Level-5 Details AI and Human Errors in Yo-kai Watch 2: Hadou Footage
Level-5 is treating the backlash as a production problem with a deadline: an apology, a public accounting of which details were hand-drawn and which were actual mistakes, and revised footage timed to Tokyo Game Show.
Reporting from 1 source: Game Spark.
Level-5 published an explanation and apology on its official website about AI use in footage from its September 10 online presentation LEVEL5 VISION 2026 II. The company will re-upload revised PVs on September 17, the start of Tokyo Game Show 2026. It said the controversial Yo-kai Watch 2: Hadou concept illustration included intentional omissions and human mistakes, and that Keita's face differed because of a scheduling issue.
For the Yo-kai Watch 2: Hadou concept illustration at the center of the complaints, the company went through the disputed details one by one. The power lines that read as unnatural were hand-drawn by a designer and simplified from real utility poles. The vending machine and rain gutters were human errors where detail was omitted. The bicycle's brake levers were left out of the drawing, and the company acknowledged they should have been there under the latest title's concept of enhanced detail.
The statement also addresses why Keita's face looked different between Nintendo Direct on September 9 and the LEVEL5 VISION stream, calling it a scheduling issue and stating that no changes or modifications were made.
Synthesized by Yomimono from the 1 cited source below, including Japanese-language reporting where cited, then editorially reviewed before publishing.