After more than 25 years, fans who want to watch Digimon Tamers the way it originally aired in Japan are finally getting the chance. Discotek Media has dated the fully subbed release for November 24, 2026, and pre-orders are open now.
The set, officially Digimon Tamers: Season 3 Collection (Original Japanese Version), carries all 51 episodes of the 2001 Japanese broadcast — roughly 1,220 minutes of them — on Blu-ray with an MSRP of $79.95 (SKU ES-700). For the first time, North America gets the series in its native Japanese with English subtitles. Before this, the only way to see the Tamers broadcast in English was through the heavily localized dub.
That distinction is the whole point, and it's why this release has been a fan request for more than two decades. Tamers is the season on which Digimon's reputation for being the "smart, dark one" rests. Written primarily by Chiaki J. Konaka (of Serial Experiments Lain fame), it follows three kids — Takato, Rika and Henry — whose ordinary hobby of collecting Digimon cards turns real, and who find themselves raising partners like Guilmon, Renamon and Terriermon in a world that takes the idea of digital monsters seriously. The English dub that ran on Fox Kids smoothed over a lot of that for a younger TV audience, changing dialogue and characterization along the way. So everyone who grew up on the English version has never quite seen the story the way its writers told it. This set fixes that, complete with its original theme songs anchored by Kōji Wada's "The Biggest Dreamer."
Timing makes it even sweeter. The series premiered in Japan in 2001, which makes 2026 its 25th anniversary — one of the five milestones Digimon is celebrating with its anniversary concert year. Locking down the original Tamers on physical media feels like a fitting way to honor that.
It also completes a run Discotek has been building toward all year. The company teased the subbed release at Otakon 2026, after first putting out an HD-upscaled version with the English dub this past August. With the Japanese version arriving now, collectors finally have the full picture — dub and sub both on Blu-ray, still in print.
If you want both sides of the franchise on your shelf, November 24 is a busy day: Discotek ships the original Japanese version of Digimon Frontier (Season 4) on the same date, finally covering the first four seasons in both languages.
Pre-orders opened in mid-September through MediaOCD, with Amazon and other retailers expected to follow. Given how long this has been requested, fans who want to skip the scramble should probably lock in an order early rather than wait for the release-day hop. At roughly $80 for the complete original series, it's a reasonable price for what may be the definitive way to watch the best-read season of Digimon for years to come.
Tamers has waited a quarter-century for this. If you've only ever seen the dub, November 24 is the day you finally meet the show the way it was meant to be seen.