Yo-Kai Watch Writer Reacts to Internet's Plea About Saving the Anime
If you have never heard of Yo-Kai Watch, now might be the time to check on the series. The show [...]
If you have never heard of Yo-Kai Watch, now might be the time to check on the series. The show has often been compared to giants like Digimon and Pokemon, but Yo-Kai Watch failed to nab the same attention as the champs overseas. In fact, the Western fandom for the supernatural series has dwindled something fierce in the last few years, but a recent plea to save the franchise has caught the attention of its writers online.
For those who do not know, Yo-Kai Watch hit up the trending section of Twitter the other day out of nowhere. The fandom felt it was time to trend the hashtag in order to show the franchise's execs that there is still interest in its story. This came after the latest Yo-Kai Watch game failed to get an English localization announcement, and the trending tag worked really well.
Here’s a small social experiment:
Lets get #SaveYoKaiWatch trending!
A lot of interest in the series went down, as many people forgot about the series. I wanna try and fix that!
Post about it as much as you can! pic.twitter.com/sBpqs62C4F
— Yo-Kai Watch Reanimated #SaveLevel5US (@YoKai_Reanimate) March 11, 2021
In fact, it managed to make its way to Yoichi Kato, the screenwriter behind the Yo-Kai Watch anime. The writer tweeted a picture of the post that originally got the series trending online, and they were thrilled to see so many people showing love for the franchise.
This excitement was seconded by David H. Steinberg, the writer who adapted the anime into English for stateside fans. He tweeted, "Oh my swirls! I wrote 93 episodes of Yōkai Watch but I could probably do a few more!"
Clearly, there is still interest in Yo-Kai Watch overseas, but a lack of promotions and marketing has damaged its lofty status. It has been a few years since toys based on the series were released in the United States, but fans are still holding out hope there is more to come for Yo-Kai Watch. After all, a new anime is joining the series in Japan this April, so a comeback might be on its way yet!
Did you ever get into Yo-Kai Watch? Or was the series after your time? Share your thoughts with us in the comments section below or hit me up on Twitter @MeganPetersCB.