EP001

**Yo-kai Are Real!** (Japanese: 妖怪がいる! *Yōkai ga Iru!)* and **The Spooky Intersection** (Japanese: 恐怖の交差点 Episode5 *Kyōfu no Kōsaten)* is the 1st episode of the anime series.

## Summary

Nate is introduced into the world of the Yo-kai when he frees the Yo-kai butler Whisper from a capsule machine and receives the Yo-kai Watch. Whisper explains more of Yo-kai to Nate just as they find an intersection haunted by the cat Yo-kai Jibanyan.

## Plot

### Yo-kai are Real

Nate and his friends are in the woods catching stag beetles. Nate catches an average-sized beetle and his friends tease him by saying the beetle is, "Just like him, very average". Angered and determined to prove them wrong, Nathan ventures off deep into the forest and follows a glowing beetle that leads him into a no-entry zone. There, he finds a scary-looking capsule toy dispenser and hears a voice telling him to insert a coin. Freaked out, he places a coin into the capsule machine and receives a gray-colored capsule. When he opens it, a white Yo-kai going by the name of Whisper pops out and thanks Nate for freeing him.

Whisper explains that he was imprisoned 190 years ago by a man who thought all Yo-kai were evil. However, Nate is already on the hunt for more beetles and doesn't seem to care about Whisper’s story. Whisper panics and tells Nathan that as a reward for freeing him, he will be his butler doing whatever he needs to be done. Afterwards, Nate tells Whisper that he’s trying to catch the biggest bug out there and so Whisper calls upon the rarest/largest bugs in the forest, causing them to swarm to Nate and gets crushed by the sheer amount. Nate tells Whisper that he wants them to get away, so Whisper farts, driving the bugs away. Nate, having suffered Whisper's fart, exclaims that he was disappointed in his prize before he walks back home.

Whisper follows Nate home, as the two talk about Whisper staying at Nate's home. When Nate enters the house, they find Mom and Dad fighting over eating the last treat. Nate finds this to be odd because his parents never fight. Whisper says that their strange behavior is because of the Yo-kai that is in the room with them. Nate is confused because he doesn’t see any Yo-kai. Whisper explains that humans cannot see Yo-kai and gives him the Yo-kai Watch which allows for him to see them. By shining a light that is built into the watch, Nate reveals a giant purple Yo-kai, Dismarelda, who is depressed because she thinks her husband doesn’t love her. Eventually, her husband, Happierre comes into the room and confesses that he still loves her dearly. The atmosphere is balanced once again and Nathan's parents stop fighting.

### The Terrifying Intersection

Strange things are happening at a crossing road in town. People are walking in front of speeding cars and the cars stop last second and do not hit the person. After Whisper hears about this, he states a Yo-kai must be inspiriting the place. After encouraging Nate to find the culprit, the two find out the events are being caused by Jibanyan, a cat Yo-Kai who is possessing people and then punching the trucks to make them stop. Nate and Whisper ask him why he’s doing this and Jibanyan tells them that he is perfecting his skills so that he can impress Amy, his former owner.

Jibanyan explains his backstory about how he was a cat with a great, gentlemanly name, but he doesn’t remember exactly what it was. He loved his life with Amy and his favorite thing to do with her was sleep. But one day, Jibanyan was crossing the street and got hit by a car. His last memory as a normal cat was that of his owner calling him a "loser" because he was hit by a truck. Thus, he practices everyday to impress her.

Nate tells Jibanyan to stop using strangers to help him practice. For that, Jibanyan tries to do it on his own, but fails. Nate offers to help Jibanyan practice and soon, they became friends. Since Nate made friends with Jibanyan, he was rewarded with Jibanyan's Medal as a sign of their new friendship. Just when Nate and Jibanyan were about to hug, Jibanyan gets blindsided by a passing truck and gets sent off into the distance.

## Characters

### Humans

* Nate (first appearance)
* Lily Adams (first appearance)
* Aaron Adams (first appearance)
* Bear (first appearance)
* Eddie (first appearance)
* Katie (first appearance)
* Amy (first appearance, flashback cameo)

### Yo-kai

* Whisper (first appearance)
* Jibanyan (first appearance)
* Dismarelda (first appearance)
* Happierre (first appearance)

## Dub Differences

* Whisper mentions that if Dismarelda does not leave Nate's house, the worst case scenario would be that his parents would get a divorce. In the dub, this is changed to Nate's parents fighting forever.
* The sign in the forest that translates to "No Entry" (禁止 / *Kinshi*) is painted over in the dub.
	+ The safety signs at the intersection are also painted over.
* Much of the scene involving Nate confusing Whisper's title for a sheep and other things rhyming with "butler" is cut. The ending, where Whisper clarifies his title, was kept.
* In the original, Whisper tells Nate that he won't ever be able to take the watch off, which is a writing mistake due to later episodes showing Nate freely taking it off.
* The scenes that show Rudy dead at the intersection were edited by having the scene depicting his corpse zoomed near Amy at the crosswalk.

## Errors

* When Nate releases Whisper from the capsule, the star on his shirt disappears.