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Yo-kai Watch Anime Gets 2nd Season Starring Madoka Magica's Aoi Yuki
posted on by Sarah Nelkin
Level5 announced during its streamed "Level5 Vision 2015 -The Beginning" presentation on Tuesday that an anime that is "effectively the second season" of Yo-kai Watch will premiere in July.
The anime will star Aoi Yūki (Puella Magi Madoka Magica, Valvrave the Liberator, Gosick) as the protagonist Inaho Misora (seen right in the image above), and fashion model and singer Kotori Shigemoto as USA-pyon (seen left), a new partner Yo-kai. The series will also introduce a new Yo-kai called "Pinto Corn" (seen below,) and a new model of the Yo-kai Watch will be featured. Brand new characters will also be introduced.
The story of the games and first anime season begin when Keita discovers an old capsule toy vending machine in the forest. Keita receives a mysterious watch and meets a ghost named Whisper. Whisper tells Keita that the watch allows him to see supernatural creatures — both good and evil — that he could not see before in everyday life. With Whisper and the feline companion Jibanyan, Keita explores his town for other ghosts to battle or befriend.
Game developer Level-5 announced the Yo-kai Watch franchise in 2011 with a game, manga, and anime already planned. The franchise's first game for the Nintendo 3DS debuted in Japan in July 2013, and the anime premiered in January 2014. The latest game in the franchise, a third version of Yo-kai Watch 2, shipped in December. Bandai sells Yo-kai Watch toys and game tie-in medals in Japan.
No company has yet announced that it has licensed the anime for North America. Level-5 president Akihiro Hino announced at the December event for the franchise's first movie, Eiga Yo-kai Watch: Tanjō no Himitsu da Nyan!, that the television anime will be broadcast overseas. Hino specifically mentioned America and Europe, but said there would be other regions. Hino stated that, although many of the Yo-kai's names will be changed, Jibanyan and Whisper's will remain the same. He asked the characters' respective voice actors, Etsuko Kozakura and Tomokazu Seki, to "study English."
Viz Media Europe had announced on March 30 that it acquired the Yo-kai Watch anime franchise. The company has TV, home entertainment, VOD, and licensing and merchandising rights for the anime franchise in Europe, Russia, and Africa. Viz Media Europe will present the series to broadcasters at the MIPTV 2015 event in Cannes later this month. Viz Media will publish Noriyuki Konishi's Yo-kai Watch manga in North America beginning in September.
Dentsu Entertainment USA began looking for broadcast and merchandise partners for the franchise in the Americas last year.
Dentsu Entertainment USA and TV Tokyo announced in February that they are partnering with Hasbro to launch a toy line based on the Yo-kai Watch game and anime franchise next year.
[Via 0takomu, Hachima Kikō]
