Ask John: How Much Di Gi Charat Anime Exists?

Question:
Hey, I need to know about DiGi Charat. How long is it? How many series/movies are there, and how many episodes long are they?

Answer:
Although it’s relatively recent, it’s still difficult to track down a thorough chronology of the Di-Gi-Charat animation because Di-Gi-Charat has had such an unusual broadcast schedule. I’ll attempt to present an accurate filmography here, but please excuse me if I make any minor errors.

The first ever Di-Gi-Charat animation was actually a pair of anime TV commercials for the Gamers chain of anime stores. These original TV commercials aired on Japanese television in early 1999. The first proper Di-Gi-Charat anime was the 16 episode TV series that began on November 29, 1999. Each of the 16 episodes was only 4 minutes long and was broadcast as part of the live action TV variety program “Wonderful.”

The Di-Gi-Charat Summer Special consisted of four 10 minute long segments broadcast on August 22 & 23, 2000. The 2000 Summer Special introduced Dijiko’s arch nemesis, the Black Gema Gema Dan, lead by Pyokola Analogue III, “Piyoko.”

The Di-Gi-Charat Christmas Special broadcast on December 16 & 17, 2000 was again four 10 minute episodes. This time around the crew went on a cruise and Dijiko received an unusual Christmas gift from her parents.

The Di-Gi-Charat Ohanami Special broadcast on April 6, 2001 was the first special to last an hour on a single evening. The four chapters in this special dealt with the girls enjoying cherry blossom viewing, and Petit Charat’s memorable day in kindergarten.

Around the summer of 2001, a new Di-Gi-Charat TV commercial for Gamers aired on Japanese television, and dubbed in English on American television in the Los Angeles, California area.

The Di-Gi-Charat Natsuyasumi Special broadcast on August 2 & 3, 2001 again had four chapters aired two per night and introduced Rod Young, America’s biggest Dijiko fan.

On December 22, 2001 Dijiko and friends hit the big screen with the Di-Gi-Charat: Hoshi no Tabi motion picture, a 30 minute long film that sent Dijiko and Puchiko home to the planet Di-Gi-Charat to visit their parents.

The 48 episode long Panyo Panyo Di-Gi-Charat premiered on January 5, 2002 and continued through 48 six minute long episodes. Panyo Panyo Di-Gi-Charat was set a year before the events in the first TV series, and was clearly targeted at a younger, pre-teen audience.

On March 21, 2003, Piyoko got her own OAV series with the first episode of Di-Gi-Charat Gekijo Piyoko ni Omakase pyo! (Di-Gi-Charat Theater: Leave it to Piyoko-pyo!) The second of apparently three OAV episodes was released on May 3rd.

The Di-Gi-Charat Nyo TV series debuted on April 6, 2003 as an entirely new, self-contained continuity. For the first time ever, each episode was a full 25 minutes long, made up of two 12 minute long chapters.

So far, Synch Point Productions has licensed the Di-Gi-Charat movie and Leave it to Piyoko OAV series for American release, and AD Vision has acquired the official English language distribution rights to the Panyo Panyo Di-Gi-Charat TV series.

And finally, as an only partially related concluding point, the name “Di-Gi-Charat” itself is not some strange French word. It’s an abbreviation for “Digital Character” and in proper Japanese should be pronounced roughly like “Digi-Carrot.”