You cannot talk about Yo-Kai Watch without discussing the anime. The 2014 TV series (broadcast in the US on Disney XD) is chaotic, surreal, and genuinely hilarious.
In the mid-2010s, a phenomenon swept across Japan that was so pervasive, it threatened to unseat the undisputed king of the monster-collecting genre, Pokémon. Children rushed to department stores, convenience stores ran out of specific pastries, and playgrounds echoed with the sound of a catchy, brass-heavy theme song. This was the era of . yo kai watch