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INTEREST: Yo-kai Watch Screenwriter Reacts to Series Trending in America

I remember Yo-kai Watch quite well. It was a hit with gamers and otaku, but unfortunately wasn't commercially viable for any of the parties that tried to make it popular (Nintendo, Hasbro, and Disney). It came at sort of an awkward time, right before the one-two punch of Pokémon GO and Pokémon Sun and Moon. So, it never really built the sort of fanbase it could've had. It's a shame, because it had a lot of potential to be huge. And I say this as a Pokémon fan myself.

Even Kamen Rider, a franchise that completely dwarfs Super Sentai in Japan and is way more popular and profitable lost out and failed in America. It's basically a game of 'first come, first serve' for the American market.

So much so that they waited YEARS to try again with Dragon Knight, which also flopped despite critics saying it was fairly good and even winning a daytime emmy.

I think it's pretty apparent from this it definitely built an audience, just maybe not one of the Pokemon-crushing magnitude that was hoped for. I don't really buy cultural differences or the dub were the deciding factor - I'd say Pokemon Go electrifying interest in Pokemon yet again and the Yokai Watch anime airing on Disney XD (where cartoons go to die) were bigger factors.

Yes I get that it is intended for very young kids, but sheesh don't put out a below average dub if you want it to go up against the pokemon juggernaut.

Kicksville wrote:

I think it's pretty apparent from this it definitely built an audience, just maybe not one of the Pokemon-crushing magnitude that was hoped for. I don't really buy cultural differences or the dub were the deciding factor - I'd say Pokemon Go electrifying interest in Pokemon yet again and the Yokai Watch anime airing on Disney (where cartoons go to die) were bigger factors.

Exactly. That, and the first game launching on the same day as Call of Duty: Black Ops III in the Fall of 2015, which was the wrong time to launch a new IP. On a side note, the new anime - oddly enough - airs after Pokémon in Japan when it premieres. It would be interesting to see OLM animate some promos with Jibanyan and Pikachu together to promote that fact, not to mention hilarious seeing them eat chocobars together.

It would've been nice if the series had gotten more traction in the west but I can see why it didn't. Poor timing, not as accessible as Pokemon... If it had come out like 10 years earlier maybe it'd have had more sticking power lol

I don’t really buy that other clone shows can’t succeed in the US. Digimon was massively popular for years and is still relative and an active fandom now even if the reboot and Tri weren’t perfect. Monster Rancher was more niche but still dubbed all the episodes and released a couple of games. Card game anime besides Yugioh do seem to be a harder sell and I don’t know how well it does financially but they still keep bringing over the various Cardfight Vanguard anime so someone must be watching it. I think there’s quite a bit of interest in the new Vanguard series with CLAMP’s involvement in it. As for toku shows, Beatleborgs seemed to do decently enough for Fox Kids that they ran both series for it. The Ultraman sets seem to be selling well for Mill Creek. The fanbase for Kamen Rider was clearly there as there was a lot of hype for the original series and Kuuga when they were brought over but for whatever reason Shout Factory keeps sitting on the license. I think the failure of Yokai Watch to catch on in the West is a combination of the poor timing with Pokémon Go, the lack of marketing by Disney and Nintendo, and also that most young people don’t really watch cable TV that much anymore and everything has moved to streaming nowadays, including Pokémon. I think it might have helped the show more if it was directly to streaming either on Netflix or Crunchyroll. There’s just not the same market for kids anime on network TV anymore and even Yugioh Vrains is on Pluto TV now.