How To Watch Digimon In Order

The first Digimon anime series is a signature piece of Y2K media. As the world prepared for a potential digital disaster at the stroke of midnight on December 31, 1999, cartoon-watching kids were given a more fantastical escape into the burgeoning digital frontier. 

In Digimon Adventure, the first cohort of DigiDestined, led by Tai in what would become signature Digimon protagonist goggles, are brought into the Digital World from summer camp. They meet and raise Digimon companions and journey across their wild new habitat until they’re able to find a way home. With its quirky creature designs, CG-enhanced evolution sequences, and surprisingly grounded characterisations, Digimon Adventure set the bar for every future iteration. It was later remade under the same name in 2020.

Whether because of or despite frequent Pokémon comparisons, Digimon Adventure was enough of a ratings success to warrant a direct sequel series titled Digimon Adventure 02. This time, the youngest members of the original DigiDestined, Kari and T.K., are joined by three new characters to stop the self-proclaimed Digimon Emperor from ruling the Digital World.

Digimon Adventure 02 cements the anime’s inventiveness against its competitors, featuring great plot twists and character sacrifices that carry real emotional weight. Though the series has a conclusive, time-spanning ending, many more followed due to its popularity.  

Five Adventure-era films were released between 1999 and 2005, but the one Western audiences will be most familiar with is Digimon: The Movie, an American production that cuts together some of the separately released Japanese ones: Digimon Adventure, Digimon Adventure: Our War Game!, and Digimon Adventure 02: Digimon Hurricane Touchdown!!.

In the first portion of Digimon: The Movie, a younger Tai and his sister Kari witness a Digimon battle in the real world before the events of the Adventure series. The second is a sequel to the series, reuniting the original DigiDestined against the Internet-based Diaboramon, and the final part brings in the 02 gang to stop him for good. Directed by the now-acclaimed Mamoru Hosoda (Belle, Summer Wars, The Girl Who Leapt Through Time), it’s beloved for its humour, animation, and soundtrack.      

A soft reboot for the anime, Digimon Tamers introduces a new setting and mechanic for its batch of DigiDestined. No doubt jumping on the card game craze from Pokémon and Yu-Gi-Oh!, the characters combine collectable cards with their Digivices, devices connecting them to their Digimon partners. 

A malevolent program known as D-Reaper serves as the show’s villain, with its actions inevitably spilling out into the real world. Tamers might not be as revered as Adventure, but its willingness to delve into darker, psychological themes has stood the test of time.

Tamers yielded two spinoff movies, Digimon Tamers: Battle of Adventurers and Digimon Tamers: Runaway Locomon, both released around a year apart at production studio Toei’s Summer Animation Fairs. In the first film, the satanic-themed Mephistomon unleashes a ‘V-Pet’ virus into the real world; in the second, the real world is under threat again, this time by a locomotive Digimon infected by a parasitic one.

Though the films conclude the Tamers anime era, head writer Chiaki J. Konaka, who previously wrote for the darker, experimental Serial Experiments Lain, has continued producing additional stories in other formats, including a 20th anniversary audio drama in 2021.

Mirroring the spirit of its title, Digimon: Frontier once again takes Digimon in a bold new direction. This time, the human heroes don’t just fight alongside their Digimon—they can become them. The process is made possible by a metaphysical merging with ‘Legendary Warriors,’ human and monster spirits who represent various elements.

With a story centred around Celestial and Shaman Digimon, the series uses a rich fusion of Eastern mysticism and Western biblical elements to expand the franchise’s mystical elements and the mythology of the Digital World’s creation to epic proportions. A short spin-off film, Island of Lost Digimon, was released in 2002.

Broadcast on TV rather than being theatrically released, Digimon Monster X-Evolution is the first original film with no serialised source material. Instead, it was entirely based on the Digimon Chronicle toyline.

The CG film also has an especially grim premise, even by Digimon’s risque standards: the mysterious, all-powerful computer Yggdrasil (also known as King Drasil), preempting the MCU’s Thanos, begins a genocidal campaign based on an overpopulation problem in the Digital World. Franchise favourites like Omnimon, WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon are sucked in, with the plucky Dorumon, a Digimon ‘Prototype,’ leading the charge against Yggdrasil.    

In Digimon Data Squad, tensions have escalated enough between the Digital and real worlds to warrant government intervention. Consequently, the show’s plot revolves around a teenager, Marcus, who joins the Digital Accident Tactics Squad (DATS) to help preserve an equilibrium between the two.

Revelations about past mistakes and leaders on both sides claiming their opposition represents an existential threat escalates the drama to a cosmic level. The Data Squad era includes two short films under the ‘Savers’ banner: Digimon Savers 3D: The Digital World in Imminent Danger! and Digimon Savers: Ultimate Power! Activate Burst Mode!!, both released in 2009. The latter stars a re-skinned version of Tai’s partner, Agumon, the Digimon equivalent of Ash’s Pikachu in Pokémon.

Another reinvention of Digimon’s initial premise, Digimon Fusion, as you might guess, gives its human characters the ability to fuse multiple Digimon using a Fusion Loader. They form the Fusion Fighters and fight against one of the franchise’s many Satan stand-ins, Bagramon, who has an evil version of the Loader and can rend digital souls from their bodies.

Fusion is divided into three seasons, though the third was never released in English. It’s considered one of the better entries in the series, particularly for longtime fans who can appreciate both its similarities and differences to previous iterations. 

To mark the 15th anniversary of the franchise, the anime returned to the now high school-aged original DigiDestined for a six-part OVA series. Set in 2005, a nostalgia-baiting period for millennials who grew up with the show, the eight teenagers are paired up with their Digimon again to investigate a virus turning Digital Monsters violent.

Most affecting for its original ageing fanbase isn’t Digimon Adventure tri’s plot, but its overarching theme of growing up and the bittersweetness that comes with it. The childhood friends, no longer bound by their digital adventures, are drifting apart; the re-emergence of Digimon in their lives allows them to recapture the magic of their youth before they become full-grown adults.