jibanyan

In case you hadn’t heard, the newest big hit in Japan is the not-Pokémon–sensation Yo-kai Watch. The franchise is about kids who find and train youkai, “spirits” from Japanese folklore, and then pit the trained creatures against evil youkai, making it absolutely nothing like Pokémon. At all.

Well, while some of us may be skeptical that this isn’t just a palette-swapped Pokémon, there is no doubt of the franchise’s insane popularity! In addition to inspiring stock market confidence, it looks like the Yo-kai Watch is also inspiring artists who are sharing their works on Twitter. That’s a win-win for everyone involved!

Even if you’re not (yet!) a fan of Yo-kai Watch, you can still appreciate these frankly awesome illustrations of Yo-kai Watch characters drawn in the style of other manga artists.

For example, here’s Yo-kai Watch if it had been conceived of by Akira Toriyama (creator of Dragon Ball)!

https://twitter.com/takumitoxin/status/502613763594657792/

What if the franchise had been imagined by Fujiko F. Fujio (one of the creators of Doraemon)? It would look something like this!

Here’s our favorite of the bunch: Jibanyan as a traditional youkai.

This might be the most appropriate version we’ve seen yet! Yo-kai Watch if it had been drawn by Shigeru Mizuki, creator of the youkai manga GeGeGe no Kitarou.

Here’s a two-for-one! On the left, you have Kenshiro from Fist of the North Star. In the middle is Gintama in the style of Fist of the North Star. And the terrifying abomination on the right is Jibanyan, also in the same style.

https://twitter.com/habisan/status/500963368891465728/

Taking things in a more feline direction, here’s Yo-kai Watch done in the style of Tama of Third Street: Do You Know My Tama? Feel free to squeal “kawaiiiiiii!” at this one…

How about a unique approach to the drawing Jibanyan in different styles? This Twitter-frequenting artist apparently drew the monstrosity below based solely on information from a follower–without ever actually seeing the real thing. What do you think? Nailed it?

https://twitter.com/sofa0913/status/502085559821406210/

And, finally, we have no idea what art style this is, but we applaud the realistic depiction of the youkai and little boy. We’re not so sure about the cheerleaders though…

https://twitter.com/keitadj/status/501627297682554880/

Now we just need to see Jibanyan drawn as a titan. Come on, Internet, don’t disappoint us! Though please try to avoid anything close to satisfying Rule 34…

Source: Kai-you.net, Twitter (1, 2, 3)
Image: Twitter (@sofa0913)