This page showcases a list of early designs for the characters that appear in the Yo-kai Watch franchise.
List of Early Designs[]
Yo-kai[]
| Early Design | Source | Overview | Final Design(s) |
|---|---|---|---|
 
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2016 Tokyo Museum Yo-kai Exhibition | One of the very first design sketches for Jibanyan, wearing a bandanna and a sling pouch. The facial shape and eyes suggest that it was likely redesigned into Jibanyan's Lightside form that appears in Yo-kai Watch Shadowside. In the September 2014 issue of Dengenki Nintendo magazine, Miho Tanaka said that Jibanyan's earlier design was "taller" and "too creepy", as he wanted it to look more "cute".[1] The accessory may have also been retooled as Jibanyan's water bottle for his appearance in Yo-kai Watch: The Movie. | 
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2016 Tokyo Museum Yo-kai Exhibition | A slightly later design of Jibanyan, where he wears a rope-like belt with seals instead of a haramaki. Interestingly, the mention of the seals made it to the final design as one of Jibanyan's abilities in the video games. | 
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Level-5 WORLD 2011 Trailer Corocoro June 2019 Issue |
Jibanyan was originally more robust with a different build, had a different head shape, a bigger face pattern and a different body pattern. His hitodama tails were also smaller and the collar was also thicker. |
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2016 Tokyo Museum Yo-kai Exhibition | One of the earliest designs for Whisper. It resembled more of a teru teru bozu rather than a hitodama or will-o-the-wisp, which would probably be reused for Mr. Blue-Shy. In the September 2014 issue of Dengenki Nintendo magazine, Takuzo Nagano said that had trouble deciding on a design for Whisper that would be easy for "children to see".[2] | 
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Yo-kai Watch: The Movie Japanese promotional pamphlet 2016 Tokyo Museum Yo-kai Exhibition |
Another early design for Whisper, where the color scheme would be used for the Yo-Criminal Daizn't. | 
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Yo-kai Watch: The Movie Japanese promotional pamphlet 2016 Tokyo Museum Yo-kai Exhibition |
One of the later designs for Whisper. The shape of it would likely be redesigned into Fuu 2. | 
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Yo-kai Watch: The Movie Japanese promotional pamphlet 2016 Tokyo Museum Yo-kai Exhibition |
A later design for Whisper, where he looks almost the same, except for the color, though this may be due to the photo quality. | 
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Level-5 WORLD 2011 Trailer | An early design of Walkappa. The fronds on his head were curly rather than straight, and his feet was webbed just like his hands. He also originally carried a bag instead of a water bottle. | 
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Level-5 WORLD 2011 Trailer Corocoro June 2019 Issue |
An early design of Dismarelda. Though she retained the same general design, she looked completely different, lacking the hair and make-up. | 
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Level-5 WORLD 2011 Trailer Corocoro June 2019 Issue |
An early design of Hungramps. He looks almost exactly the same, except for the fact his head is more blunt and he's fatter. | 
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Level-5 WORLD 2011 Trailer Corocoro June 2019 Issue |
An early design of Tattletell. She looks almost exactly like her final design, except with a differently-shaped face. | 
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Level-5 WORLD 2011 Trailer Corocoro June 2019 Issue |
An early design of Noko. It has a green mark on it's head rather than a clover, circular eye shapes, and a differently-colored tail. The design itself may have been retooled for it's Lightside form in Yo-kai Watch Shadowside. |  
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Level-5 WORLD 2011 Trailer Corocoro June 2019 Issue |
An early design for Negatibuzz. It looks almost the same, except he wore a cloak instead of a hoodie. The design can also be seen in the October 2012 screenshots of the video game, signifying that it was changed late in development. | 
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Yo-kai Watch website, November 2012 | An earlier design for Dulluma, that was listed as one of the Yo-kai on the website of the Yo-kai Watch video game back in November 2012 before it was updated and revamped in 2013. | 
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2016 Tokyo Museum Yo-kai Exhibition | One of the early designs of Usapyon. He resembled more of a kangaroo or bunny (the latter like his current design though it's unknown if he was an otter in this design), and his suit looked more like pajamas. | 
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 Yō-chan (Japanese: 酔うちゃん Yō-chan) |
SWITCH Interview Masters, May 2, 2015 broadcast | An early design for Spewart, which was originally a human caricature of voice actor Yō Ōizumi, who is known for voicing Professor Layton in the video games, which is one of Level-5's other franchises. It was first seen on an episode SWITCH Interview Masters, which aired on May 2, 2015. Level-5 said it was "a very early draft" for a Yo-kai design.[3] | 
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Yo-kai Hero forms[]
| Early Design | Source | Overview | Final Design(s) |
|---|---|---|---|
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Akihiro Hino's Twitter, December 2020 | The very first design for Kengo Benimaru, where he looks notably different from his final counterpart. Yo-kai Gakuen Y was initially designed with a Japanese aesthetic before sci-fi elements were intergrated midway through development. | 
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 Reikengo Benimaru (Japanese: 霊剣豪紅丸) |
Akihiro Hino's Twitter, December 2020 | A later design of Kengo Benimaru, resembling more of Jibanyan and with a sword almost matching the final's design. |
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 Hakurauhoushi (Japanese: 白狼法師) |
Akihiro Hino's Twitter, December 2020 | A very early design of Sandayu Koma's Yo-kai Hero form, looking more traditional and resembling Komasan rather than a completely different mecha suit-like design. | 
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Humans[]
| Early Design | Source | Overview | Final Design(s) |
|---|---|---|---|
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Before the Level-5 WORLD 2011 Trailer, posted in 2013 | A slightly earlier design of Nathan Adams, with a slightly different art style. His Yo-kai Watch notably looks different, resembling that of the Gate Globes in Yo-kai Watch 2. | 
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Before the Level-5 WORLD 2011 Trailer, posted in May 2013 | A slightly earlier design of Katie Forester, with some small changes. Her blouse originally looked like a hoodie and the heart patch had a music note on it. | 
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Around the Level-5 WORLD 2011 Trailer, posted in May 2013 | A slightly earlier design of Edward Archer, with some minor differences present. His coat length was originally longer and did not have rolled-up sleeves. | 
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Before the teaser reveal of M06, posted by Akihiro Hino in December 2020 | A near-final design of Fubuki Himekawa, where she had a completely different Y-Academy uniform. It originally had a black skirt with white socks before they were switched around in the final design. | 
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Before the teaser reveal of M06, posted by Akihiro Hino in December 2020 | A near-final design of Mera Raido, where it lacks a hanging belt and originally wore a red YSP uniform. The YSP uniform color may have been standard for all YSP Watch users rather than for other factions, or it may have been the singular color for all uniform types. | 
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After the teaser reveal of M06, posted by Akihiro Hino in December 2020 | An early design for Ranto Kirigakure, which was likely made after the initial designs of the original Y Academy cast judging from the uniform colors. He looked notably different; His hair was white and blue rather than black and was wavy rather than curly. He also had red intimidating eyes rather than cyan, glowing eyes. | 
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Scrapped Designs[]
Yo-kai[]
| Early Design | Source | Overview | Final Design(s) |
|---|---|---|---|
 Karuberosu (Japanese: カルベロス Karuberosu) |
Mezamashi TV, August 2014 Broadcast | A design of a three-headed dog Yo-kai. It's name is derived from "Cerberus" (ケルベロス). As two similar Yo-kai already exist, It is unknown what it may have been reworked as. | ??? |
 Komasaburo (Japanese: コマさぶろう Komasaburou) |
Early 2015, posted on Shibamoto's Twitter in December 2017. | A design for a third komainu sibling towards Komasan and Komajiro, created exclusively for the Yo-kai Watch Komasan manga but her design was rejected by Level-5. She was supposed to have a serious yet brash personality, and would have been experienced in strength training. She was created before Komasaburo appeared in M02 according to the illustrator. Years later, a third sibling named Komami would have been created by Level-5 themselves, serving no relation to Shibamoto's original design. | None |
 ??? |
Corocoro January 2016 Issue | A design of a Yo-kai that was supposed to appear in M02, which is unknown if it was a character, or as a cameo. It may have inspired the design of Ulteria, or to an extent Demandi. |  
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 Shigakunyan (Japanese: シガクニャン Shigakunyan) |
Final Fantasy XIV Yo-kai Watch Crossover, 2016 | A Yo-kai based on Jibanyan, wearing an armor of a Paladin from Final Fantasy XIV. He was scrapped for unknown reasons and got replaced with Mooglinyan. Strangely, the design is actually used as a visor for the crossover collabration in the Gamescom conference in Germany. | 
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 Whislion (Japanese: ウィスライオン Wisuraion) |
Final Fantasy XIV Yo-kai Watch Crossover, 2016 | The exact same Yo-kai, except he's riding a Warlion that takes on the form of Whisper. It was replaced with Chocobonyan, which has a similar design. | 
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 Han Sode (Japanese: ハン・ソデ Han sode) |
Level-5 Conference 2017 | A Yo-kai that was supposed to be a boy that would always wear short sleeves, even in cold weather with the name being a wordplay on hansode (半袖), which is Japanese for short sleeves and Han Solo from the Star Wars franchise. Though, his design could only express the "short sleeves" part. Akihiro Hino also noted that his brown companion looked a bit too much like poop. His design was likely retooled as Fundango and possibly Silver Lining to an extent. |  
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 Dekin-chan (Japanese: デキンちゃん Dekin-chan) |
Level-5 Conference 2017 | A girl Yo-kai that would be responsible for causing bans, with it's name being derived from dekkin (出禁), Japanese for "ban", and the character Dokin-chan from Anpanman. The "x's" on the Yo-kai's design was supposed to express the "ban" element, but wasn't strong enough. Hino didn't seem to like the name, either. The Yo-kai's design may have been remade into either the pose of Krystal Fox and probably Little Charrmer. |  
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 Tatoebaa (Japanese: たとえバー Tatoebā) |
Level-5 Conference 2017 | A Yo-kai that would have caused parables/"what if?" discussions (例え話/tatoebanashi) to go on forever such as a infinite paradox, with the name being a pun on tatoebanashi (例え話), and obaa-san (おバーさん). It was too difficult to express such a concept visually. In Mr. Tanaka's defense, Hino said that the "bar" on the head did express "bā" at least. As the Yo-kai bears a striking resemblance to Auntie Heart, it may have been the "child" of that Yo-kai and Uncle Infinite, which was probably retooled as Statikid in a similar manner. | None (Possibly scrapped entirely) |
| Taiwannyan (Japanese: タイワンニャン) | Yo-kai Watch World files | A scrapped Jibanyan variant for Yo-kai Watch World, it has moveset data and description but no model or artwork is available. | None |
| Piichinyan (Japanese: ピーチニャン) | Yo-kai Watch World files |
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None |
| Doriannyan (Japanese: ドリアンニャン) | Yo-kai Watch World files |
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None |
| Kokonattsunyan (Japanese: ココナッツニャン) | Yo-kai Watch World files |
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None |
   Momoko (百子/ももこ) |
Yo-kai Watch 4 files | A scrapped Boss Yo-kai of the Oni Tribe found in the files of Yo-kai Watch 4. | |
  Hyakumenki (百面鬼/ひゃくめんき) |
Yo-kai Watch 4 files | A scrapped Boss Yo-kai of the Oni Tribe found in the files of Yo-kai Watch 4. | |
 Unknown |
Yo-kai Watch 4 files | A scrapped Yo-kai found in the files of Yo-kai Watch 4, The filename suggests it was supposed to be a shopkeeper for a shop that ended up being scrapped. |
Kuroi Yo-kai[]
An exhibition was held at the former Fukuoka Yoroz Mart store from May 28-29 2018, which showcased conceptual artwork of Kuroi Yo-kai as well as some of the humans. Interestingly, some of those designs never appeared in the anime series or in merchandise.
| Yo-kai | Overview |
|---|---|
 Kuroi Whisper (Japanese: 黒いウィスパー Kuroi Wisupa) |
A scrapped Kuroi counterpart of Whisper. |
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A scrapped Kuroi counterpart of Noway, showing more detail on a Japanese zen wall design. |
 Kuroi Hanahojin (Japanese: 黒いハナホ人 Kuroi Hanahojin) |
A scrapped Kuroi counterpart of Snottle. |
 Kuroi Unchikuma (Japanese: 黒いうんちく魔 Kuroi Unchikuma) |
A scrapped Kuroi counterpart of Poofessor. |
 Kuroi Ittan-Gomen (Japanese: 黒い一旦ゴメン Kuroi Ittan-Gomen) |
A scrapped Kuroi counterpart of So-Sorree. |
 Kuroi Nogappa (Japanese: 黒いノガッパ Kuroi Nogappa) |
A scrapped Kuroi counterpart of Walkappa. |
Trivia[]
Tattletell's conversation sprite in the Yo-kai Watch video game, with the beta design present.
- Tattletell's early design was actually left in the final version of Yo-kai Watch, as a conversation talk sprite. It would later be updated in Yo-kai Watch 2.
- Strangely enough, the design is actually kept in Yo-kai Watch Blasters and Yo-kai Watch 1 for Nintendo Switch.
- In one of the loading screen graphics of Yo-kai Watch, Jibanyan's mouth matches that of his earlier design from the Level-5 World 2011 trailer.
- Ranto Kirigakure's earlier design bears a striking resemblance to Sasanami Unmei from the Inazuma Eleven series.
- Spewart's beta design, Yo-chan, is based off of Japanese TV personality, Yo Oizumi.