Yo-kai Watch: The Movie (Yo-kai Watch: Tanjō no Himitsu da Nyan!, translating to "Yokai Watch: The Birth of the Secret, Meow!", in Japan) is the first movie of the Yo-kai Watch anime series.
The movie adapts the plot of the second game, with Nate going back in time to meet his grandfather Nathaniel as a kid and discover the origins of the Yo-Kai Watch.
It was first released on December 20, 2014 in Japan, and in the US on October 15, 2016 for a one-day only limited engagement.
This movie provides examples of:
- Adapted Out: Katie's grandparents aren't her grandparents, Kenny and Kelly, from the game.
- Big Badass Battle Sequence: Nate and Nathaniel summon their own army of Yo-kai to fend off against Dame Dedtime's forces.
- Disney Villain Death: Somewhat subverted for Dame Dedtime and her henchmen, as they just disappear. As Whisper mentioned in the anime, Yo-kai can't die.
- Eternal Engine: The climax takes place in an abandoned factory in Old Springdale.
- The Foreign Subtitle: Inverted, as the Japanese version's subtitle was omitted from most international releases (including the English dub), likely in case the other movies
don't get localized. - Identical Grandson:
- Nate's grandfather, Nathaniel, resembles him, only with darker skin.
- Nate later sees the grandparents of his friends when they visited Old Spirngdale.
- My Greatest Failure: Nathaniel's backstory as why he wanted to become a superhero.
- Ripple-Effect-Proof Memory: Zigzagged; Nate forgets about his Yo-kai friends (and about Yo-kai in general) when the eponymous watch disappears from his time, but thanks to Meganyan, he gets his memory back. Averted with Whisper and Jibanyan, who apparently didn't forget about Nate, even though they shouldn't have met in the new timeline.
- "Sesame Street" Cred: In the Japanese version, comedian Ken Shimura voices Master Nyada, and Haruka Shimazaki of AKB48 voices the younger version of Nate's grandmother.
- Timey-Wimey Ball: Oh boy, where do we begin?:
- In the original timeline, Nathaniel created the prototype Watch, but was changed thanks to Kin and Gin who inspirited some bullies to pick on his friend. So this means that Nathaniel started becoming Moximous Mask and ditches the invention of the Watch in the changed path.
- Then Hovernyan enters the scene and tells Nate about what happened. Nate then encourages his grandfather to make the watch.
- 2D Visuals, 3D Effects: Lampshaded in the English dub when Dame Dedtime becomes Dame Demona:Whisper: This is only happening because we had the villain trapped, so she had to turn into a CGI monster to make the movie more exciting!
