Please stop dilly-dallying about and bring Youkai Watch to the west. You have seen phenomenal success in Japan. If it reaches just a fraction of that audience in other territories, everyone will win.
You have seen the success of Pokemon’s most recent releases, Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire. You have seen the success of your other games, especially that other monster-hunting game in your catalog, Ni no Kuni (while we’re on that topic, why did you never bring over the DS version? That is a large hole in a lot of people’s RPG libraries.)
I know, there is a significant amount of content behind Youkai Watch now, with 2 games (and with Youkai Watch 2 having multiple versions), a 52-episode anime series, an animated movie, several manga series, and a plethora of miscellaneous other things. And you want it translated right, by a team who will preserve the mountain of puns you work into all of your titles. Ni no Kuni got it right. I’m sure you can get it right for Youkai Watch.
Sure, the western markets aren’t that familiar with the traditional Japanese monsters, ogres, and demons that form the basis for the youkai that you meet in the game. And the game is distinctly set in a Japanese suburban town, where a lot of subtle details (like how both the copy machine and the ATM are located side-by-side, right at the entrance of the convenience stores) will not be appreciated. But it’s an opportunity for people to learn a bit about Japanese life, viewed through the rosy lens of a child on summer holiday. Everyone remembers how fun summer holidays used to be, right?
It took two years to bring over Fantasy Life. Please don’t take that long with Youkai Watch. You have a lot of potential fans out here.