Yo-Kai Watch’s English dub production moving to Vancouver?
Late last year, news broke that Level-5 abby would be replacing the entire English cast of the Yo-Kai Watch anime series after the second season. According to Whisper voice actor Joey D’Auria, it was done as a cost-cutting measure. Johnny Yong Bosch, who played Nate, questioned the logic of trying to cut costs just as the brand was getting a McDonalds promotion. Recorded in Los Angeles, the anime’s dub was originally a non-union affair, requiring some actors to initially go under pseudonyms. Starting with the first film, the series moved to a significantly more expensive unionized SAG-AFTRA production.
Level-5 abby has yet to publicly comment on this. Fans started to get anxious, some fearing a North American dub had been scrapped altogether and an import of the Hong Kong production was imminent. When news that the third season’s French dub was based on the Japanese script instead of the English one like before, some fans feared the show had been cancelled.
Things aren’t quite as dramatic.
Yesterday, singer/voice actor Michelle Creber announced on Twitter that she recorded songs for Yo-Kai Watch. She mentioned that Shannon Chan-Kent and Gabriel Brown were also involved, as was composer William Anderson. Eagle-eyed Yo-Kai Watch fans quickly spotted some lyrics and sheet music Anderson had posted on his Twitter account. One track was “Don’t Stop Tomato Red” and the other legible title reads “Space Dance.” The first happens to be equivalent to a song exclusively featured in one version of the Yo-Kai Watch Busters video game. “Space Dance” is not only that game’s credits song, it’s also the fifth ending track for the TV anime, though the amount of sheets labelled indicate they were recording the full-length version used for the video games. An English release for Yo-Kai Watch Busters hasn’t been officially announced.
There is a chance that just the video games have moved to Vancouver, though I find that unlikely. While Level-5 and Nintendo had inconsistent casts across media (and continents) on Inazuma Eleven (the anime using a Hong Kong cast, the European games using British locals and the sole American game release using a Los Angeles one), why would they choose Canada over keeping things in places where they usually do that work?
I’m not sure who’s recording the dub. It’s easy to jump to Ocean, but there are plenty of studios in Vancouver and the music staff aren’t their usual go-to’s. Though, the same can be said for the company’s Beyblade Burst dub. You’re no one’s usual until you work with them regularly. If production has moved to Ocean, it would certainly make sense. Beyond being Vancouver’s animation ADR specialists, the company has a long history with Level-5. The two previously worked on the English reversioning of LBX: Little Battlers eXperience as well as a pilot for Inazuma Eleven.
Yo-Kai Watch plush flood a U.S. Dollar Tree. Image credit: @Somewhat_Nerdy.
The news comes as aspects of the franchise are at a crossroads outside Japan. Yo-Kai Watch product was entirely absent from master toy licensee Hasbro’s New York Toy Fair showcase earlier this week. While new merchandise continues to be developed, the line is now focused on the European and Latin American markets. This follows earlier statements by Level-5 abby’s Simon Waldron, who admitted the series experienced “mixed results” in merchandise sales in North America. Hasbro has reported declining revenue for the brand in their most recent third and fourth quarter results. Officially licensed Yo-Kai Watch merchandise isn’t an uncommon sight at liquidation/budget chains like Dollarama in Canada and Dollar Tree in the United States. The company was expecting the next Pokémon and that wasn’t what they got.
While reruns of the series continue to air on Disney XD in the U.S. and there’s no reason to believe they won’t be involved with more, the Canadian broadcast situation isn’t as rosy. The series was prematurely removed from both the English and French Teletoon channels last year and have yet to make an appearance since. Though, a Canadian dub could certainly make the series more alluring to other broadcast partners.
If the show is moving Vancouver, I wish the crew good luck. It’s never easy to take on a series after someone else worked on it and it’s even more difficult when your predecessors were loved by fans. They’ll have some big Choco Bars to chow down on, especially when you consider what Yo-Kai Watch’s third season consists of. The setting changes to the United States, or ‘Merica. The English versions of the first two seasons attempted to claim the series wasn’t based in Japan.
Earlier reports indicated Yo-Kai Watch’s third season would launch in western territories in sometime at the start of 2018.
I Miss Bionix 
Can I please be the voice of Nate Adams!!