Bulldog Licensing has announced it’s now representing Viz Media Europe brand Yo-Kai Watch – a new anime tipped to top the sales charts amongst boys’ brands in the UK licensing sector.

The story of YO-KAI WATCH follows an average boy, Nate, who gets a special watch empowering him to discover mysterious beings called “Yo-kai.”  Yo-kai  are everywhere, causing little nuisances in our daily lives.  Nate’s ongoing quest is to find out the reason for the Yo-kai’s mischievous behaviour, with hopes of talking them out of it.  Each time Nate needs to solve a problem – a problem often caused by another troublesome Yo-kai – he uses his watch to call upon a friendly Yo-kai to aid him.  Adventure and high jinks ensue, to the great delight and amusement of the millions of YO-KAI WATCH fans across Japan, and soon across the world.

YO-KAI WATCH features an imaginative plot, great characters and laugh-out-loud comedy and the anime series has already enjoyed huge success in Japan, where it dominates the television, merchandise, gaming and toy markets, generating retail sales of over €2 billion in just twenty months. Details of a UK broadcaster will be released soon, whilst two major licensees – Hasbro (Master Toy) and Nintendo (Video Games) – are already on board.

“YO-KAI WATCH is set to make a big impact on the UK market and we’re delighted that the Bulldog team, with all their experience and brand expertise, are on board to capitalise on the property’s huge licensing potential,” says Aadil Tayouga, EMEA Licensing Manager, Viz Media Europe.

Adds Bulldog Group Managing Director, Rob Corney: “It’s not often you see this level of excitement surrounding a show that hasn’t even screened yet, but YO-KAI WATCH is set to be huge. For the first time in my career, we were seeing deal proposals coming in before we’d even pitched the brand!! We’re expecting to release on initial deals any time soon, so watch this space!”