Summary
Noriyuki Konishi, the mangaka behind the hit seriesYo-kai Watch, has launched an all-new manga! The new story is calledAbikore, and follows a totally new and original story that is very different fromYo-kai Watch. This new story, while still aimed at the same demographic, is a sci-fi story with a positive message for young audiences.
Abikorefollows an alien named Yoden who comes to Earth with a mysterious weapon called the “Ability Gun.” This gun gives him the power to inject living creatures withspecial abilities and superpowers! Yoden has only good intentions, though, and is using this special ability to try to give as many Earthlings as possible happy lives.
RELATED:Yo-Kai Watch Review
Abikoreis being published on the Coro Coro Online website, which is magazineShogakukan’s free online manga website. That’s right,Abikoreis currently available to read for free -though only in Japanese officially, for now.Coro Coro Comicsis also whereYo-kai Watchwas originally published back in 2012 when it first began before it moved over eventually toCoro Coro Ichiban!and finallyBessatsu Coro Coro Comics. It finally ended just this past April.
Yo-kai Watch, when it first came out, was often compared toPokemonas the two feature young protagonists who befriend animal-like creatures with special powers, journeying together to collect and meet more and more of them. Also likePokémon,Yo-kai Watch’s original target demographic was children, though many adults ended up following the series as well.Abikoremay have a different plot thanYo-kai Watch, but the intended audience is the same. With a cute art style and positive message,Abikoreis aimed at children, though that doesn’t mean that adults cannot enjoy the story as well.
For anyone who was still readingYo-kai Watch, the manga ran for eleven years in total. During that time, it inspired a few video games, an anime series, and some movies as well as a plethora of merchandise for children. It seems that Konichi is not about to take a break, though, since he has already started to publish something new just five months after his most famous work has finally finished! But that is good news for fans, of course, who may have been wondering justwhat Konichi was going to do nowthatYo-kai Watchhas finished.
Yo-kai Watchwas never able to reach the same level of popularity and fame thatPokémondid, both domestically and internationally. Hopefully with such an original story,Abikorewill not have to suffer from constant comparisons to a much larger franchise, and can be appreciated instead for what it is - a light-hearted, positive story about a cute alien doing his best. Whileunlikely to become a huge bestseller, especially internationally,Abikoreis still worth a read, especially for fans of Konishi’s style of story-telling.
