So, another E3 is winding down. What did you all think of the show this year? This year still looks to be very big for gaming; as does the next. Things I'm looking forward to include Zelda: Breath of the Wild, The Last Guardian, ReCore, the Telltale Batman series, Insomniac's Spider-Man game; Paper Mario Color Splash; and the NX (to say nothing of Sony and Microsoft's next consoles).
Of course, if you've been following this blog long enough this year; you know I'm very excited for Pokémon Sun and Moon. To celebrate the 20th anniversary of this long-running RPG series, Nintendo and Game Freak are pulling out all the stops to make it an entertaining experience for both longtime fans like me as well as appeal to a new generation of fans. With the presentation at E3 unveiling new Pokémon and the newly-minted 4-player "Battle Royal" mode; it looks to add more sales to more than 200 million units across the board (not to mention the app Pokémon Go launching in July).
On that note, (sighs); I must once again address relative newcomer Yo-Kai Watch. Despite the original game only selling around 400,000 units in the US; Level-5 and Akihiro Hino are staking much more with the sequels: Yo-Kai Watch 2: Bony Spirits and Fleshy Souls. They also want to continue with the anime and merchandise; despite the fact that both of those have been underperforming as well.
It's been about a year since I first started writing about the series; and have received both incentive to continue as well as requests to stop. I feel more compelled about the former than the latter; since I intend to finish what I started.
Why am I doing this when some unnamed parties say "if you don't like it, don't watch it?" Why continue when others feel I've made my point?
It's that kind of rationale that has convinced me to write this post to further illustrate my feelings on the matter; as well as offer some more counterpoints to some other feedback I've gotten and other articles I've read on the matter. However, I'm once again going to offer something that's been lacking since this whole debate started: an outsider's perspective. That's what I've been trying to convey for a while; but I thought it would be best to try this before I do any more of my planned recaps of the anime: to give my experience as a stranger in a strange land.
I started looking into the series when I found out the sequels outperformed Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire in Japan; as well as how the anime series was routinely going toe-to-toe with Pokémon in terms of popularity and played a large part in popularizing the series there.
Curious, I decided to see what the fuss was about. The results were... not what I was hoping for. Roughly 10 minutes into the pilot episode; I found myself confused by the goofy imagery, nonsensical jokes and standard character types. As it went on; I thought to myself, "my word, this is terrible." By that point; the XY series was building on the successes of prior Pokémon series with how it handled the story of the games; thus, I wasn't impressed with Yo-Kai Watch essentially being glorified fluff.
I kept watching just to make sure I wasn't "getting it," but at some point, I just said "to Hell with it" and decided to start turning my disappointment into content for my site.
As it turns out, I found out I wasn't alone in how I felt. Despite some fans being confident the two series could coexist, at that point; a great many people had no intention of coexisting. I used to be fairly confident in that mentality; now, I'm not so sure. Nor am I sure about the future of Yo-Kai Watch in the US.
While I am still confident that Pokémon will still be around in another 20 years; there's no guarantee the same thing can be said for Yo-Kai Watch at this time. Even though Nintendo, Disney XD and Hasbro intend to give the series a larger push for the sequels; there's no real indication that they'll have the same effect of kickstarting the franchise in America the way they did in Japan.
To be fair, the games don't release until September 30, which will allow breathing room for Sun and Moon as well as avoid repeating the mistake of launching against Call of Duty (even though Infinite Warfare is facing record-low preorder numbers). Still, my suggestion would actually be to not try to shotgun the whole thing into "the next Pokémon," which hasn't happened. It should be marketed as its own IP with its own identity; since that comparison did gain some converts, but also angered many Pokémon fans such as myself. While those who like both series do have some valid points on the matter, it doesn't change the fact that on a fundamental level; the US really hasn't taken to the series the way its fans might have you believe.
My point is, the idea of fanboyism is losing its impact. I represent a distracted and annoyed center.
I still plan to get a used copy of the game in light of this news; but I'm also in the process of watching some let's plays on the game from some lesser-known channels, because of how I wasn't interested in watching ones from YouTubers who were obsessed with the game. I just wanted a take from regular people like me who may not have known what to make of the demo.
It remains to be seen what future, if any; Yo-Kai Watch has in America, to say nothing of Japan planning a third game and movie for this year. I still have some episodes of Yo-Kai Watch I want to do, as well as the first movie; but you probably won't see them until after my recap of Pokémon 3 is done. I still don't think I was wrong, by any stretch of the imagination; but given how some people reacted; I guess I could have explained how I felt better, much as I'm doing now. So, I may be taking a different approach with any future Yo-Kai Watch recaps I write; including the ones I do after Pokémon 3. That's all for now. See you space cowboy.
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