Digimon Ghost Game
Digimon Ghost Game is a Japanese anime television series produced by Toei Animation, and the ninth anime series in the Digimon franchise. The series was broadcast on Fuji TV from October 2021 to March 2023. An English dub of the series premiered on BBC iPlayer in the United Kingdom in December 2025.
Plot
In the near future, new, innovative, and more advanced technology has emerged. On social networks, rumors are circulating about strange phenomena caused by beings known as "Hologram Ghosts". Hiro Amanokawa is a middle school freshman at Hazakura Academy, who, after activating a mysterious device left behind by his father called the "Digivice -V-", can now see creatures called Digimon that cannot be seen by ordinary people.After meeting Gammamon, a mischievous Digimon entrusted to him by his father Hokuto, Hiro becomes caught up in various strange phenomena. A man with a sewn mouth steals time from humans, a mummy wanders around at night and kidnaps humans... the Hologram Ghosts are all around us and are targeting us. Alongside their friends Ruli Tsukiyono and Angoramon, and later Kiyoshirō Higashimitarai and Jellymon, Hiro and Gammamon dive into the mysterious world where these creatures live—a side of the world nobody is aware of.
Characters
Main characters
;Hiro Amanokawa;Gammamon
;Ruli Tsukiyono
;Angoramon
;Kiyoshirō Higashimitarai
;Jellymon
;Espimon
Digimon
The following Digimon have appeared as ghosts that the group have to deal with.Supporting Digimon
;BlackGatomon Uver;Clockmon
;Bokomon
;Tapirmon
;Mummymon
;Ryudamon
;Airdramon
;Terriermon Assistant
;Quantumon
Antagonists
;Dracmon;Crowmon
;Weedmon
;Sealsdramon
;Frozomon
;Arukenimon
;Ajatarmon
;Myotismon
;Splashmon
;Digitamamon
;Musyamon
;Betsumon
;RareRaremon
;Doumon
;Calmaramon
;Piedmon
;Oboromon
;Eyesmon
;Publimon
;Pucchiemon/Meicrackmon Vicious Mode
;Chamblemon
;AxeKnightmon
;Shawjamon
;ShogunGekomon
;Lilithmon
;Cerberumon
;AncientSphinxmon
;Cthyllamon
;MoonMillenniumon/ZeedMilleniummon
;Quartzmon
;Dragomon
;Rafflisimon
;BloomLordmon
Other characters
;Akane;Aoi Uwada
;Mika Kashiwagi
;Nana
;Moe
;Yuina
;Kayono Aramaki
;Hokuto Amanokawa
Episodes
Production
Background
Digimon Ghost Game was officially announced at Bandai's DigiFes 2021 event on August 1, 2021 with a first teaser visual for the series, by Tenya Yabuno. The series is directed by Kimitoshi Chioka and Masato Mitsuka, with Masashi Sogo supervising the series' scripts, Tenya Yabuno as character designer and Mariko Itō adapting their designs for animation, and Kenji Watanabe designing the Digimon and Cho Shinozuka adapting their designs for animation.In the October issue of Shueisha's V Jump magazine on August 19, 2021, the presentation stated that Ghost Game is going to be the franchise's first horror-themed entry. The creation of this series required putting thought into how to reinterpret the Digimon and the background lore that Bandai has created, in the context of the horror genre. New Digimon have been created specifically for this series, but old Digimon also appear and play an active role in this story through their background and aspects. In this series, Digimon are compared to poltergeists from Japanese folklore; the first promotional poster introduced them as "Hologram... ?" and "Ghost... ? ". The series is produced for an episodic format.
Toei Animation decided to make Digimon Ghost Game a villain of the week show as they found that children of the generation the series came out have low attention spans due to the prevalence of YouTube and TikTok. They were worried that if they made a show with an extended plot, children would get bored quickly and stop watching the show entirely.
Development
The announcement was originally leaked on Chinese social media on July 28, 2021. On August 7, 2021, the teaser visual was updated on the official website with the only difference being, Kiyoshirō's left hand covered with bandages. On September 3, 2021, Shueisha's Saikyo Jump magazine announced Digimon Dreamers, unrelated to the anime, with a first illustration from the monthly illustrated by Yabuno featuring Hiro, the main character of Ghost Game, with goggles. The design of the protagonist wasn't finalized at the time of submission, and then changed to an original character in a new illustration revealed by the author via Twitter on September 4, 2021. On September 10, 2021, the official website revealed the cast, the airing date, as well as the main visual featuring the characters in their school uniforms, design by Mariko Itō.Broadcast and distribution
The first trailer for the series was shown during the 65th episode of Digimon Adventure:. The series premiered on Fuji TV on October 3, 2021, set to start after Adventure: in the same timeslot. Digimon Ghost Game is broadcast on Fuji Television, and available for streaming on TVer, U-NEXT, Bandai Channel, Anime Hodai and Docomo Anime Store in Japan. The series ended with its 68th episode on March 26, 2023.Digimon Ghost Game is distributed and streamed simultaneously by Crunchyroll in North America, Central America, South America, Europe, Africa, Oceania, the MENA and CIS zones with English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Arabic, Italian, German and Russian subtitles for premium members within the first week of release. Starting in spring 2022, new episodes are available by subscription only, with the first twenty-one episodes remaining available to all users. The anime was also simulcast on VRV in the United States. In France, the anime is also available on Anime Digital Network and J-One.
On March 6, 2022, Toei Animation announced that the series would not air the following Sunday due to the Nagoya Women's Marathon. On March 7, 2022, Toei Animation and Digimon Ghost Game's social network revealed that they had been affected by a computer hacking attack, with all media produced by the studio facing postponements starting on March 20, 2022. In Japan, Fuji TV decided to rebroadcast the first episode of Digimon Ghost Game on March 20 and a selection of episodes in the following weeks during the hiatus.
An English dub of the series premiered on BBC iPlayer in the United Kingdom on December 1, 2025.