The Yo-kai Watch anime (Japanese: 妖怪ウォッチ アニメ Yōkai Wotchi Anime) is a Japanese animated series based on the Yo-kai Watch franchise, which is aimed primarily towards children. It ran from January 8, 2014 to March 30, 2018 in Japan, containing a total of 214 episodes and three feature-length movies.
The anime primarily focuses on Nathan Adams, who meets Whisper after he was sealed away in a capsule for 190 years. Along the way, he meets Jibanyan and goes on to find other Yo-kai that are known behind if not all, but most daily occurrences. The anime series has proved to be very popular in Japan, and has managed to capture the attention of everybody of all ages with it's humor and writing.
The series would later see a western release on October 5, 2015 in Disney XD, in the United States. It would later go on to premiere in other countries.
Information
Episodes are split into multiple parts which is similar to that of American children cartoons; however, the parts are usually in uneven times with each other, some even played as "cold opens" before the opening theme.
The anime is directed by Shinji Ushiro, and produced by Yoshikazu Kuretani and Kiyofumi Kajiwara. The story is written by Yoichi Kato and the music is arranged by Ken'ichirō Saigō. The episodes are done at OLM.
The second Japanese season started on July 10, 2015 from EP077 that introduced Hailey Anne and Usapyon. Episodes regularly air every week on Fridays on the Japanese television TV Tokyo. However, some episodes air at different dates.
International Releases
English Dub
The anime series has went on to air at Disney XD in the United States on October 5, 2015, a month before the North American release date of Yo-kai Watch video game. It also airs on the Canadian channel Teletoon.
In addition to airing on Disney XD, episodes were released on the official Yo-kai Watch YouTube channel every Thursday. The anime also aired on the Disney XD block on Disney Channel at December 18, 2015, which marks the first Disney XD series to air on another channel, that isn't an original program.
The anime also broadcasted across channels in Europe and Africa in Spring 2016, after the anime became a success in North America.[1]
Media
Episodes
- Main article: List of Yo-kai Watch episodes
Movies
| Nr. | Image | Title | Release date |
|---|---|---|---|
| M01 |  |
Yo-kai Watch: the Movie (Japanese: 映画 妖怪ウォッチ 誕生の秘密だニャン! Yōkai Wotchi: Tanjō no Himitsu da Nyan!) | December 20, 2014 |
| M02 |  |
Yo-kai Watch the Movie: King Enma and the Five Stories, Meow! (Japanese: 映画 妖怪ウォッチ エンマ大王と5つの物語だニャン！ Eiga Yōkai Wotchi: Enma Daiō to Itsutsu no Monogatari da Nyan!) | December 19, 2015 |
| M03 |  |
Yo-kai Watch the Movie: The Great Adventure of the Flying Whale & the Double World, Nyan! (Japanese: 映画 妖怪ウォッチ 空飛ぶクジラとダブル世界の大冒険だニャン！ Eiga Yōkai Wotchi: Soratobu Kujira to Daburu Sekai no Dai-bōken da-nyan!) | December 17, 2016 |
Sequel
The series has a sequel in the form of Yo-kai Watch Shadowside, which started airing in Japan on April 13th 2018, and focuses on the adventures of Natsume, Keisuke, Touma, and Akinori.