Recap: Yokai Dictionary/Himoji/Wasurenbo

Hello again. Another E3 has come and gone. What did you all think of it? I can honestly say the coming year is going to be one of the biggest ones in gaming ever. Some of my highly anticipated games include the likes of Star Wars Battlefront, Kingdom Hearts III; Guitar Hero Live, Rock Band 4; Star Fox Zero; Mario and Luigi Paper Jam, Metroid Prime Federation Force; and big surprises like the Final Fantasy VII remake and Shenmue III being funded by Kickstarter (which set a new record).

Even so; it also means I’ve been given an official US release date for Yo-Kai Watch. The time is at hand for me to go about a recap with my usual style; very bluntly explaining why this concept probably won’t work in America the way it does in Japan. So, let’s get this started. 

The first segment of the episode I have chosen, “Yokai Dictionary” is going to be exhibit A for my problems with this anime. It starts up with the issue of Keita’s (I’m not calling him Nathan until I see this shit come stateside officially) room being a complete mess. 

And here we go.

His mother thereupon orders him to clean it up by the time she comes back.

The first step is to put away the Yokai Medals, which he just casually dumps in his drawer. Whisper describes the whole thing as “super half-heartedly.” That’s actually a good description of this anime.

He says he should be more careful with his friends. “Friends” is a bit of a strong word. Let’s just settle for “acquaintances;” that they’ve met at least.

He gives him the titular Yokai Dictionary; which immediately paints the segment as having a greater desire to sell toys rather than explain what the Yokai do and why Keita acts worse than Jake Lloyd after a traffic arrest. 

Is it OK to say this kid sucks?

When Whisper objects to his attitude, it only gives me further incentive to play Cinema Sins with the anime.

Whisper is a dick to Keita.

Of course, this messing around does not please Mrs. Amano at all; to the point where she becomes Demon Mama!

Sing the best song in the world and I'll let you keep your soul!

This turns Keita and Whisper into abstract art. Why do I have a sudden urge to watch Zetsubou-Sensei?

Now I must address how the premise is being handled. In a stark contrast to this screen cap; Nintendo is claiming that “Yo-Kai are not ghosts, monsters, or spirits. Yo-Kai are simply Yo-Kai.” This could prove unwieldy in the long run; as Yokai are in fact all of these things. The fact that they’re attempting to differentiate these from Yokai is proof that the term in itself is virtually unknown to Americans; which is a shame, since I find their mythology fascinating.

Once again; the theme song urges me to “laugh out loud.” This is going to be another problem: the style of humor is highly Japanese, so are American kids going to understand if they should laugh? Granted, I love how batshit insane stuff like Bobobo-Bobobobo is; but I was a might late to the party on that one. 

We get the next segment, “Himoji” to demonstrate exhibit B: much like “Jinbanyan’s Secret;” it’s proof that the course of action they’re taking is wasting the potential of the series on insipid comedy; when it has the potential for darker elements and treating its Yokai like characters, not just merchandise. 

Keita addresses Fumiko (again, if I do decide to play the games; I’m picking her, since the anime has essentially ruined Keita for me); who is partaking in a massive hot dog.

When Whisper is surprised at this, I must point out a common criticism of my associate, Mr. Enter: Pointing out your problems doesn’t make them go away!

Anyway, Fumiko worries if she’ll get fat. Personally, I like ladies with a little meat on their bones.

Keita rather tactlessly comments on this. My word, you’re an idiot. The answer is always no to that question, even when it’s yes! Especially when it’s yes!

Rather than own up to his mistake and apologize, Keita instead decides to blame the whole thing on a Yokai! Our hero, ladies and gentlemen!

They find the culprit in front of a convenience store. Look, I’ve seen Clerks. I expect a bit more for convenience store comedy.

He accuses the Yokai of making everyone go in, buy something and eat carelessly. Isn’t that the whole point of a convenience store? A large part of my diet involves huge Pepsis and Cosmic Brownies!

We are then formally introduced to Himoji, a Yokai of the Pokapoka class. I may not like this show; but I still try to learn about it to make sure I’m not talking out of my ass. 

Whisper insinuates that “every misconduct that’s the case of women’s anger is this Yokai’s fault.” That’s sexist, and I recapped “Princess VS Princess”.

Whisper then asks if Keita will go with force or negotiation. If this was Persona 3, he’d be eating bullets to decide this.

Whisper then encourages Keita to “go kick his ass.” That’s not gonna fly on American TV, largely because we have different standards on what’s acceptable for children than Japan does. We had to put Death Note on Adult Swim after all.

Keita tells Himoji it’s not nice to make someone buy something and eat carelessly. Tell that to Frito-Lay and Nabisco.

When this fails; he tries to come up with a new tactic. Perhaps you should try the Lamby dance.

He decides to summon Bakuroba, a Yokai from a previous episode to get Himoji to explain himself.

Only $9.95, while supplies last!

It turns out in what’s actually a very sad backstory; Himoji was once a real senior citizen who bought his granddaughter a teddy bear in that store.

While they were once very close, as the years went by; she drifted apart from him until he died and became a Yokai. Again, why can’t things like this be the focus? The best works in the genre include darker applications of Yokai in works like Princess Mononoke and YuYu Hakusho. If you want to make a merchandise-driven show, that’s fine; but why can’t we have more things about a Yokai seeing his granddaughter for the first time in years and making peace with himself?

Even so, Keita still manages to bungle his relationship with Fumiko by making fun of her weight again. Great job, dickhead. 

We now reach exhibit C in this trilogy of errors; “Wasurenbo.”

We get the appearance of Kuma’s mother bringing him his lunch; addressing his as Goro; which the subtitles point out means “rolling.” Skip it, I know what Goro means!

Kuma then bluntly tells his mother not to call him that. Still not as badass as Indiana Jones gunning down Nazis when he asks his father not to call him Junior.

Don't call me Junior!

This leads to further ridicule from his classmates, including his supposed friend Kanchi. Is there anyone in this anime who isn’t a total ass?

What do you know, it turns out Kanchi’s bag is empty. You know, like your head!

Whisper even points out Keita is missing his bag. Aren’t you supposed to be his butler, dick sauce? That’s what he calls himself, and the US release is giving him a British accent that’s about as convincing as Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Elizabeth Olsen’s eastern European accents in Ultron; only those characters are actually well-written!

Even the teacher has forgotten to get dressed for the day!

Oh no! I think I left the water running at home!

We are then introduced to Wasurenbo of the Fushigi class; who can erase people’s memories. He can erase my memory of this dreck. 

He then latches onto Whisper. And I thought my jokes were bad. 

This of course, erases his memory. Do you take your audience for fools? 

He even manages to erase Fumiko’s memory of the last episode. That’s going to be a key reason why this probably won’t work in the US. Despite the zany antics, the plot is not as easy for a child here to follow as a 10-year-old kid and his electric mouse friend catching all sorts of colorful creatures and having them engage in battle. This goes back to my rundown of the franchise to this point, people.

Even so, he laments the fact that humans easily erase stuff from their memory. I beg to differ, I’ve seen Inside Out, which shows it isn’t that easy.

Keith then summons Jinmenken to settle things. At least his stories are somewhat more interesting, which admittedly isn’t saying much. 

Due to his memory being too painful for him, Wasurenbo then surrenders to Keita. For the sake of argument, I am omitting the Jinmenken segment involving him being a hairdresser to talk about how the prospects for the franchise in the US don’t look all that promising for this holiday season.

As I mentioned above; the gaming market looks to be one of the most competitive ever over the coming year. The titles I mentioned are going to make the game VERY hard to stand out in a crowded market; even among the company that’s publishing it. My guess is that most kids that are in the target audience for Yo-Kai Watch will want to play Mario Maker instead.

As for the anime; I must once again reiterate the threshold of what’s acceptable for kids in Japan is much higher than it in the US. Fist of the North Star? Kids’ show in Japan. Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure? Kids’ show in Japan. Sword Art Online? Kids’ show in Japan. The US pitch alone indicates that there are going to be numerous edits and rewrites made.

With all this on the table, there is a distinct possibility the series will fail in the US. The fact that Inazuma Eleven; another Level-5 property, only has a small niche compared to being a nationwide phenomenon in Japan certifies this; as does the fact that Doraemon barely got a second season here despite being synonymous with Mickey Mouse or Bugs Bunny there.

The one silver lining in all this is that I now have something to detox with in advance. Next time, my Chinese Zodiac theme continues with the dog phase; and a look at some InuYasha! See you, space cowboy!