Fan Casting Youkai in Fictional characters based on its folklore

妖怪 (Youkai/Yokai/Yōkai; roughly "bewitching spectres") are a grand collection of various supernatural creatures and phenomena that pop up in Shinto religion, their spelling derived from the Chinese pinyin Yaoguai. They have a lot in common with The Fair Folk — some youkai are good, others are evil, and many have their own alien set of values. Some are mischievous, others avoid humans entirely. Shinto is an animist religion, and youkai are often associated with natural features such as forests and mountains. Supernatural creatures drawn from Western sources often turn out to seem more like youkai in Japanese works. For instance, vampires.