While Pokémon is famous world-wide, Japan has another popular series that crosses through anime, gaming, and manga. Yo-Kai Watch isn’t as well-known in North America as Pokemon but is extremely successful in Japan.
Level 5’s CEO Akihiko Hino announced a new spin-off title in the Yo-Kai Watch series on Twitter.
テレビアニメ妖怪学園Yいかがでしたか！これを見た後に映画に行くと大惨事になりそうですがwそれはそれで大いに楽しめると思います！そして開発中のゲーム画面を少々。妖怪学園は妖怪ウォッチはとはまた違うタイプのシステムになります！お楽しみに！ pic.twitter.com/7OtI3AeU2P
— 日野晃博 (@AkihiroHino) December 27, 2019
Yo-Kai Academy Y is a spin-off title from the anime film Yo-Kai Watch Jam the Movie: Yo-Kai Academy Y – Can a Cat Be the Hero? and the sequel, released as a series, Yo-Kai Academy Y: Encounter With N. Both animated versions were released in Japan in late December.
Yo-Kai Academy Y – Can a Cat Be the Hero? is the sixth film in the Yo-Kai Watch franchise. Unlike the games and anime that were localized in North America, Yo-Kai Academy Y stars human-versions of Yo-Kai who are school-aged students at a private school.
The promotional trailer and artwork show humanized Jibanyan and Komasan, some of the series’ most popular characters. In the series, the characters have actual names: Jinpei Jiba and Sandayuu Koma.
The newest film isn’t the first time that the Yo-Kai Watch characters have been humanized. The third film Yo-Kai Watch the Movie: A Whale of Two Worlds, had Nate and his Yo-Kai buddies transformed into “real life” humans. Several of the Yo-Kai were portrayed by popular actors and actresses.
Little else is know about the game spin-off so far. Hino hasn’t made any further posts about the new game on Twitter. There’s also no information on which platforms the game will be released on. Previously, the Yo-Kai Watch series was primarily on Nintendo devices, but Yo-Kai Watch 4++ was also released on PlayStation 4 in Japan. Currently, the title has not been released outside of Japan.
Yo-Kai Academy Y will likely allow players to control different Yo-Kai as they attend school. The teaser screenshot shows Jibanyan in the center with other characters walking around. The building behind him shows the large “Y” of the academy he attends. There are 3D graphics with “chibi” versions of the characters.
It’s unknown how much, or how little, action the game will have. Hopefully, the new unique title will see a release to fans across the world.
More information for Yo-Kai Academy Y is expected to be released in 2020.
