru has to spend a night in the island’s forest in case a wild Pokémon needs human help. Let’s see what that situation would entail! What constitutes a Pokémon emergency, and how would the staff deal with it? As the more seasoned employees, Alisa and Tyler let Haru figure out her own path this season; I’m open to an episode where they team up to help a wild Pokémon in trouble or encounter a wild Pokémon who rejects their help. Keep those humans in their place, you know?
4.
A treasure hunt
The creative team behind Pokémon Concierge said in this behind-the-scenes featurette that when they were crafting the island and resort, they “included details in the background so you can find something new every time you watch.” Let’s find them! What if the resort held some kind of treasure hunt for trainers and their Pokémon, encouraging them to work together to find hidden items (or maybe elusive Pokémon?) around the island during their stay? That would allow viewers to hunt down all those background details, let the show feature a variety of Pokémon with different skills and personalities, and show us more of the area’s geography and topology. Third episode “I Hope I Can Evolve Too …” has a lovely moment of this when Haru and Psyduck ride on top of Dragonite to check out the resort’s beaches, then shows how the Magikarp, who relies on a pool float to swim more capably, evolves into the gigantic Gyarados, who can easily swim against the tide of a falling waterfall to get to the island’s higher levels. Let’s see some more of that, especially since the series begins with Haru being amazed by the high cliff walls, dense greenery, and overall lushness of the island.
5.
An episode from Psyduck’s perspective
Obviously. Psyduck is the star of Pokémon Concierge and deserves an installment befitting its status as a relatably anxious introvert who just wants to eat ice cream, move things around with telekinesis, and reassure other Pokémon that they’re doing just fine and don’t need to live up to whatever stereotypes or clichés their trainers expect from them. Not all who wander are lost! Let us see through Psyduck’s eyes on that journey.
related
- Vulture’s 2024 Summer Pop-Culture Gift Guide
- Netflix Is Pampering Us With More Episodes of Pokémon Concierge
- Pokémon Horizons Has Caught New Trainers
