#wantston

[shitty-yokai-watch-a-day]

Day 335 – Wantston

[dailydoseyokaiwatch]

114 Wantston

Heartful

[gamedesigndeconstruct]

The Envious Child (a Yo-kai Watch post)

From Yo-kai Watch’s Encyclopedia: Wantston wants everything others have, but he won't even try to acquire what he envies. So no worries.

I recently started playing Yo-kai Watch, a game about weird, mischievous creatures that cause problems for humans. One of the monsters that caught my eye was Wantston, an envious creature that resembles a young human boy. Compared to other youkai in the game, Wantston is one of the more “normal-looking” monsters. At first glance, there’s nothing extraordinary about his design except for his misshapen head and his excessive drooling disposition. However, by dissecting his Japanese name origins, clothing, and hairstyle we can start to understand the creativity behind this youkai’s design. First let’s deconstruct his Japanese name.

Wantston’s Japanese name is うらまやしろう (uramayashirou). His name is a combination of: 

羨ましい (urayamashii) - envious or jealous

しろう (shirou) - a boy’s name. It’s also part of an old number naming convention where “shirou” would be appended to end of the 4th born child’s name, such as Daishirou.

“-rou” by itself is also a suffix used for the ending of male names.

Being the youngest of four children, I felt a connection to this youkai. I received endless streams of hand-me-down toys and clothes when I was growing up. Because of this, I often became jealous of my older siblings. What about Wantston? Did he fair better with clothing?

Wantston wears a simple short-sleeved green noragi. “Noragi” (野良着) is a type of kimono that was worn by the working class, such as farmers.

Wantston completes his outfit by wearing a straw skirt. The skirt is part of a “mino” (蓑), which is a traditional rain coat worn by peasants and poor samurai.

Watston’s garb and lack of shoes suggests that perhaps in a former life he came from a poor family that couldn’t afford good clothes. And if his drool is any indication, his family could barely afford food. Either that or he’s just starved for the finer things in life.

The last thing that completes his overall appearance is his hairstyle. Wantston’s hair is worn in a “chonmage” (丁髷) or top-knot hairstyle which was traditionally worn by samurai during the Edo period, which spanned from the early 17th century – late 19th century. 

Whether he was the youngest son in a big family or hailed from a samurai lineage that had fallen on hard times, Wantston seems to have had an unfortunate lot in life. And now as a youkai, he can only gaze enviously at those things he has never had. At least his youkai form grants him the special ability “envious hand” which turns his tongue into a hand that steals enemy health.