Digimon is about to get a big birthday. The franchise's 30th anniversary lands in 2027, and Bandai and Toei Animation have already confirmed a brand-new anime for that year. Here's the honest rundown of what has been announced so far, the dates you actually know, and what is still up in the air.
The anniversary, in numbers
The whole thing traces back to one clumsy little toy. On June 26, 1997, Bandai and WiZ released the first Digital Monster in Japan — a keychain-sized LCD pet where you fed, trained, and cleaned up after a monster that evolved the better you cared for it. That's the launch that the franchise counts as its birthday, so 2027 marks a full 30 years since that little handheld debuted.
Along the way, of course, it became much more than a toy. The 1999 Digimon Adventure anime, produced by Toei with Bandai, WiZ, and Fuji TV, turned a V-pet line into a sprawling media franchise of shows, films, games, and trading cards. Thirty years on, that same line is still the spine the whole thing hangs from.
What Bandai has actually announced
In August 2026, Bandai launched the official Digimon 30th Anniversary Project, and the centerpiece of it is a new anime. On August 1, the franchise's staff announced that a brand-new anime project is in the works and set to air in 2027. It's described as an entirely original production that follows on from Digimon Beatbreak, the current series that premiered on Fuji TV on October 5, 2025 and streams on Crunchyroll as it airs.
That's about where the concrete details stop. As of now, there is no title, no staff, no cast, and no confirmed format. Anime News Network's announcement was careful on this point: it's a new "anime project" airing in 2027, but whether it lands as a TV season, a film, or something else entirely hasn't been settled. Don't let anyone on social media sell you specifics — nobody has any yet.
The first project is already on air
The anime announcement is one part of a wider push, and the first slice of the anniversary project is already broadcasting. "The Best Adventure We Chose" is a fan-voted rebroadcast of the highest-ranked episodes from the first four TV series — Digimon Adventure, Adventure 02, Tamers, and Frontier. It started airing in Japan on Fuji TV on October 4, 2026 at 9:00 a.m. Fuji-an Time, with a fresh opening theme, "SHAKARIKII," performed by Ayumi Miyazaki and Takayoshi Tanimoto.
Note the timing: the rebroadcast runs through the fall and is widely expected to lead straight into whatever the new 2027 project turns out to be. In other words, the anniversary is being used to reconnect fans with the shows that built the franchise right before the next new thing lands.
Why this matters
For a franchise that's been told it's a nostalgia act more than once, launching a brand-new anime during its own 30th anniversary is a confident statement. Rather than waiting for Beatbreak to wrap before starting the next production, Bandai and Toei are deliberately running the lines in parallel. That's a sign the monster, quite literally, still has legs.
We'll be here with the details the moment Toei drops a title, a trailer, or a premiere date. For now: 2027 is the year to watch, and Digimon is 30 all over it.
title: "Digimon Turns 30: A New Anime Is Confirmed for 2027" slug: digimon-30th-anniversary-2027-anime date: 2026-10-19 category: news excerpt: "Digimon's 30th anniversary project is underway, and a brand-new anime is confirmed for 2027. Here's what's official, and what we don't know yet." tags: - news - anime - anniversary - toei
Digimon is about to have a milestone year. 2027 marks thirty years since the Digital Monster V-Pet launched in Japan on June 26, 1997 — and Bandai is treating the anniversary as more than a nostalgia tour. At the center of it all: a brand-new Digimon anime, officially confirmed for a 2027 broadcast.
Here's what's solid, what's still an open question, and why this particular anniversary lands differently.
The anniversary, in numbers
The franchise quietly counts time from one keychain toy. The original Digital Monster V-Pet arrived on June 26, 1997, a collaboration between Bandai and WiZ that started everything: the V-Pet line, the 1999 Digimon Adventure anime, and the sprawling media world that followed. When the calendar hits that date next June, it's a full three decades.
To build toward it, Bandai has spent 2026 rolling out the "Digimon 30th Anniversary Project." The first initiative fans actually got to watch was "The Best Adventure We Chose" — a fan-voted rebroadcast of the highest-ranked episodes from Digimon's first four series, Digimon Adventure, Adventure 02, Tamers, and Frontier, which began airing on Fuji TV on October 4, 2026. It's a smart way to lead in: let the audience pick the highlights, then hand them something new right after.
The new anime is real — the details aren't
On August 1, 2026, the franchise's anime staff announced that a brand-new Digimon anime project is in production and scheduled to air in 2027. It's intended as an entirely new production following the currently airing series, Digimon Beatbreak, which premiered on Fuji TV on October 5, 2025 and streams on Crunchyroll as it airs in Japan.
That's the trend where the certainty ends. As of this writing, there is no confirmed title, no announced staff or studio, no cast, and no exact premiere date. Sourcing is honest enough to flag the same gap: the announcement describes a project "airing in 2027" without locking in whether that's a TV series, a film, or something else entirely. Fan speculation has predictably sprinted ahead — treat any specific claim about plot, characters, or a release window as rumor until Bandai says otherwise.
What we can say for sure: it exists, it's coming next year, and it's the centerpiece of a run-up to a round-number birthday.
Why 2027 matters more than most anniversaries
Digimon milestones have a habit of stacking. The first V-Pet turns 30 next year, and the franchise is using the moment to look forward rather than back. The fan-voted rebroadcast leads viewers through the beloved early series while Beatbreak is still on the air, and the new 2027 anime is set to pick up whatever comes next. For a property that occasionally gets written off as a nostalgia act, running the old shows and a fresh series at the same time is a confident move.
The key takeaway for fans holding out hope: the anniversary is entertainment, but the new anime is a commitment. A project announced a year out, with production already underway, is Bandai signaling that Digimon is a franchise with a forward path, not just a museum.
We'll keep this page updated the moment a title, staff, or a premiere window drops. Until then — mark the 26th of June, and expect the real reveals to come as 2027 closes in.