On the Subject of Yo-Kai Watch Launching in Europe.

I know I just posted a recap yesterday; but I felt the need to address this matter further.

On April 29, the Yo-Kai Watch game and anime are slated for release in Europe. This is partially serving as a message to any readers I have in those regions; but also to express my thoughts about it.

The demo for the game is currently live for European regions; along with the fact that information on the sequels being localized is highly conspicuous by its absence.

Although many fan sites and Tumblr posts have claimed the demo does not accurately portray the full game; which led to the game not selling well in the US, I'm going to offer some counterpoints to their arguments.

Fans insinuated that the demo quickly explained the mechanics of the game and gave the player little time to adapt; I will have to play devil's advocate and state I had the opposite problem. I found the gameplay, while competent; to be too simple compared to Level-5's other titles. While simplicity is by no means bad for any video game, I very rarely lost any Yo-Kai battles; barring the last one against Dismerelda before the demo ends. By contrast, I found the battle system of Ni No Kuni from the same developer highly engaging; which led to me finally getting the game after requesting it as a birthday present (to say nothing of a planned sequel that has me seriously considering getting a PS4 in the near future).

I also concede the Pokémon comparison is highly difficult to exclude; but even when I removed that from the equation, I found the experience to be a disappointment compared to other anticipated games coming out around that time. As one of my associates on YouTube pointed out; who shall remain undisclosed: "Pokémon has such a complex battling system, and Yo-Kai is so easy even a toddler could win."

I'm not kidding: outside the Dismerelda battle, I very rarely lost any Yo-Kai battles, to the point where I could win just putting in the bare minimum of effort. I often just had one hand on my 3DS while the other was surfing through my Netflix queue.

While all this had me decide against buying the game at full price; it still at least has me considering getting a used copy in the near future.

As for the anime: I've long felt that it lacks many of the more engaging storytelling or diverse characterization that other works of its type have. To this day, Spirited Away is still my favorite Miyazaki film because of how it shows that the world of Japanese mythology can be beautiful; dark and moving. The Yo-Kai Watch anime is a noisy, chattery and ungainly manufactured widget designed to give small children the impression they're watching an anime. While Hino's intention was to make a modern-day Doraemon; Keita and Jinbanyan lack the more human qualities that made the title character and Nobita so endearing. Nobita may not be the best student or athlete; but he is highly relatable due to being written like a small child in the target audience or that an adult viewer once was. Nobita was "us", and Doraemon is his friend and guide throughout life (to the point where an unofficial finale had his technology's power running out and Nobita responding by becoming a graduate student and robotics expert in order to save his friend). Even after more than 100 episodes; Keita and Jinbanyan still feel more like licensed commodities more than characters.

Lastly, I must state there is nothing wrong with being influenced by something that came before. Power Rangers began as an adaptation of the Super Sentai series before it became its own distinct series with its own identity. Sonic the Hedgehog was deliberately designed to be Mario's polar opposite; Sega's own mascot if you will. The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were largely a parody of many superhero tropes and animal teams of the time (notably Frank Miller's run on Daredevil). Star Wars was heavily influenced by early Flash Gordon serials as well as "jidai geki" films such as "The Hidden Fortress." Star Trek has many similarities to naval works as well as trappings of a "wagon train to the stars" series.

Still, it remains to be seen whether or not Yo-Kai Watch can succeed in Europe where it failed in America; to say nothing if it can maintain the level of longevity Pokémon has enjoyed over 20 years and will continue to do so. Whatever the case, I will continue to follow this situation; as it's clear that the potential to analyze and deconstruct what's going on amid the two is endless. Now, I think I'll go back to mulling over what I want to do for my next recap. See you, space cowboy.