Digimon Ghost Game

デジモンゴーストゲーム

6.8(7,996)

MAL Score

Ranked #6301

Popularity #4952

Action
Adventure
Comedy
Fantasy
Urban Fantasy

Episodes: 67
Duration: 23 min per ep
Aired: Oct 3, 2021 to Mar 26, 2023
Status: Finished Airing

Synopsis

Reports of enigmatic “Hologram Ghosts” have been circulating online for years, described by survivors as distorted, glitch-like apparitions. The rumors have grown harder to dismiss as more people claim to have been harmed after encountering these strange beings.

Hazakura Academy student Hiro Amanokawa initially treats the phenomenon as an urban legend, until the incidents begin piling up and echo the unresolved mystery of his father’s sudden disappearance—leaving behind only unusual digital watches. When a classmate is attacked, Hiro teams up with his friend Kiyoshirou Higashimitarai to investigate, setting them on a path toward a perilous realm hidden from ordinary human understanding.

Otaku Consensus

Digimon Ghost Game is a polarizing Toei franchise experiment: Masatoshi Chioka and Masato Mitsuka steer Digimon toward urban-folklore horror, and its best weeks deliver the eerie, self-contained “Twilight Zone” energy fans singled out as the season’s freshest hook. The verdict is held back by structure more than concept; across 67 episodes, the monster-of-the-week pacing leaves major teases, character growth, and overarching plot momentum feeling thin for viewers who come to Digimon for serialized adventure.

Why You Should Watch

Watch Digimon Ghost Game if you want Digimon reimagined as a weekly supernatural casebook rather than a destination-driven quest. It scratches the same itch as GeGeGe no Kitaro’s modern urban-yokai encounters and the anthology chill of The Twilight Zone, but with partner-mon dynamics, transformations, and creature designs rooted in the Digital Monster lineage. The appeal is strongest for viewers who enjoy eerie one-off scenarios, AI-adjacent weirdness, ghosts, and child-cast problem solving without needing every episode to push a central war forward. It is not the ideal pick if your favorite Digimon seasons are prized for escalating arcs and tight team development; it works best as a spooky, episodic franchise detour.

Key Characters

H
Hiro Amanokawa(VA: Mutsumi Tamura)
Hiro anchors the series as the level-headed human lead, giving the stranger weekly incidents a calmer point of contrast than many more impulsive Digimon protagonists.
G
Gammamon(VA: Miyuki Sawashiro)
Gammamon became one of the season’s clearest fan-facing strengths, combining a dinosaur-like mascot profile with the transformation appeal expected from a modern Digimon partner.
K
Kiyoshirou Higashimitarai(VA: Akira Ishida)
Kiyoshirou is frequently singled out by viewers as one of the more entertaining cast members, with his anxious comic energy balancing the show’s horror-leaning cases.
J
Jellymon(VA: Yuu Shimamura)
Jellymon stands out through a more mischievous partner dynamic, giving the cast a sharper comedic edge amid the show’s ghost-story format.

What Makes It Stand Out

1
The series commits to an episodic structure for most of its 67-episode run, a choice reflected in AniList’s high Episodic tag percentage and in the strongest recurring praise and criticism from viewers.
2
Its genre mix is unusually horror-forward for Digimon, leaning on Ghost, Youkai, Artificial Intelligence, and Urban Fantasy tags rather than the franchise’s more familiar pure adventure framework.
3
Toei Animation produces the series as a mainline Digimon TV entry, with franchise-origin credits including Akiyoshi Hongou, original Digital Monster designer Kenji Watanabe, and updated digital monster design by Takeru Shinozuka.
4
Masashi Sogo’s series composition supports a case-of-the-week rhythm, which helps individual spooky concepts land quickly but also explains why many viewers felt the long-form plot advanced too slowly.
5
Its reception profile is sharply divided: MAL lists it at 6.73 from 7,804 votes while AniList places it at 66/100 with 188 favourites, matching the split between viewers who praise the horror detour and those who call it one of the weaker Digimon seasons.

Fun Facts & Trivia

Fun fact 1: Digimon Ghost Game has two credited directors, Masatoshi Chioka and Masato Mitsuka, rather than a single series director credit in the provided staff listing.
Fun fact 2: Tenya Yabuno appears twice in the production credits, contributing both planning assistance and original character design.
Fun fact 3: The monster-design lineage is split between Kenji Watanabe as original Digital Monster designer and Takeru Shinozuka on Digital Monster design for this series.
Fun fact 4: At 67 episodes, Ghost Game is one of the longest modern Digimon TV installments, which intensifies the common complaint that only a small portion feels devoted to major plot movement.
Fun fact 5: The Japanese cast pairs major voice names with both human and Digimon roles, including Mutsumi Tamura as Hiro, Miyuki Sawashiro as Gammamon, Akira Ishida as Kiyoshirou, Kazuya Nakai as Angoramon, and Yuu Shimamura as Jellymon.