Here it is one by one Digimon anime and movies in release order—and the best way to watch each one! The Digimon anime has been around since the series’ first series premiered in 1999, but non-anime docu-series have an even longer history than that. Naturally, there’s a lot to keep an eye on, and much of what’s available is spread across multiple streaming platforms and digital media forms.
Digimon, like its most notable contemporary Pokémon, started as a game franchise before moving into other forms of media, most notably animated adaptations. While both series are aimed at a child audience, Digimon is known to have many instances of trying to appeal to an older audience through themes and visuals, though that mostly appear in video games. Not only that, while the Pokémon anime is a story that continuously follows Ash, Pikachu, and whoever they go with in each region, there are many different Digimon anime, each focusing on a new story and staging. new characters, this also allows to explore many different themes.
The Digimon anime has a lot and variety of stories, and these are all movies in order of release, including the movies and how to best watch them. There are a number of video games and manga tied to some anime, but none of them are necessary to understanding anime so they won’t be discussed. Also, while most anime are stand-alone stories, some of them exist within the same continuum and those connections will be discussed as appropriate.
Digimon’s Adventures
Digimon Adventure is the first Digimon anime written by Reiko Yoshida of the popular Netflix series Violet Evergarden. Originally released in 1999, Adventure follows seven children known as “DigiDestined” who are called to the Digital World to protect it from evil with help from their Digimon counterparts. As the first Digimon anime, Digimon Adventure is the most iconic of them all, and not only is it the most expansive, but its basic plot is the basis for many subsequent Digimon anime.
Digimon Adventure 02
Digimon Adventure 02 is the second Digimon anime, and as the name suggests, an immediate sequel to Digimon Adventure. Released in 2000, 02 follows a new cast of children who, in addition to the two younger characters in Adventure, are tasked with protecting both Earth and the Digital World from Digimon Kaiser, voiced by Romi Park of the anime Fullmetal Alchemist and other characters. threats. 02 made changes to the original formula that other Digimon anime will also use such as dividing time between the two worlds and for non-protagonist characters partnering with Digimon.
Digimon tamer
Digimon Tamers was released in 2001 and was the first anime to exist outside of an Adventure sequel. In stark contrast to previous installments, Tamers takes place in a world similar to the real world where Digimon exists as a multimedia franchise, with much of the conflict revolving around kids dealing with Digimon being real. , in addition to having them face off against a government organization tasked with fighting Digimon. Tamers is noted to be much darker than other Digimon anime series through its use of a Lovecraft-style horror theme and the way it deconstructs the series in various ways such as government involvement in the story and Unlike previous anime, death is permanent for Digimon.
Digimon Border
After Digimon Tamers deconstructed the series, 2002’s Digimon Frontier went back to basics by becoming another show about kids being sent to the Digital World to protect it from evil. However, there is a big difference from the norm, the children do not have Digimon partners, instead they rely on the power of the ancient Digimon to transform themselves into Digimon. The entire premise has similarities to the Power Rangers series and the Sentai genre in general, and that, among other reasons, has made it a rather divisive entry in the series.
Digimon Data Team
After Digimon Frontier, there would be no other Digimon anime until 2006’s Digimon Data Squad, also known as Digimon Savers in the original Japanese. Similar to Digimon Tamers, Data Squad has a government organization tasked with stopping Digimon, but instead of coming into conflict with them, the main characters in Data Squad are all part of said organization. With Digimon about ten years old at the time, Data Squad did various things to try to appeal to an older audience such as turning most of the main characters into teenagers and young adults, reminiscent of previous Digimon anime and has more physical instances. character-driven violence and drama; Overall, Data Squad, directed by Studio Madhouse’s Overlord’s Naoyuki Ito, is the series’ biggest attempt at creating a typical shounen anime. Data Squad is also notable for being the first mainstream appearance of Yggdrasil, the god of the Digital World.
Merge Digimon
The next Digimon anime was Digimon Fusion in 2010, also known as Digimon Xros Wars in the original Japanese. Fusion returns to the basic premise that children are sent to the Digital World to protect it from evil, but with the addition of the DigiFuse gimmick used to combine Digimon into different forms. Fusion also ditches the traditional leveling system used in Digimon to focus on the DigiFuse system. After the first two seasons of Digimon Fusion, directed by Tetsuya Endo, assistant director of My Neighbor Totoro, the anime was renamed Digimon Xros Wars: The Young Hunters Who Leapt Through Time, changing the format to monsters- of- series of the week, and there are even characters from the previous anime appearing in the final season to battle the main villain. Aired from 2010 to 2012 and spanning 79 episodes, Digimon Fusion stands out as the longest-running Digimon anime to date.
Digimon Adventure tri.
To celebrate the 15th anniversary of Digimon Adventure, the sequel to the six-part series made between 2015 and 2018 is called Digimon Adventure tri. The series takes place three years after defeating MaloMyotismon in Digimon Adventure 02 and follows the original cast of Adventure as teenagers go through the pain of adolescence along with another adventure with their Digimon. This is the first Adventure project not to be directed by original creator Hiroyuki Kakudo, who is also the storyboard artist for Dragon Ball Super. It was also the first time that a Digimon series was broadcast simultaneously in territories outside of Japan, although most Western territories aired tri series individually. like episodes of an anime instead of just a movie.
Digimon Universe: Monster of the App
While Digimon Adventure tri. Until 2018 ended, a new anime was released in 2016 called Digimon Universe: App Monsters. App Monsters is an important departure from the series as it focuses not on Digimon but on Appmon, digital life forms from Net Ocean that are derived from phone apps. This is because the anime is technically not based on Digimon but on the App Monsters sub-franchise, which has long since ceased to exist.
Digimon Adventures:
The next Digimon anime is Digimon Adventure of the Year 2020:, a complete reboot of the original Digimon Adventure anime scored by Toshihiko Sahashi of the popular original Hunter x Hunter movie. Adventure: follows the basic premise of the original series, with the main difference being Adventure: takes place in 2020 instead of 1999 and focuses more on some of the franchise’s lore elements. Adventure: ended in a way that could establish a potential sequel, but for now, it’s unknown whether a sequel will be followed.
Digimon Ghost Game
The latest and current Digimon anime is the Digimon Ghost Game. Ghost Game is another series in which the main characters have to deal with Digimon that are causing trouble in their world, but the bottom line in Ghost Game is that Digimon is causing incidents that are considered supernatural phenomena. At the time of writing, Ghost Game, with the voice talent of Akira Ishida of the famous Neon Genesis Evangelion, is also notable for its lack of overarching villains and instead focuses on individualized adventures. stage of the cast.
Every Digimon movie so far
In addition to anime, Digimon also produces a variety of anime based on the aforementioned anime. Digimon: The Movie was released in 2000, although it was actually a compilation of three different movies for Digimon Adventure and Digimon Adventure 02: a short film also titled Digimon Adventure, Our War Game! , and Hurricane Touchdown!! The sequel to Our War Game!, Revenge of Diaboromon, was released in 2001; Digimon Tamers: Battle of Adventurers was released the same year, followed by Runaway Locomon and Digimon Frontier: Island of Lost Digimon in 2002.
2005 saw the release of Digimon X-Evolution, a CG film completely unrelated to any anime written by Kazunori Ito of Ghost in the Shell and saw the debut of Yggdrasil, then Digimon Savers: Ultimate Power! Activate Boom Mode!! Digimon Adventure tri. was later released between 2015 and 2018, followed by Digimon Adventure: Last Evolution Kizuna in 2020. Kizuna is considered the final installment of the Adventure series, but a new movie focusing on 02 is currently in development. develop.
The place to watch every Digimon anime and movie
Although the franchise is huge, many Digimon movies and anime are hard to watch. The first four anime can be streamed on Hulu, but only in English, and every anime from Digimon Fusion on is available on Crunchyroll, but only in Japanese with English subtitles. Digimon Data Squad cannot currently be viewed by any legal means. For the movies, Digimon Adventure tri. available on Crunchyroll and Digimon Adventure: Last Evolution Kizuna, can be purchased on most physical and digital vehicles.
Digimon: The Movie ran out of print for many years, until July 29, 2023, when it was announced that Discotek Media would not only release an edited version of Digimon: The Movie, but also dub and release the three films that make it up, giving fans one last chance to see these films in English, with as much of the original cast returning as possible. That means Digimon Adventure, Digimon Adventure: Our War Game!, and Digimon Adventure 02: Digimon Hurricane Touchdown!! will be available for the first time on Bluray.
Unfortunately, no other movies are available in physical or digital formats, and Digimon X-Evolution and Digimon Savers: Ultimate Power! Activate Boom Mode!! was never even released outside of Japan. An amazing number Digimon anime and movies are some of the media types that have been lost, but at least fans now have hope that they might one day be released.