So after 19 years we finally have a new
Digimon series starting right after another ends, something we initially thought we had in 2011 but turned out to not be a separate series. Finally! Hopefully this means the end of 3-year intervals.
Man, I was hoping we would get a
Tamers sequel, due to all that anniversary promotion (although given
tri. and
Kizuna, they could do a movie or theatrical OVA), or maybe even an
Appmon sequel due to 2021 being its 5th anniversary and
Adventure: ending so close to October (though all the
Tamers promotion made kind of give), which would allow the new series to start close to where the last finished of from and keep the date matching gimmick. Though I guess they would need a 5-year timeskip for full fidelity and otherwise the dates wouldn't match the day of the week. The next October 7 Saturday, for example,
is only in 2023 (huh, I guess a season 2 on the 7th anniversary would be appropriate, with the number's importance in the series).
But instead of anything else, be it a sequel or new thing, it's more
Adventure again. Well, if it at least guarantees the anime survives and they won't have to wait for a time slot to vacate when they make a new anime, then so be it, this increases the chances of
Digimon becoming popular again. I wonder what we'll get in 2022 though. More
Adventure:?
Though with how they have been refusing to actually name the Armor level, instead using "???" for the two Digimon that have them (not even calling it Adult like some games do), I wonder if going to
02 was planned from the start.
However, are we sure this is an
Adventure: sequel/title change? Sure, it's made by Bandai and is mentioned in
Adventure: pre-orders. While I'm not sure if the first is notable, as Bandai is a big company, the second I think pretty much confirms it's
Digimon, and I imagine we would already know if something else was taking the time slot, wouldn't we? How long in advance did we know about
Saint Seiya Omega taking XW's time slot?
The reason I'm bringing this up is because, 後番組 doesn't mean what you think it means. Sure, Jisho and other dictionaries translate it as "successor (TV) program; follow-on program", but it actually means "the next show in the same time slot". This is both
the Pixiv Encyclopedia definition (the closest I could find to a dictionary) and
what a native speaker said on HiNative (translation: "A new show that starts after another show's final episode"), and since it's coming from Japanese themselves, I trust it's the correct meaning.
This seems to be what Wikipedia calls 次番組. Every anime page on Japanese Wikipedia lists both the previous show (前番組, maebangumi) and next show (次番組, jibangumi) for the same time slot, including when a show changes time slots rather than just when it ends. So, if 次番組 is synonimous with 後番組, then, for example,
Frontier's 後番組 is
Konjiki no Gash Bell!!, rather than anything
Digimon-related.
Now, like I said, this seems to be a
Digimon series, but with what 後番組 means, rather than this being "Daisuke and V-mon show" or even "new Taichi and Agumon show", it could actually be "Tarou and Firedramon show" with no connection to
Adventure: at all.
If the 66 episodes does end up being accurate then the show would end in September and have around a month before this if it would be intended to start in October. If it didn't take a break then I guess adventure: could have around 70 episodes.
Not really.
7/04: 55
7/11: 56
7/18: 57
7/25: 58
8/01: 59
8/08: 60
8/15: 61
8/22: 62
8/29: 63
9/05: 64
9/12: 65
9/19: 66
9/26: Nothing
10/03: Hey look, it's October!
As you can see, if the show has 66 episodes, then it's only one missing week before October. If the show starts in October 3 and is a sequel, then maybe September 26 gets to air a recap of
Adventure: that is counted as "episode 0" or something for the sequel. Or maybe get one week break because of... I don't know, sports coverage? I think it has happened with
Pokémon before.
Now that I think of it, we have the Tokyo Olympics this year, and some games happen on Saturdays. Could coverage cause
Adventure: to get a week break in July? If we have even a single week with no episode, the next week after episode 66 is in October.
Alternatively, could August 1 have, instead of an episode, some kind of special? Like, I don't know, maybe a clipshow talking about the original
Adventure, or who knows all the previous series?
Those 6 circles...What could this mean? Anything new here?
It's Gatchmon, Dokamon, Musimon, Hackmon, Offmon, and a new Appmon.
Y'see, it's very simple: this is a Japanese show, so any crises are going target its country of origin.
Not neccessarily,
Gash Bell actually had the main characters go to other countries for all the big crises. The battle the 1000-year-old demons arc was in South America, the Faudo arc started in New Zealand (though the battle ended in Japan), and, though that part didn't make it to the anime, the battle against Clear Note happened in, I think it was North America? I don't remember exactly, but it wasn't in Japan, and that was the final big bad.
Exceptions exist, and
Digimon does have a track record of crises affecting the entire Real World, and not just Japan even if the battle is centered there.
