If there were any way to communicate the concept of yo-kai to a westerner, I’d probably explain how the words “fairy” and “fey” used to cover a much broader range of subjects and phenomena in European folklore. If a thing or creature was somehow supernatural, it was fey. Banshees, which were a kind of ghost, nuckalevee, which were terrifying zombie-like monsters, and the harmless brownies were all categorized under the blanket term of fairy.
Fairy sounds good. One day we'll get away from the tinkerbell shit and go back to the spooky Victorian fairies. I was going to propose "ghoul", but fairy makes more sense.
Natsume and the Book of Friends is one of the best anime shows you'll ever watch. It has such a great grasp on the tragedy of separation and the drama of entities forming relationships that pierce the barriers placed by culture, tradition, and nature. Seriously, it's an amazing watch.
A Letter To Momo is truly a great film and one that I'd recommend anyone to watch. I recently introduced my big brother and his small kids to it and they all loved it, though the only anime they had seen were a few Ghibli film. I also told my brother that there is a ton of great non Ghibli anime films out there and recommended a lot of other great anime.
This really makes me thing of "Mushi-Shi" which to be honest game me so much in terms of understanding Yo-Kai. You are right. By watering down cultural meanings and objects it causes confusion. I myself always considered Yo-Kai Spirits. However after watching that series i realized they were much much more!
My wife and I just found your page... we absolutely Love your detailed descriptions and think that your commentary is not only spot on, but very thoughtful and express much of our own feelings that are often hard to put into words! Thank you for this and the other videos! Your first video has given us many titles that we always “thought about watching...but weren’t too sure what they were about or worth it...” so thanks to you we’re diving in and finding even more favorites along the way! ❤️
I like yokai their one of my favorite types of mythology based on the many cultures from around the world and I appreciate all the hard work of the artists, paintings, illustrations, and anime that bring fans like me of said art something to enjoy
I would say that similiar concepts to Yokai exist in western folklore- The fair folk, before fairy was interpreted as little people with wings and such- the creatures and entities created to explain concepts and phenomenons. If we scratch off the stylization of western folklore and sift it back to the individual countries and regions they originated from the similarities become very clear.
I love Yokai. Natsume's Book of Friends is what really got me into the idea of them, and i love how each one has their own personality and way of being. They're so interesting, and really bring that... idea of mystery to the real world. I love it.
Hey huge yo kai watch fan here and all i have to say is that Nintendo is doing us wrong but theres still hope I always loved mythical creatures and stories and when I heard about yo kai watch i knew it was just around my block thank you for talking about yokai!
Spooky Kitaro or Ge Ge No Kitaro, is one of the best yōkai anime ever. It's become a part of anime culture, being resurrected seemingly each decade since the original. It's like a mix of Shonen and Yōkai
Just finished watching A Letter to Momo off the recommendation of this video and just want to thank you for this recommendation as well as the other films you have recommended in other videos I am slowly making my way through the list and enjoyed everyone so far! Keep up the videos they are very well done and a real eye opener for someone looking to broaden their appetite for anime.
I'm really glad you liked it!! I was so pleased when I stumbled across it years ago, I'm glad I've had the chance to give it a little more exposure. It's a real treat.
Beyond Ghibli It's too bad most of us westerners have to luck into our exposure to anime. Also, Mori E's short running time actually enhances the story. Some stories aren't meant to be long.
I think the problem of describing "Yokai" has more to do with the encompasing nature of the term, which seems to be "supernatural entity", or very broadly "spirit". I mean this in more than "durr hurr spirit of the dead", and instead draw up things like River/stream Nymphs, Harpies, the god Pan, centaurs and fauns, and the fey(house-brownies, changelings, fairies, etc.), along with "ghosts" both broad and narrow. though I guess that's attempting to forcibly link separate frameworks while ignoring subtle details/differences
+Tyler Kelley it's a necessary evil of translation because we just don't have a word for Yokai yet - and maybe we don't need one. I think we are slowly learning that Yokai works just fine :)
aesthetic trash thank you! I really enjoyed doing this in depth one too. I've got some simpler videos coming next but already thinking about my next deep dive!
As you were mentioning this, I thought of Yo-kai Watch 2. They chose to translate what seems to be a filled bun as a donut. I was really surprised, as Yo-kai Watch Wibble Wobble was going to have a group of foods known as donuts. It was also clearer to me as I am Chinese, so kanji would be quite familiar to me. But judging by the colour scheme of the leaders of the Bonies and Fleshies, I was thinking of bun flavorings, specifically red bean and mung bean(green bean). It is not common for donuts to have such flavours in the West, but I suppose the targeted audience would not notice anyway.
I think this is one of the more important videos i've watch recently. I'm been watching anime for a long time and have seen most of the anime's mentioned, but I had no knowledge of Yokai. Big big thanks!!
That wish might come true sooner rather than later, since making this one I've been unable to get the subject out of my head! I've been tripping over new Yokai films and interesting references in other media about them and want to share with all of you, so stay tuned.
Simply breathtaking work again!!! i didn't know what Yokai was till now! You have unique ideas concerning videos! it's just majestic editing!! keep it up!! Now i'm really intersted in yokai!!
I'm so happy to hear I've awoken this in you :P And thank you for the kind comments about the editing, I get a little obsessive about it so I'm glad you appreciate it!!
Something reminded me of this movie for the first time in years, I remmebered that this video introduced it to me (I usually dont watch many new things) and I cant believe it's still here!!!! Thanks so much for recommending this, I remeber loving it so much when I first saw it, I'm going to watch it again for the second time in years! 😊
I hear that Natsume Yuujinchou music. I love that show. An interesting note, in that show when you listen to the sub, they often say 'ayakashi' and it gets translated to 'yokai.' I agree with others, fey is probably the best way to describe them to someone who doesn't know, since there are so many different varieties of fey (and other folklore). Similarly there are so many different kinds of yokai. They are certainly unique, but could fall under that category. Japanese fey.
This is without a doubt the best introductory video to Yokai available on youtube right now - I'm actually glad you didn't stick to your original shorter planned length.
Thank you!! It's always comforting to hear stuff like this. I'm currently getting a little carried away on the script to my next video and it's comments like these that make me have faith in doing longer content instead of cutting stuff.
Unlike most RUclips members, I adore long form film discussions especially when it's done with intelligence, professionalism, and a strong narrative voice - three elements you have in spades good sir! You have my support and keep up the great work.
I really appreciate your video❤. Had to subscribe, love anime and love that you've elaborated on Yokai. I got to understand them through Mushi-shi which I absolutely adore and will probably rewatch it in the near future but for now I'll be watching more of your video essays. Thanks and stay awesome😘❤
Thank you so much for your videos. The content you create is of outstanding quality as it is all entertaining without being silly; serious and informational without being boring. I think you are very close to hitting it big with a niche of your own. You talk more than just about high quality anime, but you educate the viewers on the Japanese culture. I have personally subscribed to your channel after the 1st video and I'm really looking forward to discovering more fantastic anime with your help. P.S. I think it might also be good if you make a mini video (or just talk about this in your other videos) about how you personally got so interested in the topic of anime/ Japanese culture. I think this would give even more depth to your work and create a personal connection with the viewers.
Thank you so much for your comment!! It's so lovely to hear something like this, so thank you for taking the time to leave one. I've been considering a video very much like the one you recommend, where I talk about how I got into it all, but I don't know if people would really care that much :P Once I have a lot more videos, and subscribers I suppose, I would love to talk about it, and what titles got me absolutely hooked. Since you asked though - and because that video may be years off yet - I'll let you in on a little bit of my 'origin story' :P - I got into it in the late nineties / early noughties, thanks mainly to video games. Seeing animated cutscenes and entire JRPGs carrying the anime aesthetic got me interested, so I asked my father to get me some import DVDs for Christmas one year - they were pretty expensive back then. I didn't ask for anything in particular, so he bought me Laputa, Metropolis and Akira. After that I grabbed a boxset of Chobits and got a little obsessed with it - all my disposable money was going into anime and manga after that. The rest is history :)
Wow, thank you so much for replying, too, and for the personal story! I personally had a Sega growing up and made my way to anime at a slightly later stage at about the age of 15)) The first few anime/ manga that blew me away were Ouran High School Host Club (for the fun and laughter in it) and the one that left a major impact on me was Trinity Blood (I loved the theme and the highly detailed high quality art. I was so taken that I was willing to wait several months for a few volumes to arrive at a time because I was living in a place where manga and anime weren't sold at all). I did go off the topic as a whole for several years because a part of me felt like I needed some changes in my life and that anime/ manga was too childish, but now I'm getting back into it again)). This is also why I liked your videos so much - going back into anime, I can't seem to watch a big portion of them now because I see some humour as a bit corny and repetitive (although I might change my mind in future again, I don't know :) ) however I know that there are "finer" and "more mature" animes with deeper-running emotions and complex situations like Tokyo Godfathers and Silent Voice etc. I don't think that people would find it "boring" if you were to include such stories about yourself, I think it would actually help them relate to you more and compare their experiences to yours. After all, what fanbase doesn't like a good origin story :)
This has been my first year playing Final Fantasy XIV and they have a repeating event involving Yo-kai Watch! It has been fun to get Yokai minions and themed weapons for all the classes. The little Whisper-a-go-go mount reminds me of the little machines that ran for a Quarter in front of grocery stores and gas stations. The starting quest even opens the same as the first episode of the anime. It has gotten me curious about the game and show but I've low key loved Yokai since my first Anime experiences. Like learning of The Tuatha Dé Danann and how there are fairies but no Tinkerbells. We slap simple words on things that, without context, are very very different. The fun of these wonderful creatures and their stories is putting your own concepts of what you think they are and open up to welcome them as we see them. To see and appreciate that all things have a life of their own. Everything has a right to be and do what it wants or has to do. You have to dig into another culture to want to understand them. In doing so, I like to think, it makes us all just a little more mindful and caring of the people and things around us. You have to do that sometimes to understand things that have no clear translation. Thank you again for all your work.
Thank you for your channel!!! Really love Ghibli, but I also think there is a great world of anime beyond them... Please don't stop making these videos!!!
Beautiful work joe, your reviews are subtle, clear, accessible and flowing, yet deep, expressive, informative and quite elaborate. often wondered while watching your videos, how come you only have 4 in your channel? and why you are not doing this professionally? would you do us the pleasure of making more my friend? you have one extra fan! REPLY
I love that you`re using the theme music of natsume yuujinchou as background music for a video on this topic. I feel like I just discovered an easter egg! Haha.
I've been enjoying your thoughtful and well made videos! I also found Hotarubi mo Mori e lovely. Regarding translation...Perhaps it is ignorance on my part, but I've felt that "spirits" work! My interpretation of the term "spirits" is that it's quite an all-embracing concept for anything supernatural, too. I suppose this could also work for me because I'm may not be bringing the aforementioned "cultural baggage" (would this be the thought that a spirit has no physical form?) to it. Yokai are definitely making their way to becoming well acquainted with westerners through the enjoyment of little fellows in the NYC metropolitan area of the US at least! I first heard of Yo-Kai Watch from my kindergarten students, and my ears perked up when I did. I thought it was quite cool that the term was being incorporated into a new craze. My nephew is also super into it. I just asked him what he'd say a yokai is. His definition: "Yokai are spirits...it'd be very ill-advised to do what they do." 😂👹👺👻😈
What are yo doing man!? You're finding out all my favourite subjects and anime. I've taken a strong liking to anime about youkai and other spiritual things. Natsuke even gets a mention here. :¬) Another fave is XXX Holic! I'm definitely glad I subbed. 👍
amazing video again. I looove A Letter to Momo and was hoping you'd say more about it, and of course you exceeded my expectations with this great video. I didn't know yokai could be so many different beings (my idea was that they were only like the ones from Momo, or the Kodama, Totoro and other forest beings), now I'll definitely read more about it. Hotarubi no Mori e really is a sweet movie, so nice to see it here too. :)
Thanks for this comment ! I was also shocked when I started learning about how wide a term Yokai is, especially when I found all my favourite Japanese imports - from horror to Godzilla - concerned Yokai. It's why I think Yokai Watch, as childish and watered down as it might be, is such an important stepping stone for the West to understand more of this incredible cultural touchstone.
speaking about Yokai Watch, my little brothers (6yo) are in love with the show. I'm gonna buy them the manga, and I really wanted to introduce them to more animes, but not only battle style ones. I gave them Totoro, Ponyo, Kiki e Arriety, but I'd love to get something beyond Ghibli. do you have any recommendations? maybe you could do a video about it. :)
Anime movies for six year olds? That's a tough one if only for that fact they're probably not willing to read subs :P Ghibli is a perfect place to start of course, but it's never too early to broaden their horizons: Good places to start would be the Boy and the Beast, A Letter to Momo and an odd little movie called Welcome to the Space Show, which is on the list to get a video about it soon :) Hope this helped!
oooh, I really need to watch Boy and the Beast, everyone keeps talking about it. thank you for your recommendations, they really don't read subs yet, so I get stuck with dubbed things. the Welcome to the Space Show looks really fun, maybe I get to watch it before your video is released. ;) thanks!
Thanks Emmett, any particular favourites concerning Yokai or just absolutely everything? Even though it's a watered down, kid friendly version of a topic that is often anything but, I really dig the Yokai Watch series :'D
I don't have any particular favorites, though I do find Furaribi to be interesting! I haven't seen too much of the Yokai Watch series, just the first few episodes, but I might watch more soon :^)
I haven't actually seen much of the anime myself, but I'm in love with the games! Can't wait for the new one this month, and I'm hoping the series has done well enough to see the third make its way to our shores. If you're looking for an anime series with Yokai in I'd recommend Kamichu and Mushishi. I was gonna talk about them in this video but the runtime was long enough already...
I'll definitely check em out! The anime was pretty good, but I haven't played the games... I'm going to try those out too - you almost give me too many cool things to watch/play :')
Great videos! I have started to binge on them. I especially love this one about Yokai! As a kid I always viewed Yokai closely with the Western concept of Fae. Fae is both a supernatural place and form as well as a creature that can be of all types, from spirits, deities/magical beings and enchantments. (Not all Fae are just fairies or elves as commonly simplified in the media) I know both are different but there are some great parallels. :) Great video once again!
You're absolutely right, they are quite similar. Thanks for the comment, I just wish I had more content to binge!! Hopefully I'll be rectifying that soon :p
The one big example of Yokai translated well to an English medium are the Spren in Sanderson's Stormlight Archive. Little manifestations of emotion and thought that can play pranks, or dance around fire, or tumble and shapeshift, depending on their type.
my favourite supernatural anime are always the one that has these folklore- mythological vibe to it. My fav is kamisama kiss and natsume group of friends. 100000% recommended and ghost stories too! :)
This was beautiful, i've yet to see Hotaru no Mori e because it appears to be impossible to find in the EU. Still, i'm fascinated by Yokai, especially the guardians / shapeshifters. I actually have a tattoo of a nine-tailed Kitsune who watches over 4 blue flames, representing the spirits of my deceased grandparents. I still love it to this day.
Getting hooked on your videos. Thanks. Loving it. Hotarubi no Mori e made me sad. Many anime brings tears to my eyes. In a good way, I guess. As many anime make me laugh.
More in-depth, yes, please. My standard request is for the anime that got me started, Haibane Renmei, which is so atypical I almost can't call it an anime.
Cool videos, I'm going to subscribe in the hope that you do many more. In agreement that yokai should remain yokai in translation, however one word I've not heard them translated into would fit pretty well, I think, which is why I'm a bit surprised hasn't been done. Faerie. Despite cultural differences, the word Faerie seems to be a catch-all term for the strange and mysterious and (although inferior to keeping the word yokai) would fit better than demon or spirit. Anyway, awesome videos that really inspire ponderings
In all of my writing in fantasy settings, I tend to use a Romano-Hellenistic religious and mythological base rather than Judeo-Christian. That being said, I think that I need to examine how Yōkai work in Japanese culture and fiction, to have a parallel analysis in a living culture. Great video; cheers mate!
I named my cat Yokai. Most people who are familiar with the term know it from Yo-Kai Watch. Those that don't I usually describe it as Japanese for "a mischievous house demon", which is suitable for a cat.
Thanks for the sub (and the comment!) As for your question, I don't believe so, as Porco Rosso only looks the way he does thanks to a curse, not because he actually is a walking, talking pig.I think that makes a difference?
I guess it might be tough, but I’d appreciate if you noted the works you used in the BG As the description only includes a breakdown of your video with timestamps But you use more bits of animation if varied works than those you focused on talking about It would be nice to know what certain clips are from because sometimes videos such as these, help catch my interest towards such things Edit: it’s in the credits but it can be difficult ti guess with some, the more variety that are used
"Spirit" comes reasonably close. It has a connotation of non-physical entities, but it's not strict on it. I'm still all in favour of leaving the term untranslated, which is also very common for spirit entities from different cultures since they all have their distinct ideas behind them. After all we adopted names like wendigo, chupacabra, banshee, Poltergeist, yeti, and more, and often they're entire categories of mystical creatures. Yokai should certainly be known as one of them.
This was really solid my dude.
If there were any way to communicate the concept of yo-kai to a westerner, I’d probably explain how the words “fairy” and “fey” used to cover a much broader range of subjects and phenomena in European folklore. If a thing or creature was somehow supernatural, it was fey. Banshees, which were a kind of ghost, nuckalevee, which were terrifying zombie-like monsters, and the harmless brownies were all categorized under the blanket term of fairy.
I think the spelling faerie and fae would be more appropriate.
fey works too. It depends on the region.
dullahan are fae folk as well. as are the pooka.
brownies as in the chocolatey square things?
Fairy sounds good. One day we'll get away from the tinkerbell shit and go back to the spooky Victorian fairies. I was going to propose "ghoul", but fairy makes more sense.
Natsume and the Book of Friends is one of the best anime shows you'll ever watch. It has such a great grasp on the tragedy of separation and the drama of entities forming relationships that pierce the barriers placed by culture, tradition, and nature. Seriously, it's an amazing watch.
A Letter To Momo is truly a great film and one that I'd recommend anyone to watch. I recently introduced my big brother and his small kids to it and they all loved it, though the only anime they had seen were a few Ghibli film. I also told my brother that there is a ton of great non Ghibli anime films out there and recommended a lot of other great anime.
This really makes me thing of "Mushi-Shi" which to be honest game me so much in terms of understanding Yo-Kai. You are right. By watering down cultural meanings and objects it causes confusion. I myself always considered Yo-Kai Spirits. However after watching that series i realized they were much much more!
Mushi-shi is a fantastic anime, and high up on my recommended list! Glad to find a fellow fan
you are a Mushi-shi fan? subscribed@@BeyondGhibli
Omg!!! Thank you for reminding me what that was called!!! I was trying to think of it just yesterday 😅
Even when you get 'carried away' it's relevant and intriguing, you're already one of my favourite youtubers
Flowish Loz thank you so much for saying this! It's made my day. :) glad you enjoyed it.
the moment that piece from the Natsume Yuujinchou sound track played at 3:39 made me all warm and tingly
Natsume yuujinchou is one of the best anime I have ever seen
My wife and I just found your page... we absolutely Love your detailed descriptions and think that your commentary is not only spot on, but very thoughtful and express much of our own feelings that are often hard to put into words!
Thank you for this and the other videos! Your first video has given us many titles that we always “thought about watching...but weren’t too sure what they were about or worth it...” so thanks to you we’re diving in and finding even more favorites along the way! ❤️
I like yokai their one of my favorite types of mythology based on the many cultures from around the world and I appreciate all the hard work of the artists, paintings, illustrations, and anime that bring fans like me of said art something to enjoy
I would say that similiar concepts to Yokai exist in western folklore- The fair folk, before fairy was interpreted as little people with wings and such- the creatures and entities created to explain concepts and phenomenons. If we scratch off the stylization of western folklore and sift it back to the individual countries and regions they originated from the similarities become very clear.
Why do I always have to make it about them? This is about yokai, not the goddamn fae.
I love Yokai. Natsume's Book of Friends is what really got me into the idea of them, and i love how each one has their own personality and way of being. They're so interesting, and really bring that... idea of mystery to the real world. I love it.
Hey huge yo kai watch fan here and all i have to say is that Nintendo is doing us wrong but theres still hope
I always loved mythical creatures and stories and when I heard about yo kai watch i knew it was just around my block thank you for talking about yokai!
Spooky Kitaro or Ge Ge No Kitaro, is one of the best yōkai anime ever. It's become a part of anime culture, being resurrected seemingly each decade since the original. It's like a mix of Shonen and Yōkai
Just finished watching A Letter to Momo off the recommendation of this video and just want to thank you for this recommendation as well as the other films you have recommended in other videos I am slowly making my way through the list and enjoyed everyone so far! Keep up the videos they are very well done and a real eye opener for someone looking to broaden their appetite for anime.
I'm really glad you liked it!! I was so pleased when I stumbled across it years ago, I'm glad I've had the chance to give it a little more exposure. It's a real treat.
Hearing the Natsume Yuujinchou soundtrack made me smile :) Great video, looking forward to the next one!
I really appreciate this episode's focus on the culture of Japan. Great work
as soon as you described iyashikei my face lit up. googling that term was the best thing ever. I love the feeling those kinds of anime give me.
A letter to momo is completely fantastic, and has amazing animation from toshiyuki inoue
amazing video! I LOVE that you used the music from Natsume Yuujincho, a great anime about yokai.
i hope you get more viewers your channel is really coming along! I really enjoyed this video
Lebene Drury thank you! I'm hoping I'll continue to improve! There's always room to get better. :D thanks so much for watching
Beyond Ghibli It's too bad most of us westerners have to luck into our exposure to anime. Also, Mori E's short running time actually enhances the story. Some stories aren't meant to be long.
I think the problem of describing "Yokai" has more to do with the encompasing nature of the term, which seems to be "supernatural entity", or very broadly "spirit".
I mean this in more than "durr hurr spirit of the dead", and instead draw up things like River/stream Nymphs, Harpies, the god Pan, centaurs and fauns, and the fey(house-brownies, changelings, fairies, etc.), along with "ghosts" both broad and narrow.
though I guess that's attempting to forcibly link separate frameworks while ignoring subtle details/differences
+Tyler Kelley it's a necessary evil of translation because we just don't have a word for Yokai yet - and maybe we don't need one. I think we are slowly learning that Yokai works just fine :)
For those wondering: 8:35 iyashikei いやし系 means "therapy" or "soothing".
This is a great video thank you for it!
Also bless you for using a track from Natsume Yujin-cho!
your channel is amazing, i really hope it takes off! i would love more videos about cultural ideas and how they relate to anime.
aesthetic trash thank you! I really enjoyed doing this in depth one too. I've got some simpler videos coming next but already thinking about my next deep dive!
As you were mentioning this, I thought of Yo-kai Watch 2. They chose to translate what seems to be a filled bun as a donut. I was really surprised, as Yo-kai Watch Wibble Wobble was going to have a group of foods known as donuts. It was also clearer to me as I am Chinese, so kanji would be quite familiar to me. But judging by the colour scheme of the leaders of the Bonies and Fleshies, I was thinking of bun flavorings, specifically red bean and mung bean(green bean). It is not common for donuts to have such flavours in the West, but I suppose the targeted audience would not notice anyway.
I think this is one of the more important videos i've watch recently. I'm been watching anime for a long time and have seen most of the anime's mentioned, but I had no knowledge of Yokai. Big big thanks!!
I WAS NOT READY FOR HOTARU; thank you for your wonderful videos
This was an excellent video. Thank you so much for making this. I am sharing it with dozens of my friends.
I love the self-deprecating comments you make at the end of your videos
Fantastic as always
I love how you combine soothing musics with these images,
Definitely want another Yokai video
That wish might come true sooner rather than later, since making this one I've been unable to get the subject out of my head! I've been tripping over new Yokai films and interesting references in other media about them and want to share with all of you, so stay tuned.
wonderful
certainly, I look forward to it
As a lover of yokai, your video touched all the right anime and sources! Love your videos!
Simply breathtaking work again!!! i didn't know what Yokai was till now! You have unique ideas concerning videos! it's just majestic editing!! keep it up!!
Now i'm really intersted in yokai!!
I'm so happy to hear I've awoken this in you :P And thank you for the kind comments about the editing, I get a little obsessive about it so I'm glad you appreciate it!!
Something reminded me of this movie for the first time in years, I remmebered that this video introduced it to me (I usually dont watch many new things) and I cant believe it's still here!!!! Thanks so much for recommending this, I remeber loving it so much when I first saw it, I'm going to watch it again for the second time in years! 😊
Those jam-filled doughnuts though....! That's actually hilarious!
I hear that Natsume Yuujinchou music. I love that show.
An interesting note, in that show when you listen to the sub, they often say 'ayakashi' and it gets translated to 'yokai.'
I agree with others, fey is probably the best way to describe them to someone who doesn't know, since there are so many different varieties of fey (and other folklore).
Similarly there are so many different kinds of yokai. They are certainly unique, but could fall under that category. Japanese fey.
This is without a doubt the best introductory video to Yokai available on youtube right now - I'm actually glad you didn't stick to your original shorter planned length.
Thank you!! It's always comforting to hear stuff like this. I'm currently getting a little carried away on the script to my next video and it's comments like these that make me have faith in doing longer content instead of cutting stuff.
Unlike most RUclips members, I adore long form film discussions especially when it's done with intelligence, professionalism, and a strong narrative voice - three elements you have in spades good sir! You have my support and keep up the great work.
I really appreciate your video❤. Had to subscribe, love anime and love that you've elaborated on Yokai. I got to understand them through Mushi-shi which I absolutely adore and will probably rewatch it in the near future but for now I'll be watching more of your video essays. Thanks and stay awesome😘❤
Thank you so much for your videos. The content you create is of outstanding quality as it is all entertaining without being silly; serious and informational without being boring. I think you are very close to hitting it big with a niche of your own. You talk more than just about high quality anime, but you educate the viewers on the Japanese culture. I have personally subscribed to your channel after the 1st video and I'm really looking forward to discovering more fantastic anime with your help. P.S. I think it might also be good if you make a mini video (or just talk about this in your other videos) about how you personally got so interested in the topic of anime/ Japanese culture. I think this would give even more depth to your work and create a personal connection with the viewers.
Thank you so much for your comment!! It's so lovely to hear something like this, so thank you for taking the time to leave one. I've been considering a video very much like the one you recommend, where I talk about how I got into it all, but I don't know if people would really care that much :P Once I have a lot more videos, and subscribers I suppose, I would love to talk about it, and what titles got me absolutely hooked.
Since you asked though - and because that video may be years off yet - I'll let you in on a little bit of my 'origin story' :P - I got into it in the late nineties / early noughties, thanks mainly to video games. Seeing animated cutscenes and entire JRPGs carrying the anime aesthetic got me interested, so I asked my father to get me some import DVDs for Christmas one year - they were pretty expensive back then. I didn't ask for anything in particular, so he bought me Laputa, Metropolis and Akira. After that I grabbed a boxset of Chobits and got a little obsessed with it - all my disposable money was going into anime and manga after that. The rest is history :)
Wow, thank you so much for replying, too, and for the personal story! I personally had a Sega growing up and made my way to anime at a slightly later stage at about the age of 15)) The first few anime/ manga that blew me away were Ouran High School Host Club (for the fun and laughter in it) and the one that left a major impact on me was Trinity Blood (I loved the theme and the highly detailed high quality art. I was so taken that I was willing to wait several months for a few volumes to arrive at a time because I was living in a place where manga and anime weren't sold at all). I did go off the topic as a whole for several years because a part of me felt like I needed some changes in my life and that anime/ manga was too childish, but now I'm getting back into it again)). This is also why I liked your videos so much - going back into anime, I can't seem to watch a big portion of them now because I see some humour as a bit corny and repetitive (although I might change my mind in future again, I don't know :) ) however I know that there are "finer" and "more mature" animes with deeper-running emotions and complex situations like Tokyo Godfathers and Silent Voice etc.
I don't think that people would find it "boring" if you were to include such stories about yourself, I think it would actually help them relate to you more and compare their experiences to yours. After all, what fanbase doesn't like a good origin story :)
This has been my first year playing Final Fantasy XIV and they have a repeating event involving Yo-kai Watch! It has been fun to get Yokai minions and themed weapons for all the classes. The little Whisper-a-go-go mount reminds me of the little machines that ran for a Quarter in front of grocery stores and gas stations. The starting quest even opens the same as the first episode of the anime. It has gotten me curious about the game and show but I've low key loved Yokai since my first Anime experiences. Like learning of The Tuatha Dé Danann and how there are fairies but no Tinkerbells. We slap simple words on things that, without context, are very very different.
The fun of these wonderful creatures and their stories is putting your own concepts of what you think they are and open up to welcome them as we see them. To see and appreciate that all things have a life of their own. Everything has a right to be and do what it wants or has to do. You have to dig into another culture to want to understand them. In doing so, I like to think, it makes us all just a little more mindful and caring of the people and things around us. You have to do that sometimes to understand things that have no clear translation.
Thank you again for all your work.
I really like your input and thoughts about yokai.
Thank you for your channel!!! Really love Ghibli, but I also think there is a great world of anime beyond them... Please don't stop making these videos!!!
Ernst Fourie thank you so much for your kind words! I will keep making them as long as people watch them :D
Love this series, Beyond Ghibli. Hope to see more
Beautiful work joe, your reviews are subtle, clear, accessible and flowing, yet deep, expressive, informative and quite elaborate. often wondered while watching your videos, how come you only have 4 in your channel? and why you are not doing this professionally? would you do us the pleasure of making more my friend? you have one extra fan!
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I love that you`re using the theme music of natsume yuujinchou as background music for a video on this topic. I feel like I just discovered an easter egg! Haha.
You absolutely did! Not many people pick up on that link ;) good job and thanks for watching.
You are amazing, your channel is really needed
thank you for using a track from natsume yuujinchou!
I am really enjoying your videos! They are very informative while relaxing to watch. Haha I've been stuck watching your videos.
Enjoyed your vid very much! I have been fascinated with japanese culture since my early years, this has been very enjoyable video
So moving, I teared up a little watching this video. Lovely passion you have put into this :">
Thank you for saying so :) this video was very special to me and I loved making it.
I love your video’s! Thank you!
I love your videos so far, I can`t wait for new content and daaamn your voice is amazing
You are so thoughtful and your videos are lovely! I hope you get famous
+Flavia Chavarria thanks so much :)
3:39 Piece - Furusato no nioi - Natsume Yuujinchou
I've been enjoying your thoughtful and well made videos! I also found Hotarubi mo Mori e lovely. Regarding translation...Perhaps it is ignorance on my part, but I've felt that "spirits" work! My interpretation of the term "spirits" is that it's quite an all-embracing concept for anything supernatural, too. I suppose this could also work for me because I'm may not be bringing the aforementioned "cultural baggage" (would this be the thought that a spirit has no physical form?) to it. Yokai are definitely making their way to becoming well acquainted with westerners through the enjoyment of little fellows in the NYC metropolitan area of the US at least! I first heard of Yo-Kai Watch from my kindergarten students, and my ears perked up when I did. I thought it was quite cool that the term was being incorporated into a new craze. My nephew is also super into it. I just asked him what he'd say a yokai is. His definition: "Yokai are spirits...it'd be very ill-advised to do what they do." 😂👹👺👻😈
Saw your Masaaki Yuasa vid, now im subscribing
I love your videos so much and I can't wait till you post again!
Thanks so much Hanna, hopefully it won't be too long between videos! Really happy to hear you like them so much :)
What are yo doing man!? You're finding out all my favourite subjects and anime. I've taken a strong liking to anime about youkai and other spiritual things. Natsuke even gets a mention here. :¬) Another fave is XXX Holic!
I'm definitely glad I subbed. 👍
How the heck you only have 6K subscribers?! This is insane!!
+Seung-Seung thank you so much :)
amazing video again. I looove A Letter to Momo and was hoping you'd say more about it, and of course you exceeded my expectations with this great video. I didn't know yokai could be so many different beings (my idea was that they were only like the ones from Momo, or the Kodama, Totoro and other forest beings), now I'll definitely read more about it. Hotarubi no Mori e really is a sweet movie, so nice to see it here too. :)
Thanks for this comment ! I was also shocked when I started learning about how wide a term Yokai is, especially when I found all my favourite Japanese imports - from horror to Godzilla - concerned Yokai. It's why I think Yokai Watch, as childish and watered down as it might be, is such an important stepping stone for the West to understand more of this incredible cultural touchstone.
speaking about Yokai Watch, my little brothers (6yo) are in love with the show. I'm gonna buy them the manga, and I really wanted to introduce them to more animes, but not only battle style ones. I gave them Totoro, Ponyo, Kiki e Arriety, but I'd love to get something beyond Ghibli. do you have any recommendations? maybe you could do a video about it. :)
Anime movies for six year olds? That's a tough one if only for that fact they're probably not willing to read subs :P Ghibli is a perfect place to start of course, but it's never too early to broaden their horizons: Good places to start would be the Boy and the Beast, A Letter to Momo and an odd little movie called Welcome to the Space Show, which is on the list to get a video about it soon :) Hope this helped!
oooh, I really need to watch Boy and the Beast, everyone keeps talking about it. thank you for your recommendations, they really don't read subs yet, so I get stuck with dubbed things. the Welcome to the Space Show looks really fun, maybe I get to watch it before your video is released. ;) thanks!
Wow, I loved this one! Yokai are one of my favorite parts of Japanese culture, so it's awesome that you touched on this topic! Great video
Thanks Emmett, any particular favourites concerning Yokai or just absolutely everything? Even though it's a watered down, kid friendly version of a topic that is often anything but, I really dig the Yokai Watch series :'D
I don't have any particular favorites, though I do find Furaribi to be interesting! I haven't seen too much of the Yokai Watch series, just the first few episodes, but I might watch more soon :^)
I haven't actually seen much of the anime myself, but I'm in love with the games! Can't wait for the new one this month, and I'm hoping the series has done well enough to see the third make its way to our shores. If you're looking for an anime series with Yokai in I'd recommend Kamichu and Mushishi. I was gonna talk about them in this video but the runtime was long enough already...
I'll definitely check em out! The anime was pretty good, but I haven't played the games... I'm going to try those out too - you almost give me too many cool things to watch/play :')
What are your thoughts on Mushi Shi
Great videos! I have started to binge on them. I especially love this one about Yokai! As a kid I always viewed Yokai closely with the Western concept of Fae. Fae is both a supernatural place and form as well as a creature that can be of all types, from spirits, deities/magical beings and enchantments. (Not all Fae are just fairies or elves as commonly simplified in the media) I know both are different but there are some great parallels. :)
Great video once again!
You're absolutely right, they are quite similar. Thanks for the comment, I just wish I had more content to binge!! Hopefully I'll be rectifying that soon :p
aaah the soundtrack from Natsume Yuujinchou. Such a nice show
I've never heard of the Iyashikei genre. This is super interesting.
I love your posts thank you 😊
That was great my first experience with yokai was kakuranger where the enemies were yokai had no idea there were good ones. Very informative.
That use of the ost from Natsume Yujincho😍😍
I loved A Letter to Momo; its soundtrack was also so beautiful
I search for the “perfect anime” and I found it in “A Letter to Momo”. The film is extremely balanced and anybody interested in anime should watch it.
The one big example of Yokai translated well to an English medium are the Spren in Sanderson's Stormlight Archive. Little manifestations of emotion and thought that can play pranks, or dance around fire, or tumble and shapeshift, depending on their type.
This was definitely a very informative video! I would definitely like to see Japanese culture spread throughout the western audience! :)
Natsume is such a lovely show.
my favourite supernatural anime are always the one that has these folklore- mythological vibe to it. My fav is kamisama kiss and natsume group of friends. 100000% recommended and ghost stories too! :)
5:03 what movie is this?? It looks so good and I don’t know if he said it or not.
This was beautiful, i've yet to see Hotaru no Mori e because it appears to be impossible to find in the EU.
Still, i'm fascinated by Yokai, especially the guardians / shapeshifters. I actually have a tattoo of a nine-tailed Kitsune who watches over 4 blue flames, representing the spirits of my deceased grandparents. I still love it to this day.
What is the footage from 2:20 from?
It`s from Pom Poko
11:23 Drunk guys who see amazing stuff. There are so few truly American memes.
Getting hooked on your videos. Thanks. Loving it. Hotarubi no Mori e made me sad. Many anime brings tears to my eyes. In a good way, I guess. As many anime make me laugh.
More in-depth, yes, please. My standard request is for the anime that got me started, Haibane Renmei, which is so atypical I almost can't call it an anime.
Haibane Renmei is one of my favourite anime ever made. It's absolutely getting covered!
Yippee! And thank you! (I'm really, really hoping you can explain what the deal with carrots is.)
Cool videos, I'm going to subscribe in the hope that you do many more.
In agreement that yokai should remain yokai in translation,
however one word I've not heard them translated into would fit pretty well, I think, which is why I'm a bit surprised hasn't been done. Faerie. Despite cultural differences, the word Faerie seems to be a catch-all term for the strange and mysterious and (although inferior to keeping the word yokai) would fit better than demon or spirit.
Anyway, awesome videos that really inspire ponderings
Even calling a bottle of saki in Starblazers spring water. I'm still not over that one.
In all of my writing in fantasy settings, I tend to use a Romano-Hellenistic religious and mythological base rather than Judeo-Christian. That being said, I think that I need to examine how Yōkai work in Japanese culture and fiction, to have a parallel analysis in a living culture. Great video; cheers mate!
*MORE PLEASE!!!*
As weird as this sounds, but a lot of the feelings I got from old episodes of Ghost Busters really feels like some of the same spirit of content.
This video has had an influence on my book. Thanks.
I named my cat Yokai. Most people who are familiar with the term know it from Yo-Kai Watch. Those that don't I usually describe it as Japanese for "a mischievous house demon", which is suitable for a cat.
Thank you for this.
First of all i really enjoy your content, you won yourself a new subcriber! I have a question however, is Porco Rosso also a Yōkai?
Thanks for the sub (and the comment!) As for your question, I don't believe so, as Porco Rosso only looks the way he does thanks to a curse, not because he actually is a walking, talking pig.I think that makes a difference?
Whats the song at the end? Love it
A letter to momo made me cry so hard
8:10 i expected a yōkai to push her into the water
I did not expect him to yell "your welcome" xD
Love the Natsume BGM.
PS: Mokou Fujiwara is afraid of Red Bean Rice Cake not Jelly Donuts... although she may be... maybe
This is AMAZING! Thank you so much!!!!
:) thank you for the lovely comment.
judging off the titles of the anime you're reviewing, me and you have the exact same taste in anime.
I guess it might be tough, but I’d appreciate if you noted the works you used in the BG
As the description only includes a breakdown of your video with timestamps
But you use more bits of animation if varied works than those you focused on talking about
It would be nice to know what certain clips are from because sometimes videos such as these, help catch my interest towards such things
Edit: it’s in the credits but it can be difficult ti guess with some, the more variety that are used
I loved this piece!
Does anyone know the anime at 2:20?
Great stuff more Yokai please 😌
"Spirit" comes reasonably close. It has a connotation of non-physical entities, but it's not strict on it. I'm still all in favour of leaving the term untranslated, which is also very common for spirit entities from different cultures since they all have their distinct ideas behind them. After all we adopted names like wendigo, chupacabra, banshee, Poltergeist, yeti, and more, and often they're entire categories of mystical creatures. Yokai should certainly be known as one of them.
This is a great video