The final episode of Pokémon Concierge isn’t really about a Pokémon per say, although Arcanine fans will no doubt enjoy the big fire dog’s moment in the spotlight. Like Sealeo, Arcanine is another case of artistic license being taken with the Pokémon’s in-game measurements- Arcanine is close to twice the size of Sealeo, bigger than a person to be sure, but not really so outrageously gigantic that…well, I’d rather not get into spoilers. Especially since, as noted, Arcanine isn’t really the star here. It’s an appendage to an appendage- the Pokémon owned by the ex-boyfriend Kent of our nominal main character Haru. Her decision to take this concierge job was motivated by, among other things, their break-up as depicted in the first episode of the first season.
In the modern parlance, we might say that Haru has been on a journey as a character. But that doesn’t quite feel right. Not just because Haru is still kind of insecure. There’s also the matter of her “journey” to the extent she’s had one has basically been to try to avoid being so eager to please and high energy- because it’s this aspect of her personality that causes her to burn out. Haru had to let go of her greater ambitions in order to take this job to begin with. This is explicitly discussed with Kent here- the fact that the Haru he remembers was always so determined, whereas at the resort, she largely goes with the flow.
While it has nothing to do with Pokémon, it’s nice to see an ex-boyfriend character that’s neither clearly villainous nor premised as a love interest. Kent is a representation of the life that Haru left behind. And while he’s able to tolerate that life better than Haru did, the whole reason Kent is at the resort at all is because he needed a vacation too. It’s implied that the last time Haru saw Arcanine, it was still a Growlithe. Using the game logic, it can be further extrapolated that Kent evolved Growlithe on purpose with a fire stone, because Arcanine is cooler, even though its huge size makes it more difficult to care for. There’s an interesting parallel there with Uncle Dan, who can’t control his own Pokemon’s evolution, precipitating his own conflict.
But how much game logic you should bring into Pokémon Concierge is ambiguous at best. A point is made how the climax could be easily solved by a pokéball, not that there’s an actual in-game mechanic for this kind of situation. Yet the more significant point being made here is to not think of life in terms of mechanics. Think of it as what you want to do…in the world of Pokémon.
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