Jibanyan

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Jibanyan (ジバニャン), originally named Akamaru (アカマル) in Japan and known as Rudy in some English-language material, is a fictional cat yōkai from Level-5's multimedia franchise Yo-kai Watch. Designed by Takuzō Nagano, he is a red-and-white cat spirit with a chipped ear, two tails with blue ghost flames, a collar bell, and a yellow haramaki. He first appeared in the Yo-kai Watch manga in CoroCoro Comic in December 2012, before appearing in the first Yo-kai Watch video game in 2013. He later became one of the franchise's central characters and mascot figures, appearing across the anime, films, manga, video games, toys and promotional campaigns. Scholars have discussed Jibanyan as a modern child-oriented recreation of the folkloric nekomata, focusing on how his design transforms older yōkai imagery into a kawaii mascot form. The character has also been analysed as the main character image of Yo-kai Watch's media-mix strategy, with academic commentary describing Level-5's effort to associate the franchise with Jibanyan in the public imagination.