Di Gi Charat Franchise Being Revived as Animated Shorts

You know what’s awesome about this piece of Di Gi Charat news? It’s so uniquely them to release a brand new series of anime shorts to celebrate the 24th anniversary of their once-beloved mascot characters.

In an announcement made on YouTube on Saturday, June 12th, it was revealed that once again what’s old is new again and the Di Gi Charat franchise is making a return as a series of animated shorts. The new series, titled Reiwa Di Gi Charat, will be animated by Liden Films and directed by Hiroaki Sakurai. He’ll be working off character designs provided by Atsuko Watanabe. The best part though? They have confirmed that many of the original voice actors will reprise their roles, while also promising some brand new characters including the goddess of Broccoli (and we’re not talking about the vegetable). 

For those of you who weren’t anime fans (or perhaps weren’t even born yet) in the 1990s, let’s take a trip together in the Wayback Machine. Di Gi Charat is a series all about an alien catgirl named Dejiko who crashed down onto Earth and got a job in a Gamers store in Japan, eventually becoming their mascot. Over the last 24 years, there have been many incarnations of the series which have stretched from manga to anime to drama CDs, soundtrack albums, and video games. 

Many years ago when I was in high school, a friend of mine (the same one who introduced me to Sailor Moon and started me on my path towards what I am today) introduced me to the first Di Gi Charat anime via a terribly grainy VHS copy that had been transferred multiple times… and I loved it. Now, over 20 years later, however, I’m not 100% certain that today’s audience will fall in love with the characters (especially Rabi~en~Rose) as we all did way back in the day. 

It’s a bit fascinating to me that the trend of reviving long-forgotten titles and characters is a trend that we’re seeing around the world. It makes me wonder if fans in Japan are lamenting “yet another revival of an old anime franchise” as much as fans in the west complain about old sitcoms being revived years after the fact. 

Source: Anime Eiga