Curtain call for Yo-Kai Watch on Canadian TV?
Level-5’s Japanese sensation Yo-Kai Watch might be coming to an end on Canadian television. The show’s seventy-fourth episode, “Country Folk’ll Try Anything Once: The Electronics Store” is scheduled to air this Saturday at 2PM on Teletoon. Online schedules are indicating that’ll be the last time Yo-Kai Watch airs on the channel.
Next week, Turning Mecard’s fourteenth episode, “King of Beasts and Prince of the Forest” is set for Saturday at 2PM. Early scheduling claims that will now be the Korean robot cartoon’s home on the channel. New episode premieres for the series shift from Sunday to Saturday, with sixteen, “Urus, the Wandering Mecanimal” set for the 9th at 2PM. Episode fifteen will be Turning Mecard’s last Sunday premiere on the 3rd. Touching on Mecard for the last time, scheduling also indicates the show’s run on Cartoon Network Canada will conclude after episode thirteen airs on August 27th.
With Teletoon’s run of Yo-Kai Watch concluding at episode seventy-four, that leaves three episodes from the show’s second season unaired on the channel. Late last year, Teletoon skipped episode thirty-one, “Westward, Yo” for unknown reasons. With the series seemingly cancelled, the last two episodes of season two will also remain unaired. Those that have followed the Corus kids networks will know it’s not common for a show to get completely yanked from the schedule with so few premieres left. That’s usually a sign the series is dead.
After a false start, the first 26-episode season of Yo-Kai Watch premiered on Teletoon on October 10, 2015. The second 50-episode season started airing on October 1st of last year. The French dub of the first Yo-Kai Watch season aired on Télétoon in Quebec between April 2, 2016, and April 29, 2017. The series was replaced by Beyblade Burst. English re-runs of the first season also aired briefly on Disney XD Canada from December 12, 2016, to January 31, 2017. None of the channels ever ran the franchise’s first movie, which saw a dubbed theatrical and television run last fall in the United States.
While it certainly looks like Yo-Kai Watch is done for on Canadian television, that doesn’t confirm the brand is a total goner in North America. Yo-Kai Watch 2: Psychic Specters is set to launch on Nintendo 3DS on September 29th. The eighth volume of Noriyuki Konishi’s manga is scheduled to be published by Viz on January 2nd. There’s also reason to believe the third season of the anime is being dubbed. In a May 24th report from LIMA Licensing, the outlet indicated more episodes were “being readied.” However, Level-5 abby’s Simon Waldron cautioned that the company would be scaling back its Yo-Kai Watch efforts in North America as the franchise has posted mixed results in the market. Last month, Joey D’Auria, the voice actor for Whisper, hinted that more was to come. Though, production must have started relatively recently as it sounds like nothing was in the works as of April.
Yo-Kai Watch debuted in the United States on Disney XD on October 5, 2015, with the second season concluding its first run on June 3, 2017. The first season and the first movie are available to stream on Netflix in select markets (including Canada). New episodes were temporarily streamed on the brand’s official YouTube channel.
Zak Storm, Mysticons, and Yu-Gi-Oh! Arc-V timeslots
Moving on, in extremely short notice news, Family CHRGD is set to debut Zak Storm tonight at 5PM. The French series is from ZagToon, the company behind Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir, though there’s no Japanese involvement with this one.
Zak Storm tells the tale of a young surfer who is swept into the Seven Seas of the Bermuda Triangle during a surfing competition. Once inside, Zak joins forces with a ragtag crew and a magical sword, Calabrass, which turns him into a pirate-like hero. Each episode follows Zak as he tries to escape from the strange and unpredictable waters, while fighting off gnarly villains. It’s up to Zak to learn how to master the powers of his enchanted sword and figure out how to defeat the fiercest pirate that ever lived, the evil Skullivar.
To celebrate the show’s premiere, CHRGD will be running new episodes every day this week before moving to its usual Tuesdays at 5PM slot. Episodes will also be made available through the Family Channel app and video-on-demand services starting tomorrow. The series will debut in French Canada on Yoopa on September 4th at 7AM.
Unlike the Miraculous, which took its time coming to English Canada after its U.S. debut, Zak Storm has yet to debut in the United States. The series will run on Discovery Family down south starting September 16th. It’ll also be available on Netflix and the over-the-air KidsClick television block (which those of us near the U.S. border should be able to pick up – the Buffalo affiliate running it is MyTV Buffalo WNYO) sometime later this year. The series debuted in France last December and began its European roll out earlier this year. Its English-language debut came from Pop in the United Kingdom.
Nelvana’s long in gestation Mysticons is finally here. Corus is rolling out the red carpet for their original series as the show will run on YTV and both Teletoon feeds. Mysticons will have a five day preview event on YTV between August 28th and September 1st at 5:30PM, before its regular run on the channel begins on Saturdays, starting September 3rd at 11AM. Teletoon will begin running the series September 9th at 6:30PM. In Quebec, Télétoon will also be doing a five day preview event between September 4th and September 8th at 7PM. Their regular slot begins September 9th 10:30AM.
Mysticons tells the epic tale of four girls from different walks of life who are transformed into legendary warriors. After discovering a powerful mystical tome, the fearless foursome – Arkayna, Zarya, Em, and Piper – are drawn together by a prophecy to battle evil and protect the realm. With real relationships, distinct personalities and already strong, confident, smart, witty, and funny characters, Mysticons focuses on the representation of girls’ strength, power, and courage on the television screen. Season one consists of 40 episodes.
In the United States, Mysticons will air on both Nickelodeon and Nicktoons. The Nickelodeon and YTV runs will air on the same day, right down to the preview event. The series will launch on Nicktoons starting August 30th. For Nelvana’s sake, I hope it’s just the encores that run there.
Nelvana has geared up for the debut by launching the official Mysticons website and YouTube channel. An entire merch range from the likes of Playmates Toys, Topps trading cards and Dark Horse Comics are being planned.
Lastly, Teletoon will be moving Yu-Gi-Oh! Arc-V premieres to 7PM on Fridays starting September 9th. Encores will be aired at 1PM on Saturdays. With this move and Yo-Kai Watch gone, here’s the Saturday afternoon lineup on the channel starting on the 9th:
12PM – Pokémon The Series: Sun & Moon (new episodes)
12:30PM – Power Rangers: Ninja Steel (new episodes)
1PM – Yu-Gi-Oh! Arc-V (encores)
1:30PM – Transformers: Robots in Disguise (reruns)
2PM – Turning Mecard (new episodes)
2:30PM – Beyblade Burst (new episodes)
Thanks Greg.
All times listed in Eastern.
I Miss Bionix 
If indeed the news is true, then this really sucks- Yokai Watch was consistently the most entertaining anime on Canadian TV. It had a a goon run, 2 years straight of new episodes is pretty good for Teletoon, but considering how much the franchise was pushed, it’s unexpected. I kind of feel the same about the games as well, loved the first one, played through the second but have no interest in playing another. At least the manga will continue and the third game will most likely make it here so the fans who are left can still enjoy the series.
Overall it left a positive mark on Canadian anime history, a bright spot in an otherwise dismal lineup. Looks like Arc V will be the anime to watch from now on.