EP001

Yo-kai are Real (Japanese: 妖怪がいる! Yōkai ga Iru!) and The Spooky Intersection (Japanese: 恐怖の交差点 Kyōfu no Kōsaten) is the 1st episode of the Yo-kai Watch anime series. It was broadcasted in Japan on January 8, 2014, and in the United States on October 5, 2015.

Summary

Nathan Adams encounters Whisper, a self-proclaimed "Yo-kai Butler", who later gives him a watch that enables him to see Yo-kai. Nate finds unusual events happening at a crosswalk, and ends up meeting Jibanyan.

Plot

Warning: plot & spoiler details are listed below.

Yo-kai are Real

Nate and his friends are in the woods catching stag beetles. Nate catches an average-sized beetle and his friends tease him by saying the beetle is, "Just like him, very average". Angered and determined to prove them wrong, Nathan ventures off deep into the forest and follows a glowing beetle that leads him into a no-entry zone. There, he finds a scary-looking capsule toy dispenser and hears a voice telling him to insert a coin. Freaked out, he places a coin into the capsule machine and receives a gray-colored capsule. When he opens it, a white Yo-kai going by the name of Whisper pops out and thanks Nate for freeing him.

Whisper explains that he was imprisoned 190 years ago by a man who thought all Yo-kai were evil. However, Nate is already on the hunt for more beetles and doesn't seem to care about Whisper’s story. Whisper panics and tells Nathan that as a reward for freeing him, he will be his butler doing whatever he needs to be. Afterwards, Nate tells Whisper that he’s trying to catch the biggest bug out there and so Whisper calls upon the rarest/largest bugs in the forest, causing them to swarm to Nate and gets crushed by the sheer amount. Nate tells Whisper that he wants them to get away, so Whisper farts, driving the bugs away. Nate, having suffered Whisper's fart, exclaims that he was disappointed in his prize before he walks back home.

Whisper follows Nate home, as the two talk about Whisper staying at Nate's home. When Nate enters the house, they find Mom and Dad fighting over eating the last treat. Nate finds this to be odd because his parents never fight. Whisper says that their strange behavior is because of the Yo-kai that is in the room with them. Nate is confused because he doesn’t see any Yo-kai. Whisper explains that humans cannot see Yo-kai and gives him the Yo-kai Watch which allows for him to see them. By shining a light that is built into the watch, Nate reveals a giant purple Yo-kai, Dismarelda, who is depressed because she thinks her husband doesn’t love her. Eventually, her husband, Happierre comes into the room and confesses that he still loves her dearly. The atmosphere is balanced once again and Nathan's parents stop fighting.

The Spooky Intersection

Strange things are happening at a crossing road in town. People are walking in front of speeding cars and the cars stop last second and do not hit the person. After Whisper hears about this, he states a Yo-kai must be inspiriting the place. After encouraging Nate to find the culprit, the two find out the events are being caused by Jibanyan, a cat Yo-kai who is possessing people and then punching the trucks to make them stop. Nate and Whisper ask him why he’s doing this and Jibanyan tells them that he is perfecting his skills so that he can impress Amy, his former owner.

Jibanyan explains his backstory about how he was a cat with a great, gentlemanly name, but he doesn’t remember exactly what it was. He loved his life with Amy and his favorite thing to do with her was sleep. But one day, Jibanyan was crossing the street and got hit by a car. His last memory as a normal cat was that of his owner calling him a "loser" because he was hit by a truck. Thus, he practices everyday to impress her.

Nate tells Jibanyan to stop using strangers to help him practice. For that, Jibanyan tries to do it on his own, but fails. Nate offers to help Jibanyan practice and soon, they became friends. Since Nate made friends with Jibanyan, he was rewarded with Jibanyan's Medal as a sign of their new friendship. Just when Nate and Jibanyan were about to hug, Jibanyan gets blindsided by a passing truck and gets sent off into the distance.

Spoilers end here.

Characters

Humans

Yo-kai

Trivia

This episode is based on the first chapter of the Yo-kai Watch video game.
This episode only shows Whisper can attract bugs and make them leave with a big fart, whereas Jibanyan can inspirit a person and make them act mindlessly like a cat, and can instantly heal himself after being injured.
Some media outlets incorrectly refer the second segment's name as The Terrifying Intersection.
Jibanyan shouting out "Eye of The Tiger!" is a reference to the song of the same name.
- In the original, it was a reference to the Japanese drama called 101st Marriage Proposal, reciting the phrase that the main character in the says before almost getting hit by a truck, keeping their determination to find a marriage partner. According to a Japanese interview about the franchise's western localization, the change of reference was supposed to carry concept of "training".
- Oddly, one of Jibanyan's phrases in the Blasters House in Yo-kai Watch Blasters has him reciting the original Japanese phrase, directly translated from the original dialogue string.
Whisper makes a pose similar to Iyama's "Sheeh!" from the anime Osomatsu-kun while he explains what Yo-kai are to Nate.
- Ironically, it would end up becoming one of Jibanyan's Soultimate Moves in Yo-kai Watch 2.
Although, Jibanyan failed to give Nate a hug in this episode and Jibanyan's Secret, he would later technically hug Nate in Yo-kai Report Cards! after he got a good report card and in Yo-kai Watch: The Movie when he is rescued from the cage.
In Russia and The United Arab Emirates, the scene where Whisper farts the fireflies away from Nate is cut. Also, the scene where Jibanyan attempts to hug Nate was cut short in Russia.

Dub Differences

RudyCorpseDubComparison — The scene of Rudy's dead corpse, zoomed into Amy's legs in the English dub.

The sign in the forest that translates to "No Entry" (禁止 Kinshi) is painted over in the dub, along with the road safety signs at the intersection.
Much of the scene involving Nate confusing Whisper's title in Japanese for a "sheep" (Japanese: 羊, hitsuji) and other things rhyming with "butler" (Japanese: 執事, Shitsuji) is cut. The ending, where Whisper clarifies his title, was kept.
Whisper mentions that if Dismarelda does not leave Nate's house, the worst case scenario would be that his parents would get a divorce. In the dub, this was changed to Nate's parents fighting forever.
Exclusively in the English dub, Whisper tells Nate that he "won't ever be able to take the watch off", despite Nate being able to easily take off the watch himself in later episodes.
The scenes that show Rudy dead at the intersection were edited by having the scene depicting his corpse zoomed near Amy at the crosswalk.
- Strangely, the full view of the corpse is kept in Jibanyan's Secret and Jibanyan's Secret Past.
The "Eye of The Tiger" phrase in the English dub was originally a reference to the Japanese drama called 101st Marriage Proposal, reciting the phrase that the main character in the parodying material says so he can find a marriage partner. According to a Japanese interview about the franchise's western localization, the reference was changed but to keep the concept of "training".

Errors

In the first scene where Nate hunts for bugs, the blue stripe on his shoes are missing.
When Nate releases Whisper from the capsule, the star on his shirt disappears.
- This error was fixed in MN001 of the Yo-kai Watch♪ series.
After Jibanyan hurts his paw when trying to hit a truck, Nate's shoes are missing the blue color.

References

In other languages

Yo-kai Are Real!

Language	Name	Meaning
Japanese	妖怪がいる! Yōkai ga Iru!
French	Les Yo-kai sont réels

The Terrifying Intersection

Language	Name	Meaning
Japanese	恐怖の交差点 Kyōfu no Kōsaten
French	Le carrefour de la frousse