I did a review on this but I felt I was a bit too hot head about it and ever since there has been a lot of changes towards the show. So i thought of starting fresh and writing a new one.
It's no lie that I have been a fan of Yo Kai watch for a really long time. All I have to say is it's a good show for kids and adults to laugh and enjoy.
Just to get one thing clear Yo Kai Watch is NOT a ripoff of Pokemon or even Digimon it is just doing it's own thing and it is mostly a comedy like anime then action. There is action involved and heartwarming scenes but not as many however, it is still watchable and a whole load of fun. Yes I have to admit there are some bad episode and few of them can come off too lazy but majority the episodes are good.
This show is based on Japanese folklore which include supernatural monsters, spirits and demons. These are called Yokai which are monster like supernatural creatures that may inspirit you and cause you to do thing you would unexpectedly do or change your behaviour in a very odd way. Once the individual has been uninspired they would have no memory of there action.
Another thing which I do like is the animation it works well with the each scene and it is suit quite well with the art style. Both character and Yo Kai designs are very well drawn. I also think the characters are very well developed and I do think they are very likeable once when you get used to them.
As for the dubbing it's not bad and unpopular opinion but I personally think Johnny Yong Bosch was very good as Nate, I do agree on some stage or other its not easy for a grown to sound young i.e Dee Bradley Baker from many different cartoons even now he is good at voicing young boys from any age. He might not be as good as Dee is but it's still an appropriate voice for an 11 year old and doesn't come off annoying or irritating whats so ever. The rest of the cast apart from the person who voiced Eddie are perfectly fine.
But sometime in December or January due to budget cuts the whole cast got fired and new voice actors took over. The new voice actors okay Griffin Burns pretty good as Nate even though it's not as good as Johnny Yong Bosch's voice but it's still a good performance, Kira Buckland is somewhat close to Alicyn Packard's voice as Jibanyan. However, Whispers new voice actor.................................................I am sorry but no Michael doesn't sound anything close to Joey whatsoever. Michael is a good voice actor don't get me wrong Michael is a good voice, i.e I enjoyed his role as The White Coat on Coppelion but his voice as Whisper is just bad. But I do think Bryce Papenbrook is better as Eddie then Brent Pendergrass ever was.
The dub is nowhere near bad as how 4Kids used to dub as one person here thinks. 4Kids were nothing more then an excuse to dub anime as they cenored too much even small bearable things. (Changing rice ball to donuts seriously??) or (having pointing fingers instead of guns). This person also in compared this to Attack on Titans which I see no logic in. When they completely too different scenes. Apart from having a lead male protagonist and both English and Japanese voice actors of Eren are involved in this show. That's all I can think of. However, I have to thank this person for getting me into One Punch man and FLCL. As for the whole 4Kids and the One Piece thing which a few people have mentioned I am going to leave a link here if you want to learn the full story about that: http://onepiece.wikia.com/wiki/4Kids_Entertainment
Not trying to pick on anyone but there was another revier who claimed this anime is worse than Teen Titans Go!, PPG 2016 and Sonic Boom which was just a nonsense in my opinion. I am not into sonic so I have no word about sonic boom but Teen Titans Go! is nothing but an insult towards DC animation's legacy and useless kiddy garbage and it deserves to stay that way and PPG 2016 I may not be a fan but it is a massive slap in the face to the original fans. Yo Kai Watch is nothing like the two shows which I have mentioned.
However, I feel that when Disney are dubbing this they seem to cenor even the smallest things. I get that somethings have to be appropriate for a USA and UK audience like not having nudity, alcohol, smoking or drugs in the kids show. But when Disney are doing it they so miss out a lot of details. They don't cenor as much as 4Kids but still.
I get that Japanese voice can be irritating to listen to, I am not a fan of the voice acting in the Japanese voice acting but trust me it would be worth it better theme tune, more mature and better story in detail. Unless if Viz could release uncut version with the same voice actors from both eras. I am afraid this might be the logical option. I forgot to mention the English dub missed out an entire segment which is another reason to watch. the Japanese version. Try it you won't regret it. Watch an episode of the english dub and watch an episode of the english subbed and see how different it is.
The only other drawback to the show is the Yo Kai Exercise which in my opinion is just the cringiest thing I have ever seen. But other that it's a pretty good anime for young kids and people like monster collecting animes especially if you are into Pokemon and Digimon.
