Jibanyan

Jibanyan ("ジバニャン"), formerly Rudy ("アカマル"), is a main character and mascot in the multi-media franchise "Yo-kai Watch". Designed by Akihiro Hino, Jibanyan is a cat-like Charming tribe Yo-kai who's, notably, shown a liking towards chocolate bars. Jibanyan has appeared in most "Yo-kai Watch" media, including the video games, the manga, and the TV-series.
Biography.
Prior to becoming a Yo-kai, Jibanyan (then named Rudy) was the pet cat of a young girl named Amy. One day, Rudy was run over by a truck. As Rudy was dying, he mistakenly thought he heard that Amy was disappointed with how easily he died, which caused Rudy (who had then become the Yo-kai Jibanyan) to actively fight trucks at an intersection in Uptown Springdale in order to make it up to Amy. One day, Jibanyan meets Nate Adams while fighting trucks at an intersection. After hearing that Adams believes Jibanyan was brave for his actions, the two form a friendship. Later, Jibanyan spends the majority of his time at Adams's house.
In a distant future from when the "Yo-kai Watch" games take place, Jibanyan is transformed into Robonyan ("ロボニャン"), a robotic version of himself.
Development.
Jibanyan's backstory of being run over by a truck is based on an actual event experienced by Level-5's CEO and designer of Jibanyan, Akihiro Hino, when he was a child. During Jibanyan's English localization, some people at Level-5 thought that Jibanyan's backstory of being hit by a car should be changed, however, Hino refused as he thought it was crucial to Jibanyan's story. Jibanyan's future robotic self, Robonyan's catchphrase is a reference to the T-800 Terminator from the "Terminator" franchise.
In an interview with "Game Informer" in 2015, Hino stated that Jibanyan was his favorite "Yo-kai Watch" character.
Merchandise and other appearances.
Hasbro released multiple toys featuring Jibanyan during their partnership with Level-5 from 2015 to 2016. Similarly, Bandai (who releases the "Yo-kai Watch" toys in Japan) have also released merchandise of Jibanyan. A licensed party board game based on Jibanyan was released by Megahouse in April 2015. The GameStop pre-orders for the first "Yo-kai Watch" game came with a Jibanyan pin. A limited edition Nintendo 3DS XL featuring Jibanyan was made available on July 10, 2014. A Jibanyan Nintendo 3DS theme was made available on My Nintendo on September 16, 2016. In January 2016, the chocolate bars Jibanyan eats in the series were physically released for a limited time.
Jibanyan appeared in the form of a mecha in the Nintendo 3DS game "Little Battlers eXperience". Jibanyan was at the center of artwork for the 2014 holding of the World Hobby Fair. Jibanyan has appeared in multiple collaborations between Level-5 and the fast food company McDonald's. In 2015, Jibanyan was chosen as the kids goodwill ambassador of the Hawaii Tourism Board in Japan. In 2018, Jibanyan, along with other Level-5 characters, appeared as crossover characters in a Japan-only collaboration between Level-5 and "Everybody's Golf". In 2019, Jibanyan and Lord Enma appeared as crossover characters in "Monster Strike". Jibanyan was one of the 8 "Olympics Ambassadors" for the 2020 Summer Olympics. Jibanyan also appeared on merchandise promoting the event. In 2016, 2017, and 2020, Jibanyan and other "Yo-kai Watch" characters appeared as crossover characters in an event in "Final Fantasy XIV".
Reception.
Jibanyan is widely considering "cute" and "adorable." Brian Ashcraft, writing for Kotaku, noted how Jibanyan was "Yo-kai Watch"'s most popular character. Darren Nakamura of Destructoid listed Jibanyan as one of the best video game characters introduced in 2015. Niconico News ranked Jibanyan as the best character voiced by Etsuko Kozakura. Destructoid's Chris Carter praised the Jibanyan T variant of Jibanyan that debuted in "". Nintendo Life praised the conversations that the player could have with Jibanyan when riding the train in "Yo-kai Watch 2". GamesRadar+ stated that Jibanyan was one of their most wanted characters for the crossover fighting video game series "Super Smash Bros."