'Digimon' Movie Reveals New Character Designs

For the 20th Anniversary celebration of the series, Digimon is releasing a new film set in the Digimon Adventure series with the Digi-Destined all being around 20 years of age.

To tease the upcoming older look makeover for all the returning characters, new designs for main characters Tai and Matt have been unveiled. Brace yourselves, fans, it's quite the difference from what's come before.

The new film is tentatively titled Theater Version Digimon Adventure, and Toei Animation has announced that Seki Hiromi, Katsuyoshi Nakatsuru, and Kenji Watanabe are returning from the original Digimon anime to serve as Supervisor, Character Designer, and Digimon Designer respectively.

There are no further details as to when the film will release, unfortunately, but the voice cast is expected to return for the new film as well. Given how the recent retread through the Digimon Adventure 01 series with Digimon Adventure tri. was so successful, this new film project will definitely be successful as well.

For those unfamiliar with Digimon, the series was originally conceived by Bandai, Toei Animation, and WiZ in 1997 as a way to capitalize on the virtual pet craze sparked by Tamagotchi. The franchise focus on its titular "Digital Monsters," monsters that live in a parallel, digital world that came from mankind's technology. The franchise had its first anime adaptation, Digimon Adventure, which focuses on a group of children known as the DigiDestined (or "Chosen Children" in Japan) that are transported to the world of Digimon and have to fight the various evil digital beasts that roam the land.

Digimon Adventure Tri. is Toei Animation's film series celebrating the franchise's 15th Anniversary. The film series serves as a sequel to both Digimon Adventure and Digimon Adventure 02, with the first film releasing in Japan in 2015 and the final film releasing in May 2018. Taking place three years after Digimon Adventure 02, the DigiDestined are reunited with their partner Digimon in order to figure out why a mysterious virus has infected both the human and digital worlds.

Premium Bandai is taking pre-orders on their website (which you can find at the link here) for a Digivice replica, the "Complete Selection Animation Digivice tri. Memorial." Running for 7,020 yen (about $64 USD before tax), the Digivice plays the "Butter-fly~tri.Version" and "brave heart~ tri.Version" themes from DigimonAdventure tri and can light up in orange, blue, and red. Each light-up even plays a different interaction between Tai and Agumon, Matt and Gabumon, and Meiko and Meicoomon respectively.

There are also pre-orders on their website (which you can find here) of a life-sized Agumon plush that stands at 45 centimeters (or 18 inches) tall. The Agumon plush is expected to ship out beginning in August, and currently runs for 8,100 yen (or $76 USD) with international shipping available.