Let’s start with the performance of “Yo-Kai Watch 4++” in sales. When this expansion of “Yo-Kai Watch 4” launched on December 5, many hoped this would kickstart sales of the game; especially after the title being the first to release on the Playstation 4. This hasn’t happened: on the contrary, “Yo-Kai Watch 4++” has only sold around 10,000 copies at launch on Nintendo Switch, with the PS4 port selling just under 3,000 copies; placing that version outside the top 30 on Famitsu’s charts. To date, the Switch version has only sold 20,000 copies for this expansion; with sales for the PS4 version yet to be confirmed. These are absolutely abysmal numbers for consoles that have respective install bases of 41 million units and 100 million units as of this writing. By contrast, “Pokémon Sword and Shield” have sold well over 6 million copies since their launch; becoming the fastest-selling Switch title to date, surpassing “Super Smash Bros. Ultimate” from last year. This expansion only brings the sales of “Yo-Kai Watch 4” to a meager 303,000 units as of this writing for all versions, and the sales of the Switch remaster of the first “Yo-Kai Watch” haven’t had concrete numbers to report since its launch. In many ways, this reminds me of when Sega tried to release three different consoles in three years one after the other: the Sega CD, the 32X and the Saturn, all of which being met with mixed reception and mediocre sales. Though Level-5 still intends to give the game an English localization, it remains to be seen how that would work. He also wants to localize some of the movies that have yet to be released, but that also hasn’t been made clear how it will work. The second has only seen a release on Latin American and Spanish-speaking countries, and the TV series has been dropped from Disney XD as of this year. My guess is that putting them on digital streaming would be the way to go, given how the anime never became the ratings success the English dubbers hoped it would; which makes a good segue into my next subject.
On December 13, “Yo-Kai Watch Jam Project The Movie: Yokai Academy Y (Can A Cat Really Be a Hero?)” was released in theaters in Japan with an absurdly long title. Much like Shadowside before it, the film is essentially the feature-length pilot for the anime of the same name. I will also note that with the Shadowside’s underperformance, and the outright failure of the Forever Friends movie last year, Level-5 said they would not be making more spinoffs that did not feature characters already established beforehand. Now, they’re releasing something that fills a loophole in that edict by making a High School AU; a la My Little Pony Equestria Girls, and also piggybacking on the success of My Hero Academia (both series I actually prefer, but I digress). So, how did this fare upon release?
Well, despite heavy promotion, the film has outright flopped at the Japanese box office; opening at number 4 behind the Japanese releases of “Frozen II” and “Jumanji: The Next Level” as well as “Shijin-sou no Satsujin,” making just over the equivalent of $1 million USD in its opening weekend. This is also roughly half of what the fifth film made in its opening, leaving an uncertain fate for this part of the series; let alone the franchise going forward. This was a Hail Mary pass that ended up being judged a safety, and though the TV series will be starting on the 27th; I don’t know how it will do given the movie’s underperformance.
This also casts a shadow over Level-5’s other plans; with a localization of “The Snack World” in 2020 for English-speaking regions and the development of “Megaton Musashi,” “Ushiro” and the new “Inazuma Eleven” being chief among them. It’s truly ironic that the third “Yo-Kai Watch” game, a title that was deliberately developed to appeal to Western audiences ended up having the lowest sales in the entire franchise; selling just 4,000 copies at retail in NA amid competition from Kingdom Hearts III and the remake of Resident Evil 2; as well as the 3DS slowly but surely making way for the Switch. There is talk of most of Level-5’s branches outside Japan closing, though this has yet to be confirmed as I type this. It wouldn’t surprise me personally, but it is another thing to consider going forward.
So, let’s see how all this fares. Even with “The Snack World” having an English dub in production by 3Beep (best known for the dub of the series “Winx Club”), there has yet to be confirmation of an official airdate since its debut at Anime Expo this year. The video game will also be launching on the Nintendo Switch on February 14, forgoing its release on the Nintendo 3DS. It remains to be seen how it will perform, as reception to the changes made to the English release has been mixed. “Inazuma Eleven: Ares” aired on Disney XD after “Yo-Kai Watch” ended its run, and hasn’t pulled the same ratings on the Anime Block its fellow series “Pokémon” and “Beyblade Burst Turbo.” The video game for that has been delayed so much that its title has been changed. “LBX: Little Battler’s Experience” stumbled out the starting gate, which it never recovered from. “Dragon Quest” was never fully theirs to begin with (despite some work on a few entries, generally more Square-Enix’s doing). “Dark Cloud” and its sequel are currently entangled in rights issues with Sony preventing a third game or even remasters of the first two (though they are available on PSN store under the “PS2 Classics” banner). “White Knight Chronicles” was a nonstarter that the company has distanced themselves from. The only franchises that have succeeded outside their homeland are the “Professor Layton” and “Ni No Kuni,” largely thanks to having proper promotion to their target audience and grassroots support from fans. Most importantly, they didn’t try to puff them up into something they weren’t. Even series creator Akihiro Hino admitted the success of “Yo-Kai Watch” surprised him, which may be why the franchise has yet to find a real identity beyond “charming” and “yokai cause hijinks, hilarity ensues.” With the newest game and movie being outright bombs even in their native Japan, that’s not a good sign for the future.
I mean, other franchises in a similar vein have been able to figure this out. Despite not everyone liking all versions the same, each iteration of “Pokémon,” “Digimon” and “Yu-Gi-Oh” has a distinct style and tone. Before any of them get released, the creators typically have a long-term plan for what they want to do and how they want to do it for the stories they tell. Even other Level-5 IPs I mentioned earlier were distinct for the developers, both released and in development. From my understanding, “Yo-Kai Watch” didn’t really have any long-term plans beyond each individual iteration. Six years in, this business model may not be sustainable for the series or the company. On top of the branches outside Japan potentially closing, there are also reports of tumult inside the main branch; ranging from an exodus of development staff and failure to bring in partners for other projects. Again, these have yet to be confirmed; but even Hino himself admits he wants to win back the confidence of fans and audiences. In order to do this, he himself has admitted that he wants to release more content on schedule that gets players excited for what comes next. So far, none of the company’s current or future projects are off to a good start for meeting any of these criteria.
Using “Shadowside” (which I prefer to the main anime and its 2019 revival) as a yardstick, after the film released to decent but not spectacular box office amid a decline from the previous movies (and the Japanese release of “Star Wars: The Last Jedi”); the TV series debuted in 2018; lasting one season after its main story arc concluded (though its characters do play a part in the fourth game’s story). With the “Jam Project” starting its airing in Japan on December 27, I can expect something similar; though it’s going to have an uphill battle given how the games and movie are doing as of late. It also doesn’t help that as opposed to more modern J-Pop acts, the film’s song was performed by Pink Lady, who are nowadays more known for a series of scandals and starring in a terrible variety TV show that was intended to save their careers; but instead ended their popularity and killed that genre in the process. (Note: For more information on that last one, see TV Guide’s “50 Worst Shows of All Time”, the Agony Booth’s recaps of the complete series, and its entry in the book “What Were they Thinking: The 100 Dumbest Events in Television History” by David Hofstede. The show was also notable for being a factor in NBC’s then-head Fred Silverman being ousted in favor of Brandon Tartikoff replacing him; who subsequently rescued the network from bankruptcy after Silverman’s failures.) I still think digital streaming would be the best outlet for future anime content outside Japan, especially given how Hino wants to localize the fourth and fifth movies alongside the upcoming Western localization of “Yo-Kai Watch 4” so as not to confuse audiences who haven’t seen them.
As for the games, that’s harder to guess. Given how the series never achieved the success that was expected outside Japan, I’m thinking that releasing “Yo-Kai Watch 4” as a digital-only title on the Nintendo eShop and PSN store would probably be the way to go. By that same token, I don’t know how “The Snack World” will perform when it launches. There hasn’t been an announcement yet about the TV series airing or the toys, special treasures known as “Jaras” (that function kind of like Nintendo’s Amiibo figurines for unlocking special content), and the game has an interesting place for its launch next Valentine’s day. On one hand, “The Last of Us Part II” has been delayed to May 2020 to help polish the game more before it ships. On the other, there are numerous other titles in the same launch window competing for attention in Q1. These include, but are not limited to the highly-anicipated remakes of “Final Fantasy VII” and “Warcraft III,” but also new titles in established series such as “Ori and the Will and the Wisps.” “Animal Crossing: New Horizons” and “Doom Eternal.” Bringing up other anticipated games such as “Cyberpunk 2077” and the remake of “Resident Evil 3: Nemesis” would just be overkill. I also think that the mecha game “Megaton Musashi” and the horror-themed “Ushiro” could work; with Hino openly admitting the case of the latter game it allows him to do things he can’t with Yo-Kai Watch.
Given how vastly the series has declined and the current situation with the company, the potential consequences at hand are immeasurable. So this isn't a total downer, I will state this: if and when "Mewtwo Strikes Back Evolution" releases an English dub; I will review the movie here in full. I know that there are people working on subtitling the JP movie; but I try to support the official release every chance I get (I will probably watch the subs when they come out though). One last thing: I may have a surprise ready for the winter solstice, and I will begin work on it before I go see Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker this evening. That will be all for now. Later.
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