A lot of interesting news dropped during the Digimon Times on August 1st, they took the opportunity of Odaiba Memorial Day to roll out the news for the franchise's 30th anniversary which will be in 2027 based on the release of the original V-pet in 1997.
I'd say the biggest announcement is the new Digimon anime for 2027. There are no details about the story, characters or staff yet, only that the project is in development.
I don't think it will be about Adventure (though I'd love it if it were), the franchise is growing a lot and I think that with the success of Time Stranger, among other new products, they will keep innovating (still, I hold out hope that at least a movie closing the 02 epilogue will come out for 2027).
They announced "The Best Adventures We Chose" starting October 4th on Fuji TV where they'll air the most voted episodes of Adventure, 02, Tamers and Frontier. It features a new opening by the classic team with composition by Michihiko Ohta, lyrics by Hiroshi Yamada and vocals by Ayumi Miyazaki and Takayoshi Tanimoto.
Regarding Beatbreak, they confirmed it ends on September 27th with episode 49 (I haven't watched the series yet but I definitely will). They're releasing a Digimon Color version of the Beatbreak V-pet, the OST on 3 CDs for September 30th, an online lottery and several events. On the figure side, what stood out for Adventure were the Look Up figures of Taichi, Hikari, Yamato and Takeru by MegaHouse.
They also mentioned that Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth Hacker's Memory is coming to Steam in Japan on August 5th, and showed early art previews for the Royal Knights parallel cards from the upcoming Digimon TCG Booster Set EX-13.
In other news, I also found out about the collaboration between AFK Journey and Digimon Adventure on August 18th. The trailer shows Taichi and Yamato reuniting with Agumon and Gabumon in Esperia, and they kept their original seiyuus, with Taichi voiced by his actor from the 2020 reboot.
I don't know the game but the trailer caught my eye so I did a bit of research on it. AFK Journey is a fantasy idle gacha RPG released in 2024 for mobile and pc. Last night I tried it for a few minutes and it's not my type of game but I can appreciate a fantasy RPG and I want to see what Taichi, Yamato, Agumon and Gabumon are going to do in this world.
I've seen some criticism of the collab from the AFK Journey community because they feel Digimon relies on computers and internet, which don't exist in Esperia's fantasy world, plus Digimon's cybernetic designs (like WarGreymon, MetalGarurumon or Omegamon) clash with the game's magical aesthetic.
In my opinion, without knowing much about the game of course, Digimon Adventure is one of those tech-based franchises that has the best excuse to fit in almost anywhere. This works both because of the existence of multiple dimensions and interdimensional travel, and because the Digital World has taken all kinds of forms, from ancient ruins and feudal kingdoms to high-tech cities making it easy to fit into an isekai or a fantasy setting. In the anime, the chosen children ended up dropped onto File Island with no signal or batteries, having to survive on whatever they could find while exploring nature, without complaining about the lack of internet or looking for an outlet to plug anything in, except Koushiro with his laptop at times, or Mimi missing her luxuries. The vibe was always pure adventure, so if the game's writers do their job right, Taichi and Yamato should react to Esperia with that same adaptability, being amazed by a new world and focused on protecting their friends, instead of making dumb jokes asking for a phone charger.
So I'm pretty excited about the new anime, really curious to see what it could be about, and also excited for the AFK Journey crossover. I want to see what story they put together for my 4 lifetime favorites.
ellievsbear
