New ‘Digimon’ Commercial Gives Series A Live-Action Makeover

Digimon is all about the digital world, but its monsters have toed into the real world before. Now, a new commercial is out for the next Digimon project, and it shows a world where Digital Monsters coexist with fans IRL.

Recently, Bandai Namco Shanghai put out a brand-new trailer for Digimon Encounters. The mobile game may be exclusive to China, but its love for Digimon is plenty universal. So, the game’s team decided to hype the game with a commercial combining the real world with digital fun.

As you can see above, the trailer is a longer one, and its cinematic style combined real-life actors with CGI Digimon models. The clip begins with a young man walking down the street, but he stops when his phone grabs his attention. Not long after, fans can see Augumon jumping from the phone, and the pair share a fun moment before the next scene rolls in.

The trailer continues, showing more real-life actors with their digital partners. A school girl is seen meeting up with Gatomon amongst others, and a few sequences of actual game play are shown. Finally, the trailer ends with the Digimon evolving as a threat looms over the city, and Augumon is all to ready to square up against the threat.

So far, Digimon Encounters has been received well by fans in China, and this ad helps liven up the franchise for fans everywhere. The live-action trailer has even got fans thinking about how a full movie could look one day. After all, Pokemon is set to debut its own live-action film this year with Detective Pikachu. If Digimon felt the need, there are surely fans out there who would love to see Gabumon come to life on the big screen.

So, would you check out a live-action Digimon movie? Let me know in the comments or hit me up on Twitter @MeganPetersCB to talk all things comics and anime!

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.