Yo-Kai Watch Shadowside First Impressions, Thoughts on Yo-Kai Watch 4 on Switch.

Hello again everyone. After I expressed my dislike of the original Yo-Kai Watch anime for its 214 episodes and first 3 films (not officially recapping the third unless I hear official confirmation of Yo-Kai Watch 3 being localized); I was definitely one of the people who was more onboard with Shadowside being a total rebrand of the series.

Now that I have seen some of it as well as heard news of Yo-Kai Watch 4 and future Level-5 titles being made for the Switch... I actually think it's workable? As well as something that actually isn't that bad? Is... this what hope feels like?

Please note that even though I haven't seen the Shadowside movie yet, there will be some spoilers for the initial episodes of the anime. Also, regardless of whether or not Yo-Kai Watch 3 is localized, the fourth game being on Switch will be less of an issue since it's not region-locked. So, let's get this started.


The series takes place 30 years after the events of the original anime, with the Keita and the other human characters thankfully having made way for a new group of heroes. As mentioned before, there is Akinori, the eldest son of a family of fortune tellers; Touma, a young man whose parents are often away on business, and Natsume; a young woman who is apparently Keita’s daughter. There’s also her   younger brother Keisuke, who seems reluctant to accept the idea of paranormal phenomena, least of all these confounded yokai. Sounds familiar, doesn’t it?

As someone who was raised on the likes of YuYu Hakusho and AMC Fear Fest, I was very unimpressed by the original series’ portrayal of the premise as a cutesy “neighborhood investigation series” (when I Googled that term, I got an absurd amount of results from Investigation Discovery). To me, the fans’ view of “chill and comfy” instead translated to “safe and boring.” That’s been one of my major complaints with the series for a long time. Given how TV ratings and sales have slowed to a crawl even in Japan, it’s exactly what I said would happen. If I must bring up one big parallel with Pokémon, it’s that the series needed to evolve in order adapt to a changing market, regardless of what many fans believe.

Fortunately, this anime has downplayed or outright discarded many elements that were holding the series back in my eyes. While the jokes and toys are still there, they have been significantly changed; and not just with how the medals have given way to keys instead.  I also have no real objections to bizarre Japanese humor (I love shows like Bobobo and Mr. Osumatsu, for example), but this anime actually got some chuckles out of me by focusing less on puns and random nonsense and more on surrealism and dry wit. Given current events, the latter kind of comedy is more my forte lately.

Moreover, the supernatural horror and action elements definitely help the show live up to its potential more. If anything, the Shadowside anime has more in common with Ni no Kuni and Gegege no Kitaro (which is also having a revival and a crossover was in the movie) than the original anime, and is all the better for it.

The animation is still the strongest element, and the spooky new atmosphere is one of the things I'm liking most about the show. While Whisper and Jibanyan benefit from the new setting, I'd have to say that out of the redesigned yokai, Komasan is probably my favorite. His "Light side" form reminds me of a downscaled version of Ameratsu from Okami, and his "Shadowside" form resembles a smaller version of a Colossi from Shadow of the Colossus (looking into the PS4 remaster soon, hopefully they can do Ico soon to complete the Team Ico "trilogy" of sorts).

While not all fans know what to make of the rebrand just yet, I'm actually glad that they're actually bringing elements of action and nightmare fuel to the forefront. Notably, while Keisuke is a skeptic about the idea of yokai, I submit he probably represents some of the fans are resisting the change to the franchise's tone. It's worth noting that (spoiler alert!) he tries to pursue the same nonviolent solutions as his father and gets his ass kicked by gangsters and yokai. Moreover, they actually acknowledge that people can get hurt or killed by the actions of the yokai; and don't try to pull back from the dark elements like they have before. Given how this actually might be the first part of the series that actually might have a chance of being successful outside its home country, this might be a valuable lesson for the powers that be: don't resist the darkness, embrace it!

Since all of these are elements I suggested in some of my previous recaps of the series, I certainly believe that the fourth game on the Switch can use this to make a more interesting story than what's come before. I can understand how not everyone is happy about the news, but much like fellow series such as Pokémon, Digimon and Yu-Gi-Oh; a series has to adapt to changing tastes in order to stay profitable. If video game series didn't, we'd all still be playing Pong; I'd be wearing JNCOs and typing this on a Commodore Amiga. Given the circumstances of when you'll see this post, that will be all till the next episode. Bang.