How to watch Digimon in order? Explained

Several anime series have taken the role of nostalgic heartthrobs, and for 2000's kids, Digimon is undoubtedly one of them. However, the sheer number of spin-offs, reboots, and retellings that the franchise has gone through makes it difficult for newcomers to visit the franchise. At the same time, even older fans have trouble keeping up with the new instalments if they choose to return.

This article hopes to dispel several of these doubts that may linger in the minds of anime watchers and hopes to do a deep dive into the Digimon franchise. As such, it will outline each of the major instalments in the franchise and how one should ideally approach one after the other, chronologically, in terms of their release dates and (sometimes) the incidents in-universe.

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Digimon: What it is, where to begin, order to watch in, and more

The titular characters are digital life forms existing on a different plane that exists parallel to the human world. As such, the Digital World is a fictional dimension that has arisen from the digital networks of Earth and human society. However, in some instalments of the franchise, the reverse is said to be true, which is the Digital World that is deemed to be the origin of the digital communication systems of Earth.

This list, which includes the major canon films and tv shows, takes the form of the following as per their release order:

1. Digimon Adventure: 1999-2000
2. Adventure (prequel film): 1999
3. Adventure: Our War Game (film): 2000
4. Digimon Adventure 02: 2000-2002
5. Hurricane Touchdown/Transcendental Evolution/The Golden Digimentals (film): 2000
6. Adventure 3D: Digimon Grand Prix (film): 2000
7. Adventure 02: The Revenge of Diaboromon (film): 2001
8. Digimon Tamers: 2001-2002
9. Tamers: Battle of Adventurers (film): 2001
10. Tamers: Runaway Locomon (film): 2002
11. Digimon Frontier: 2002-2003
12. Frontier: The Island of Lost Digimon (film): 2002
13. Monsters: X-Evolution (film): 2005
14. Digimon Data Squad/Savers: 2006-2007
15. Savers 3D: The Digital World in Immediate Danger (film): 2006
16. Savers: Ultimate Power! Burst Mode Activated!!! (film): 2006
17. Digimon Xros Wars/Fusion: 2010-2012
18. Digimon Hunters (sometimes categorized as Xros Wars): 2012
19. Adventure Tri (film series): 2015-2018
20. Digimon Universe: Appli Monsters: 2018
21. Last Evolution Kizuna (film): 2020
22. Adventure: Reboot: 2020-2021
23. Digimon Ghost Game: 2021-2023

However, several of these films are skippable fillers and barely contribute anything to the major plot of their respective franchises. With that in mind, it is productive to look at the order of films as they appear.

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How to watch Adventure as per the chronological order of events in-universe

With the imminent release of Adventure 02, it is necessary to look at the series that started it all. Digimon Adventure is the story that started it all, featuring a group of kids transported to a different world. The Adventure timeline is the easiest to get into, and to gain a full scope of the story, it is recommended to begin with Adventure, move on to its immediate sequel Adventure 02, and watch the films in the following order:

1. Adventure
2. Adventure (prequel film)
3. Adventure: Our War Game
4. Hurricane Touchdown/Transcendental Evolution/The Golden Digimentals
5. Adventure 02
6. The Revenge of Diaboromon
7. Adventure Tri
8. Last Evolution Kizuna
9. Adventure reboot

Adventure Tri follows up with the adventures of the Adventure kids after they grow up, while Last Evolution Kizuna seemingly bids farewell to the partners after their original teary departure in the original. However, the upcoming film is supposed to undo the same (possibly) in several ways and tie in with the Adventure 02 ending, which features the digital monsters and children (now grown-ups) living together.

Adventure 2020 is a reboot of the very first Adventure series with a different plot, and different timelines but new antagonists, evolutionary sequences, and stakes.

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Tamers and Ghost Game

Despite their chronological gaps, these two series share a lot in common, including a desire to venture into more mature and darker storytelling techniques, moral complexity among the protagonists and antagonists, and a horror-themed storyline with rising stakes as the plot progresses.

Ghost Game is undoubtedly more modern, with its use of holograms and Digimon being mistaken for the same, while Tamers features a nostalgic return to a time when card games and the first arcade games were gaining traction among the 90s kids. As such, watching one after the other can easily showcase the similarities between the two while also highlighting the areas where they differ.

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Frontier, Data Squad, Xros Wars, and Appli Monsters

The aforementioned four have been grouped together not because of their similarities but because of the new directions the franchise decided to take it's storytelling. The franchise had never been afraid of exploring uncharted territory. This is nowhere more evident than in Frontier, where the kids turn into monsters in a way reminiscent of the super-sentai/power rangers tokusatsu genre.

While gaining a bad reputation for dispelling the interspecies bonds that the franchise had become known for till then, it also gained a fanbase who appreciated the superheroic aspect of shapeshifting into powerful, otherworldly monsters. Data Squad took place in a world where a powerful, secret organization partners digital creatures up with human teenagers to fight otherworldly invasions and can be a fresh breath back to the companionship sequences the franchise is known for.

Xros Wars takes another experimental angle to the franchise, featuring evolutions that happen via fusion instead of simple evolution. Hunters is often categorized as the third season of Xros Wars, where the original villain, who had been defeated, is reincarnated as a human. It celebrates the legacy of the franchise and the Digidestined Kids by having a crossover where the leader among the protagonists of previous seasons appears.

Finally, Appli Monsters feature more contemporary threats with cybersecurity where the digital monsters are classified and referred to as appmon with each mobile application being manifested as a unique digital lifeform. One might argue that this segways into the even more modern setting of Ghost Game which can be watched after this instalment instead of in tandem with Hunters.

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Often compared and contrasted with the more popular Pokemon, the series has managed to carve out its own niche in the anime community, being a nostalgic favorite of many and a new surprise for others. Its long-lasting popularity is evident in the various new installments that are released over time, almost twenty-five years after its original show and the one that started it all aired.

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