Youkai Watch Movie 3: Soratobu Kujira to Double Sekai no Daibouken da Nyan!

Now this is how to do a live-action anime film. It knows its parent story is an anime series (well, a game series), and it knows that most of the people watching this film will be fans of Yokai Watch. Therefore, this film is an original story that goes (somewhat) with the Yokai Watch series. Instead of being enterally an anime film or live-action film it both put together by a semi-issekai plot.


This is probably my lest favorite of the Yokai Watch films. Not to say it a bad film. I still enjoyed it immensely. It's just not as good as the first two films ... (or the main series). I mean, if Yokai Watch takes place in another world, then why is there a Japan? A USA? Why does the Japan of this world still have yokai, chopsticks, school uniforms? Why does the USA of this world still have a president, a Hollywood? Not to mention, live-action Jinmenken is kinda creepy. On the other hand, live-action Enma and Nurarihyon were sorta hot.

I would probable lean more toward recommending this film.

"Eiga Youkai Watch: Soratobu Kujira to Daburu Sekai no Daibouken da Nyan!" is the third film installment of the Youkai Watch anime series. This movie in particular is a hybrid between anime and live action. The animation is very well done. To put this into comparison, the first two Youkai Watch movies are equal to each other in animation and have higher animation quality than the Youkai Watch anime series. The third movie surpasses even the first two movies in animation. The live action scenes are also really well done. It's a classic tokusatsu feeling, something straight ... out of Super Sentai or Kamen Rider.

This is a rare example of a "live action anime" movie that is held back by something other than being "live action anime".
That is, the story. First, let me give a rundown on the basic Youkai Watch lore for those who haven't seen it.

Youkai Watch/Yo-kai Watch is an anime/manga/videogame franchise about a boy named, "Amano Keita" who one day, when catching bugs with his friends, Kanchi, Kuma, and "Fumi" Fumika, he runs into a gacha machine that looks abandoned, he hears a voice telling him to put a coin in the machine, so he does, and out comes a gacha capsule. He opens it and out comes a white wisp-looking creature who introduces himself as a youkai named, "Whisper", who gives him a Youkai Watch. (Translator note: "Youkai" is Japanese for "Ghost/Spirit"). Later on, Keita befriends different youkai, including Jibanyan and Hikikoumori, who end up living with him and Whisper, as well as Komasan, Komajirou, Orochi, and Kyuubi, who are important in the third movie. In the first movie, Keita meets Fuyunyan, who was friends with Keita's grandfather Keizou, who created the original Youkai Watch. Fuyunyan will be important for the third movie. Later on in the series, an otaku girl named, "Inaho" is introduced. When shopping for a limited item based on an anime that she likes, she finds a Youkai Watch in the store and hears a voice telling her to buy it. She "buys" it, but if I remember correctly, the employee told her to just take it without paying. The voice leads her to equip the watch and she finds the entity behind the voice: USApyon. Keita and Inaho meet for the first time in the second movie, and they meet two figures who will be important for the third movie: Lord Enma, the ruler of the Youkai World, and "Nurari" Nurarihyon, essentially the "right hand" of Lord Enma, and previously, Lord Enma's grandfather Lord Enma. For reference, we will be referring to the grandson and current ruler, Lord Enma from now on in this review.

THIRD MOVIE STORY

I'm going to skim through the plot so that I can get to my point.

A giant whale youkai turns the world into a different dimension, and aside from the youkai, the only living people who can notice this are Keita, and maybe Inaho, the main characters of the franchise who can see Youkai. To show this visually, the movie switches from anime to live action. Keita later finds a koala youkai that he names, "Koalanyan", who has the power to switch back to the original world. It turns out that both Koalanyan and the whale, are connected to a girl who has a tragic backstory. She became good at ballet, she got hit by a truck, became crippled. It's a tear jerk of a story actually, and I love a good tear jerk. The problem is this has nothing to do with Youkai Watch lore. In fact, there is nothing in the movie that introduces any really important Youkai Watch lore. The only things really are Mega Robonyan and the Enma blade, which Fuyunyan gives to Keita. The Enma Blade looks cool, but they don't explain any of its lore except that it's infused with Lord Enma's power. One other problem is Orochi and Kyuubi's involvement in the movie. That's actually really exciting, since they haven't had much relevance in the anime up to this point, and they were really cool in this movie. Personally, I got really excited when they transformed into Hikari Orochi and Yami Kyuubi. All of that excitement went away when they were immediately eaten by the whale. Orochi and Kyuubi did not become important for the rest of the movie and did not even appear again until the end after the whale is defeated. That is disappointing and wastes so much potential.

CONCLUSION

I would still recommend this movie, but don't expect any huge lore, and don't get too excited when you see Orochi and Kyuubi actually being important for once.