4th Yo-kai Watch Film's Details, New Characters, December Opening Revealed

The July issue of Shogakukan's Corocoro Comic magazine is revealing details about a new film in the Yo-kai Watch franchise on Thursday. The new film is titled Yo-kai Watch Shadowside: Oni-ō no Fukkatsu (Yo-kai WatchShadowside: The Return of the Oni King). The film opens in Japan on December 16.

New to the film will be the ability for yo-kai to transform into "lightside" and "shadowside" forms. In these forms, yo-kai show different personalities, abilities, and appearances. The magazine shows pictures of Jibanyan, Komasan, and Whisper in lightside and shadowside forms.

The key to the story will be three new human characters, each of which may hold a yo-kai watch of their own. The first character is Akinori, a boy who can see yo-kai whose family manages a shrine. The second character is Natsume, a lively middle-school girl who is friends with yo-kai. The third character is Tōma, a boy with a mysterious air that attracts yo-kai.

Nurarihyon, Lord Enma, and Slimamander will also appear in the story.

Eiga Yo-kai Watch: Sora Tobu Kujira to Double no Sekai no Daibōken da Nyan! (Yo-Kai Watch: The Movie: The Flying Whale and the Grand Adventure of the Double Worlds, Meow!), the third film in the franchise, opened last December. It topped the Japanese box office and sold 545,211 tickets for 608,033,100 yen (about US$5.189 million) on its opening weekend.