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NEWS: Yo-kai Watch to Air in U.S., Europe, Other Regions Globally

Wouldn't it be funny if this franchise just never picks up traction in the west? I mean, it's entirely possible. When was the last time another franchise like Pokemon became madly popular in the west? Never, that's when.

Television in America is still trying to catch up with the internet, giving YouTubers actual TV shows on Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network in an attempt to win back the young audience the internet have stolen from them.

I wonder has Level-5--the company behind the whole idea--thought about making the anime series available in original Japanese language form on Crunchyroll (or Funimation's streaming service) and also make the English-dubbed version also available online? That way, they don't have to deal with the complications of trying to get it on a cable TV network.

I wonder if the reason franchises like this work in Japan but not America is because of these hobby changes. It seems like more and more kids would rather stay inside and watch YouTube videos or play video games like Minecraft, League of Legends, or Call of Duty online with each other, rather than playing with card games or other toys which require face to face human interaction. These days, with television becoming more irrelevant, and kids going online more and having other avenues of entertainment, you probably won't get any kind of Pokemon-boom out of a show ever again. Television in America is still trying to catch up with the internet, giving YouTubers actual TV shows on Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network in an attempt to win back the young audience the internet have stolen from them.

A couple of comments:

1. I wonder has Level-5--the company behind the whole idea--thought about making the anime series available in original Japanese language form on Crunchyroll (or Funimation's streaming service) and also make the English-dubbed version also available online? That way, they don't have to deal with the complications of trying to get it on a cable TV network.

2. Yo-kai Watch is going to be difficult to translate into English because the series is VERY tied to Japanese folklore like GeGeGe no Kitaro was. One of the things that made Pokémon such a huge success outside of Japan was Nintendo's very conscious decision to make sure the Pokémon creaturees were as culturally neutral as possible, in spite of the fact it's obvious many of the Pokémon types are obviously derived from traditional Japanese youkai.

2. Yo-kai Watch is going to be difficult to translate into English because the series is VERY tied to Japanese folklore like GeGeGe no Kitaro was. One of the things that made Pokémon such a huge success outside of Japan was Nintendo's very conscious decision to make sure the Pokémon creaturees were as culturally neutral as possible, in spite of the fact it's obvious many of the Pokémon types are obviously derived from traditional Japanese youkai.

But Digimon and Monster Rancher have became irrelevent these days because of their popularity decline in the US.

mdo7 wrote:

But Digimon and Monster Rancher have became irrelevent these days because of their popularity decline in the US.

My point exactly. Pokemon isn't quite as popular as it was at its height but it's still very much in the eyes of the mainstream and already has an established fanbase of kids and older people who grew up with it. Yo-kai Watch will more than likely never reach that level worldwide. Anime's popularity in the west just isn't where it was back then.

Will it be as badly edited as Doraemon?

Yeah, because they're TOTALLY going to become fluent in English AND be able to voice act well in that language within a few months. Sure, Hino-san. Whatever you say.

Last time I checked, Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon and Disney's various cable channel's all still play cartoons. Not only on Saturday, but throughout the week. If Doraemon can air on Disney xd, anything is possible.

I'll be very interested in seeing whether Yo-Kai Watch manages to achieve the popularity it has in Japan. I admittedly have yet to watch or play Yo-Kai Watch, but on a first impression, Yo-Kai Watch looks distinctly more "Japanese" than Pokémon. Sure, Pokémon does have some species based on yokai (such as Froslass), but the franchise as a whole is more self-contained in its own universe. And also, will that put off non-Japanese children or won't they care?

It's actually really.. disturbing that something like Game Grumps and PewDiePie are considered iconic kids entertainment. Though I guess that makes me a "grandpa" according to South Park.