Once again, I am dismayed that I have not been able to do as much work on my next recaps as I'd like to; with me officially citing the August heat wave affecting my judgment.
With that in mind, it seems Yo-Kai Watch is on track to launch by November 6; with the anime being aired on Disney XD to promote the video game by Level-5, published by Nintendo in the US.
I intend to do one more recap of the series prior to this in October, as per my tradition of doing Halloween-related material that month. Barring that, you'll probably see more after the series officially launches in the US; since there'll clearly be a lot to talk about.
It also seems the game will be pitted against Call of Duty: Black Ops III, a setup which has not fared well in the past for other family-friendly game counter-programming to M-rated entries with devoted fanbases. In particular, Rayman Origins sales suffered against the launch of Grand Theft Auto V.
On top of that, I must once again point out the IP is going up against a murderer's row of anticipated entries from established series such as Mario Maker, Guitar Hero Live; Rock Band 4, Star Fox Zero; and Star Wars Battlefront, among others. That's to say nothing of the anime being broadcast on Disney XD. It's not like referring to the doriyaki in Doraemon as "yummy buns;" the US pitch and theme song smell of extensive edits for content.
Although 26 episodes have been ordered; the concept is so intertwined with Japanese folklore that it probably won't appeal to US children the same way stuff like Gravity Falls and Star Wars Rebels have; to say nothing of the surprise hit Star VS The Forces of Evil (essentially a Western-made magical girl series, mind you). When the anime attempts to use a meta-reference to the show's production via a fictionalized account of toy marketing, are kids in the US going to understand if they should laugh? Call me crazy, but Komasan isn't exactly Tom Hanks in Big; even if I do still find his stories somewhat more entertaining than the ones centered on Keita. That's not even getting into if certain elements or segments are totally removed (my associate Kohdok pointed out the Jinmenken segments in his look at the series; even if I do find them more interesting the the main stories).
Even so, I don't think the series will be the Pokémon killer everyone else says it's going to be. Going up against a franchise with a sizable established fanbase is rarely an easy task; but launching against an FPS franchise with a reputation for many things, including a lucrative teenage and adult market is essentially retail suicide. Unless Nintendo can help distinguish the game from other ones that have come and gone, Black Ops III could do more than kill Yo-Kai Watch here. It could very well ram a stake through its heart, cut off its head, and shove a bunch of garlic down its throat.
With all this on the table, I will get back to work on a couple recaps I have in mind to further illustrate this point. Bang.
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