There is so much going on right ow for the house of mouse; from theatrical films, Disney Channel Original Movies, several great series on their various channels, and more. Lately, we have had a large wave of strong and diverse content from Disney hit us in the past few months in the form of announcements and actually arrivals of properties. Some of it caught fans off guard with literally no advance warning and others had been hinted at for months.
One of the more recent acquisitions from Disney is the television rights “Yo—Kai Watch!” The popular anime series now has a state-side home on Disney XD. Dentsu Entertainment USA, the agent for this series in America, has struck a deal with the folks at Disney to have the twenty-six episode count season air on Disney XD sometime next year.
The series’ roots link back to the popular Japanese gameco Level 5’s Nintendo 3DS that has the same name. According to the various press releases, the series is summarized as the following:
Yo-kai Watch is about a human boy who works with the mischievous and mysterious Yo-kai to solve everyday problems, often caused by other trouble-making Yo-kai.The series was created with extensive research of kids’ perspectives, to capture what they worry about in everyday situations.
Going off the summary alone there probably will be a great deal of comedy, adventure, humor and some slice-of-life aspects mixed together as we see the highs and lows of the relationship between the characters and where their adventures (or misadventures) will end up leading them.
Even though the series has only existed for about eighteen months it has already hooked fans from their native Japan and anime fans across the globe. Similarly to a lot of popular animes, the series has expanded out with a wide array of merchandise and goods including video games and music.
But fans, new and old, will not have to haunt online retailers like Amazon, AmiAmi, CDJapan, HobbyLink Japan and the likes to seek out goods of their favorite and beloved characters. Oh no, the power house toy company famous for My Little Pony and other great brands, Hasbro, has signed on to create a range of toys for the North American market that will be coming gout after the anime’s Disney debut.
Even though I have never seen or heard much of Yo-Kai, it is rather exciting news that I am sure long-time fans of the series are thrilled about. The idea of seeing a favorite anime on a major network can be very dream-like, and prospect of take a trip your favorite retailer and being able to easily pick a figure off the shelf from said anime- I cannot image that. It is surely a great time for Yo-Kai fans.
Despite the fact that Disney is usually good with their series, both on the original format and acquired series, I hope that Yo-Kai does not have to go through changes from the original Japanese version to the new dub. Granted there are times when things might have to be edited for a lot of reasons, maybe it is not something that is proper for the specific demographic and ect., and that is understandable. But going and doing edits that are not that necessary and stray greatly from the source material… well, that is not. There is a reason why a series is popular and why it is go greatly loved, and changing things takes away from the magic.
Anime is a great medium and opens the door to different art-styles and ways of story-telling, anime is full of dreams.
Join the conversation and tell us what you think of this latest news from Disney. If you are a major anime fan like myself, is there a series you would like to see on a major network? Share your thoughts with us!
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