Manga UK Cancels Yo-Kai Watch Release
Once a multimedia behemoth that threatened even Pokémon‘s throne, plans to release Level-5’s Yo-Kai Watch anime on DVD in the United Kingdom have been cancelled, distributor Manga Entertainment announced in a tweet today and later clarified to Anime UK News.
The planned release suffered a number of roadblocks before this eventual cancellation. First announced in January 2017 for release that May, the title slipped numerous times, with Amazon most recently listing it with for 2 July 2018 – over a whole year since initially planned.
Manga UK describes the story of Yo-Kai Watch, as follows:
Primary school student Nate’s curiosity is as innocent as any other child’s his age. But when one day he decides to venture deeper into the forest, he encounters a small and mysterious capsule. Out from its depths comes Whisper. After 190 years of imprisonment, this ghost-like creature is glad that someone has been kind enough to set him free. He decides to reward Nate by becoming his guardian against supernatural forces. Whisper is one of many Yo-Kai that exist in the world, and provides Nate with a special Yo-Kai Watch, which enables him to see and interact with all the other Yo-Kai.
Yo-Kai Watch follows Nate, Whisper and the cat spirit Jibanyan as they encounter Yo-Kai, befriend them, fix all the trouble that they so often cause, and, with the help of the watch, use the powers of previously encountered Yo-Kai to aid them. Young Nate may have been just an ordinary primary school student when he first encountered the Yo-Kai, but the many adventures that follow his discovery provide him with invaluable experiences and precious life lessons that help him grow.
In addition to yet another hefty blow for Hello! Kinmoza announced earlier this week (new date: 2nd July 2018), Manga UK have also confirmed a delay for Haven’t You Heard? I’m Sakamoto, which will now also release on 2nd July 2018.
First broadcast in Japan during January 2014 and animated by OLM (Pokémon the Movie: I Choose You), the Yo-Kai Watch anime was broadcast for 214 episodes. Following a noted decline of interest in both the anime and video games, Yo-Kai Watch: Shadowside, a brand new series with a darker focus and set 30 years later, is set to premiere in Japan on 13th April 2018.
If you would still like to watch the first season of Yo-Kai Watch however, it is currently available for streaming on Netflix.
