Our first segment is entitled "A New Yo-Kai Watch," and I will forgive you if you're wondering if I have already done this part a couple years ago. I'm wondering the same thing, to be honest.
Apparently, Steve Jaws has resigned for lying about the creation of the Yo-Kai Watch; leading to him being replaced by Mark Orckerberg of the Slippery class. I will just deal with this as it comes.
 |
| First off, I am thirty-five years old, I am divorced, and I live in a van down by the river! |
All joking aside, the new voice cast actually isn't that bad. I'm not a big fan of the franchise overall, but most of the new voice actors seem to at least be trying to match their seniors while also develop their own performances, kind of like with Pokémon a few years back. Whisper definitely gives off a sort of nice "upper-class twit" voice; and at least the actor they picked for Orckerberg does a better impression of Zuckerberg than they did for Steve Jobs; even if it is as awkward as his senate hearings.
Anyway, the real reason for this livestream is revealed to be for the new Yo-Kai Watch Model U!
 |
| (Laughs awkwardly) You are no match for my "stoyle!" |
It turns out that the initial run is not open to the public, but fortunately, Hidabat was able to broker a deal to get the watch so Nate can use it! Once again, sorry about this joke, but... Hidabat, please come out of the closet!
However, Nate remains unimpressed by the watch, much to Whisper's chagrin; to the point that Whisper hits him twice! It also turns out that despite being a 10-minute sales pitch for this toy, there hasn't been anything else released here as of this writing; though the watch has shown up in European markets such as France and Spain (arguably the series' most-successful non-Japanese markets).
 |
| Yo-Kai Watch Model U has not yet been announced for US release? "Shit, Pokémon makes this look so easy." |
I must also note that it's not like the previous cast has totally gone away, since they're still working on some of the songs and are contractually obligated for the games; and I will address that further in a moment.
For now, I'm honestly surprised they kept this bit with the expandable SD Card slot, which appears to have been omitted from the Hasbro version of the watch in favor of doubling down on the infamous "Yo-Motion" gimmick that contributed to the toy's less-than-stellar performance.
So, the segment ends with Nate deciding to keep the old watches in addition to his new one, and is even given a new medal from the source of his fourfold disappointment: Cornfused! Yes, really.
 |
| To think people are so down on Trubbish and Vanillite. |
Overall, despite some folks on social media being disappointed by the new cast; overall, they seem fine to me. In spite of the #NotMyWhisper tag, even though I didn't immediately recognize their names, I did recognize the new cast's work from checking their filmography. This time they actually hired voice actors, not some random guys in a bar.
The next segment in this double dip of crazy is Hailey Anne and USAPyon's Rocket Part 1: The Engine, roughly translated. While some people heard "Invader Mode" instead of "Vader Mode" (as well as read it in the closed captions), I honestly don't want to turn this into an even dumber version of the "Yanny/Laurel" thing; especially with how many Pokémon pronunciations we've had.
The first part of the rocket model is an engine, and they have to find Blazion to power it! I'm just going on record that I never really thought really highly of these segments in Japanese, but I have seen worse.
While USAPyon believes Blazion is at the tennis court, Hailey Anne correctly insinuates he's at the concert hall! As an aside, if USAPyon thinks idol singer fans are crazy, he should try partying with deadheads sometime.
Anyway, after a bit with a language barrier that had to be heavily rewritten and re-edited for the dub, Blazion grudgingly agrees to give them his medal. Both Abdallah and Sergio from Level-5 seemed to agree that if the third game is ever localized, is that mission will definitely have to be reworked; if not outright cut entirely in my case. They've already had to walk back some of the changes of the previous seasons in this one. As I said before, there isn't really much point in changing the onscreen text when the other 90% of each shot roars Japanese. The less I say about how badly they handled Whisper's backstory, the better.
 |
| By jove, I declare this inconsistent dubbing is balderdash, codswallop and tommy-rot! |
So, we close on Hailey Anne and USAPyon completing the first 20% of the model, with more installments to come! By the way, I'm not doing the infamous beach episode; and they're actually calling the dub title words to that effect.
While this may not be the worst episode I've covered here, there's just something about the Yo-Kai Watch series that never really seems to reach the same heights of most other anime like it. Using Nate and Whisper's arguments about the watch as an illustration in this episode, I think the basic argument is this even if the big ones are still ongoing: it's not the worst series; but it's been struggling because it's not universally-loved or as easily-accessible as Pokémon is. The animation is bright and colorful, and the voice acting is somewhat better than before, but it's still not something I can value as much as others.
It also turns out that Nintendo still hasn't unveiled their full slate of releases for 2018, so there are still unconfirmed reports of an official localization of the third game. Moreover, both Reggie Fils-Amie and Shuntaro Furukawa have reaffirmed their support of the 3DS through 2020 and begun talk of another new version. So much for a handheld that's sold 73 million units "dying." It's almost like people are capable of learning, despite claims otherwise!
Still, it will be interesting to see how this plays out over the remainder of the year, especially with how competitive this season will be for gaming. It will be a major challenge for Yo-Kai Watch to rebrand itself amid Pokémon continuing its dominance. I submit Blasters will be the real litmus test to break out. Given the changes to the game and launching against the PS4 Spider-Man game, however, I submit they still have an uphill battle on their hands. On that note, I shall start work on more recaps before I go see my father later this month. See you, space cowboy.
No comments:
Post a Comment