Yo-kai Watch Jam: Yo-kai Academy Y

Yo-kai Academy Y emerged as the third major iteration of the Yo-kai Watch franchise, shifting the setting from suburban life to a sprawling, high-concept academy for the supernatural. Serialized in CoroCoro Comic starting in 2019, the manga was illustrated by Konishi Noriyuki, who had previously solidified his reputation as the definitive artist for the franchise by adapting the earlier video game narratives into successful comic runs. His approach here leaned into a more dynamic, action-oriented aesthetic to mirror the series' transition toward school-life mystery and transformation mechanics.

The series was designed to breathe new life into the franchise by incorporating elements of mystery and shifting the tone toward a slightly older demographic of elementary and middle school readers. Konishi Noriyuki utilized the manga to expand upon the complex lore of the Academy and its students, focusing on the protagonist Jinpei Jiba. While the reception was centered primarily within the domestic Japanese market, the work remains a significant chapter in the broader Yo-kai Watch multimedia project, valued by collectors for how it represents the stylistic pivot of Noriyuki’s long-standing collaboration with Level-5.