Before YouKai Watch was going to premiere in English dub I was curious if there would be many edits due to the series being heavily on Japanese culture. We all know Pokémon had a lot of minor edits, jokes cut out, paint jobs, name changes, violence cut etc. but as anime has become more popular would they need to change things with this series for the English audience?

The answer is yes. But is it that bad? That depends on your outlook. From the first episode there was more paint jobs than anything. Everything that had Japanese written on it was painted over to be blank or changed to have English text. I will be honest I didn’t think they would bother with this anymore at this time of age but it clearly shows that they do care and trying to make the world not based in Japan.

There were also some cuts and dialogue changes. I don’t mind dialogue changes because that’s to be expected, but sometimes I do question was the change necessary. I understand with some culture differences with jokes as it may not make sense in English and they will try and alter it or even cut the scene out.

I am not here to discuss the dub acting. But I would like to know what did you make of the English dub. I have soft spot for the English dub of Pokémon as I grew up with it, but many years later I think some episodes are cringe worthy to watch. And it was in the English language I heard it in first before I could even compare it to the Japanese dub. In YouKai Watch it’s reversed, I heard it in Japanese audio first and obviously second in English dub as it only just aired (Oct 5th, 2015). I think it does work to some extent and I think younger children and for the people who have not heard the Japanese dub for it would be ok with it, but it would be interesting to hear back for the people who have watched the Japanese dub and waited for the English dub and if they liked what they heard.

The first episode has a few comedic moments, but in the English dub I did not laugh once when the joke was on screen and for me that was a let down.

I shall begin with the comparison of what I found between the two versions. I may have missed something out and if I did please let me know. I am not going to show every paint job in different cuts, once I show the change that change was done in every shot of that particular object. And from now on I will write down Yo-kai, as that’s how it’s spelt in English rather than YouKai.

First thing is that the English dub OP is only 60sec long so there have been many cuts from the original OP but the weird thing is that at the beginning there are some weird edits. They were scenes that were not in the original Japanese OP but scenes from episodes put in to the OP.

First Paint job edit.

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7 seconds cut from a joke. Most probably they couldn’t find anything to say with this reference or the English audience may find it weird that sheep/rams and a japans dish hovering through air just weird?







When they are back home and Whisper checks his encyclopaedia (or Wiki in English) after encountering a Yo-kai. While explaining on what that yo-kai abilities are, the argument between Nathan’s parents could end up for them to have a divorce. Of course there is no mention of that in the English dub.

The fight between the parents in the Japanese is about a pudding. In the English dub it’s about a yogurt.

Paint Job on the newspaper.

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After the fight is over the parents share the pudding, in the English dub Nate narrates saying there was another yogurt to be found in the fridge while the parents share it. In the Japanese version he just simply says his parents made up.

While Nate is in his room discussing about Yo-Kai, Whisper says:

“P.S it’s impossible to ever to take it off” about the watch he gave to Nate.

Impossible? This was never said in the Japanese version.

A lot of paint jobs on the street.

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Our first censored scene. And if I were a betting person I knew this would have been altered in some way and I was correct.

When Jibanyan mentions about his past when he was alive, when we see him get ran over. The scene after it does not show his “body”

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A few more edits during the countdown clock.

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Some dialogue changes. “Get hit by a truck” – “dying over just a little bump”

Can’t say die in English cartoons or in this case anime.

The last edit when his owner calls him “lame cat” and simply “loser” in the Japanese version.

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Sign paint job.

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And last paint job, the Parking sign.

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There you have it, that’s everything I found myself. As I mentioned I may have missed something. If you know an edit I have missed. Please let me know as I do find these comparisons interesting and most probably the fans of the Japanese version of YouKai Watch do as well.

Future episodes will I compare them? Who knows but I am interested on the edits for the Jinmenken episode.

Will I ever watch the English versions? No, I will only to watch them as I am curious on the changes. But once I had enough I will stop.

If you liked this please share around! And hopefully I will see you in my next comparison article.