Sick of seeing anime battle tropes in your cutesy fantasy animal-filled shows? Would you rather see your favourite beasts be animated in the medium used by slice-of-life shows like Domo-kun or Rilakkuma? Then you may want to check into Netflix’s newest Pokémon show.

Pokémon Concierge is about a young girl named Haru who works in a Pokémon resort (after things turn south for her in the big city), a place that makes mini-creatures called Pokémon feel relaxed and calm. Fans will see their favourites like Mudkips and Pikachu rendered in kid-show budget stop-motion animation (clay, fur, and all) act all cute and being with the cast. All the while, Haru and her colleagues (sometimes) do help solve the problems of an ailing Pokémon, be it the shy Psyduck (psychic yellow platypus) or the bizarrely-shy Pikachu (lightning rat).

There are a few more highlighted Pokémons, but to reveal them in their stop-motion glory would be spoilers. Suffice it to say, you’ll get your minute’s worth seeing them in their glory.

Club Med Or Mid?

The characters and their respective voice-overs play their parts just fine, from Karen Fukuhara’s Haru to Lori Alan’s motherly boss Watanabe. They get the job done, though Haru gets the spotlight since the focus is on her solving the Pokémon-of-the-episode’s dilemmas. That’s pretty much it, with each 20-minute episode bookended with a new song courtesy of J-Pop city-pop legend Mari Takeuchi getting out of retirement for a bit.  If you’re expecting more from a slice-of-life kids’ show meant for all ages, you’ll be sorely disappointed. But sometimes, that’s OK if all you’re looking for is a show that embodies the Netflix-and-chill spirit: feel-good entertainment presented in lovely stop-motion form.

Pokémon Concierge is not the deepest, the most overloaded, or most insightful of Netflix animated shows of the year. But it is calm and pleasant viewing especially if you are a fan who has the urge to screencap every moment of your favourite past-gen Pokémon rendered in stop-motion glory. If you hated the idea of cutesy cockfighting monsters chillaxing and letting loose in a G-rated fashion (or just find Pokémon unbearable and/or overrated), this slice-of-life fare isn’t going to change your mind.

Go into Pokémon Concierge expecting a pleasant all-ages stop-motion animated 4-episode show featuring Pokémon being cute and interacting with the cast. Don’t expect anything more than that, and you’re golden in this resort stay.

Final Score: 60/100