Japanese animated series YO-Kai Watch is being represented in North, Central and South America by California-based Dentsu Entertainment, which is currently seeking out broadcast and merchandising partners throughout the region.

YO-Kai Watch, which is based on the popular manga comic in the Shogakukan Monthly CoroCoro Comic Magazine, debuted on TV Tokyo this past January.

The show will be available for broadcast in the Americas starting this spring.

The yo-kai are a category of spirit entities in Japanese folklore, ranging from friendly to malevolent.  The YO-Kai Watch series begins as a curious 10-year-old boy frees Whisper, a ghost-butler yo-kai, from 190 years of imprisonment.  In gratitude, Whisper pledges to protect the boy from supernatural challenges.

Dentsu Entertainment’s roots are in Japan, as the US-based company was formed in 2010 as a wholly owned subsidiary of Japanese producer Dentsu Inc.