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NEWS: Yo-kai Watch Planned for Overseas Release




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Ryusui



Joined: 22 Jun 2004
Posts: 463
PostPosted: Thu Aug 21, 2014 1:01 am Reply with quote
Gotta be honest; not holding my breath.
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samuelp
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Joined: 25 Nov 2007
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Location: San Antonio, USA
PostPosted: Thu Aug 21, 2014 1:14 am Reply with quote
This thing is HUGE in Japan right now.

You get a kid under the age of 12 and girl OR boy there's a really big chance they are obsessed with Yokai watch these days.

The reason it's such a hit is that it combines elements of pokemon "collect things" but its main focus is the humor, which is perfectly tuned to 2nd-3rd graders.
It's this generation's Gegege no Kitaro.

That being said, could it be a success overseas? There is a lot of Japanese mythology underlying the monsters, BUT... the humor is all pretty modern, the setting is modern, and the monsters are kooky and original and not your typical youkai. I think any kid would enjoy it even if they didn't know that the "murikabe" is based on "nurikabe"... (explanation: one of the youkai causing trouble is the murikabe, which makes people go "muuuuuriiiii" ("impossible..."/"I can't do it") in response to everything in a super annoying way)

Personally the running gag of Jibanyan training to get revenge against the truck that killed him on the road _never_ gets old.
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Stuart Smith



Joined: 13 Jan 2013
Posts: 1298
PostPosted: Thu Aug 21, 2014 2:50 am Reply with quote
Obviously it's huge success in Japan makes them want to expand it out. The franchise is literally printing money. Hopefully it will be a more timely manner than Danball Senki, which is just now popping up in the states despite having been over in Japan for awhile now.

I'm more concerned about the localization. Inazuma Eleven got pretty poor treatment in Europe, and Danball Senki looks to be more of the same. Neither of those are nearly as Japanese-y as Youkai Watch is, so I can't realistically see it working here any better.

Like samuelp mentioned some of the youkai are hilariously rooted in Japanese culture. The one that makes people act like an old Osakan stereotype, the one that turns people into hikikomori. My favorite is probably Steve Jaws, though. I laughed my ass off when they revealed a Steve Jobs parody created the Youkai Watch and has an Apple-like corporation in Youkai World.



Hopefully they find a way to make it work without being insulting.

-Stuart Smith
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enurtsol



Joined: 01 May 2007
Posts: 14889
PostPosted: Thu Aug 21, 2014 5:52 am Reply with quote
Japan’s kids love game series Yo-Kai Watch, and one fan says it’s because grownups don’t

  • Still, until recently I hadn’t heard a single thing about Yo-Kai Watch, Japan’s current megahit among the elementary school set. At first I thought this was weird, but as it turns out Yo-Kai Watch’s popularity isn’t in spite of people in my age group not knowing about it, but because of it.

    Of course, the core elements of building a fighting force of cherubic creatures sounds pretty similar to Pokémon. So why is it that in a recent poll by toymaker Bandai asking parents what their kids’ favorite series was, more than three times as many said Yo-Kai Watch as Pokémon?

    Hoping to find out, Twitter user Utsuro-chan asked one young fan, who told him he prefers Yo-Kai Watch because adults don’t really know about it.

    But how is that a positive? Yo-Kai Watch isn’t filled with graphic violence or sexual innuendo, so it’s not like the franchise flying under adults’ radar is secretly letting kids catch glimpses of things their parents would object. So what’s the advantage?

    As the kid explained to Utsuro-chan:

    “Yo-Kai watch doesn’t have annoying adult fans like Pokémon does.”

    Adult fans of Pokémon and other ostensible “for kids” series have adult money, with Mom and Dad no longer in a position to impose limits on how much time or cash they can pump into their hobby. This sometimes leads to grownups snatching up all the latest toy models, or hogging arcade machines that, from their small-scale cabinets, are clearly meant for younger gamers. Some have even taken to calling these senior fans otomo, an abbreviated form of okii na tomodachi, meaning “grownup friends” or “big buddies.”


“Jibanyan, I choose you!” Does Yo-kai Watch have the power to topple Pokémon?

  • There’s a new kid on the “collect-all-the-monsters” block, though, and it looks to be pushing Pokémon by the wayside. Yo-kai Watch hasn’t been released internationally yet, but in Japan the 3DS game, anime and its characters have quickly gained a ubiquitous popularity that looks like it could even overtake Pokémon. Have Pikachu and friends really had their day? Or is Yo-kai Watch merely a flash in the pan?

    The cute and popular Yo-kai Watch character vying for Pikachu’s crown is ghost cat Jibanyan, who can now be found on lunch packs, candy boxes, and of course at meet-and-greets in shopping malls around Japan. When one mall booked Pikachu and Jibanyan to appear at the same time on the same day, the difference in numbers was stark, as this Twitter user reported:

    “You can just go up and touch Pikachu, but Jibanyan [is so popular he] needs his own queueing and ticketing system.”

    But how will Yo-kai Watch fare with an international audience? Unlike Pokémon‘s “it-could-be-anywhere” world, Yo-kai Watch is firmly set in Japan, with yōkai drawn from Japanese folklore. On the one hand, this will earn it bonus interest points from Japanophiles around the world. But the show’s Japanese-ness could also be a potential barrier to mass-market success. Yo-kai Watch isn’t available to play or watch in English, yet – but when it is, will its location be changed to America, as was done for the recent launch of Doraemon on US television?

    There’s one other problem Pokémon is facing that Yo-kai Watch won’t escape either, if it sticks around long enough: ageing fans. Pokémon Red and Green launched in 1996, so those kids who first grew up playing it are in their 20s and 30s, now, and have become, as one millennial kid put it, “annoying adult Pokémon fans” who get in the way and make the brand seem a bit less cool. Right now, however, Yo-kai Watch is just loved by kids. It doesn’t have hoards of adult gamer fans…although that’s probably only a matter of time.
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Haterater



Joined: 30 Apr 2006
Posts: 1728
PostPosted: Thu Aug 21, 2014 9:02 am Reply with quote
I don't really see this being as popular overseas, especially America. It just has too many hurdles and disadvantage today as compared to Pokemon back then. Smartphones, anime not being as popular back then, some of the Yokai I imagine, and the very important market push. Its all on Level-5 to really push this and being careful with the localization. Hoping their sales expectation is adjusted, like being okay with moderate success and not being disappointed its not a juggernaut like Pokemon.
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Nonaka Machine Gun B



Joined: 03 Feb 2009
Posts: 825
PostPosted: Thu Aug 21, 2014 10:54 am Reply with quote
Wow, that's hilarious that kids would think that. The image of a grown man hogging a Pokémon arcade game from a bunch of kids is funny and frightening.
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ParkerALx



Joined: 09 Apr 2014
Posts: 194
PostPosted: Thu Aug 21, 2014 7:19 pm Reply with quote
I got a good chuckle out of the Japanese kid wanting adults to stay out of his or her favorite property. Usually, it's the other way around, with adult fans lamenting that a favorite game/show/movie is being marketed to people younger than them.

I don't see Yo-kai Watch unseating Pokemon in North America, but I wish it all the luck just the same. I might even pick up the game out of curiosity. I've seen a tiny smudge of the anime, and the theme song alone makes its world look endearing.

I just hope the show, if it gets brought over to promote the game, doesn't get completely bastardized. I hope they don't translate the brand's name to "Ghost Watch" or something equally generic, for instance.
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samuelp
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Joined: 25 Nov 2007
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PostPosted: Fri Aug 22, 2014 2:22 am Reply with quote
We translated a few episodes for international sales more than a year ago, and we were asked to localize the youkai's names (not the humans, though).

No idea if these would get used officially (I doubt it with level 5 involved), but we did

Jibunyan -> Crashpurr

among others. I like our english name for Jibunyan a lot. It's got literal meaning and coincidental cross language pun!
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Kadmos1



Joined: 08 May 2014
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Location: In Phoenix but has an 85308 ZIP
PostPosted: Mon Dec 22, 2014 10:36 pm Reply with quote
samuelp wrote:
We translated a few episodes for international sales more than a year ago, and we were asked to localize the youkai's names (not the humans, though).

No idea if these would get used officially (I doubt it with level 5 involved), but we did

Jibunyan -> Crashpurr

among others. I like our english name for Jibunyan a lot. It's got literal meaning and coincidental cross language pun!


Now when people complain about localization, I can use this point to show that the Japanese will ask for there to be localization to get the series to sell.
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Tony K.
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PostPosted: Tue Dec 23, 2014 1:09 am Reply with quote
Kadmos, please observe our policy on necroposting.
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