DIGIMON BEATBREAK Panel Shows Off 'Prequel' Animated Short

It is undoubtedly an amazing time to be a Digimon fan, and the Toei Animation panel at New York Comic Con 2025 certainly highlighted that sentiment. You could catch glimpses of all the fantastic things that have come out for the Digimon franchise, and this panel sought to be a highlight. There's a new game, Digimon Story: Time Stranger, with a demo available, and the panel highlighted a new mainline anime that's a bit different from its predecessors. The excitement from fans and the upcoming guests was certainly palpable.

Before our guests arrived on stage, staff showed a special sneak peek at a new Digimon animated tie-in clip for Digimon Story: Time Stranger. This was a short animated film called "Prelude" that served as a prequel to the game. As someone who has yet to fully explore Digimon Story: Time Stranger, it was still approachable and introduced the game's many facets.

"Prelude" tells the story of a young boy who is out to the movies with his mom before a bunch of Digimon fall from the sky and start attacking the city. The young boy finds a Digi-Egg and tries to protect it after witnessing his mother die from the onslaught. Now he wants to be reunited with his sister, and a special gun-slinging Digimon shows up to protect him. When asked why this Digimon was going out of its way to protect him, the Digimon told the young boy that he had saved them before, and it wanted to return the favor.

The short was very well animated, and most of it was done without dialogue, while the main game's theme, "wherever you are," acted as the main backing track. I'm curious to see how this short connects more directly to the video game, since we got a quick flash-forward in the final second. Hopefully, more shorts will come out soon to bridge that gap.

After this excellent animated teaser, the audience met the producer of the Digimon anime, Hiroyuki Sakurada. He had been with the franchise for quite some time and admitted he has a particular soft spot for the original Digimon Adventure series. When it came to developing the idea for DIGIMON BEATBREAK, he admitted that the staff wanted to come up with a series that would help bridge the gap between newer Digimon fans and older ones. This inspired the idea of a slightly older protagonist, something that wasn't typical of the series, which usually focused on kids in elementary and middle school. It also seemed that music would play a significant role in the series. Sakurada nodded toward this fact when he entered the stage, wielding drumsticks as a tribute to the main character being a drummer.

His appearance was followed by Megumi Han, who first debuted in the franchise as Airu Suzaki in Digimon Xros Wars: The Young Hunters Who Leapt Through Time in 2011. She is the voice of Gekkomon (not to be confused with Gekomon), but previously she was the voice of Takeru (TK) in the 2020 reboot of Digimon Adventure. She admitted she was super happy to continue being part of the franchise, since this might be the last time she gets to do so. She loves Gekkomon and how incredibly animated he is. Unlike other Digimon who don't necessarily need to eat, Gekkomon definitely enjoys food. Still, his favorite food is his human partner's E-Pulse, which is a key component of the anime.

One thing that Han and Sakurada emphasize about DIGIMON BEATBREAK is how the characters in the show relate to each other, as well as the world around them. In previous shows, the Digimon were seen as childlike companions to the humans who actually went through character growth, but here, they hope that the Digimon and humans can grow in their own ways. There was also talk about how the relationship between humans and AI could serve as a potential bridge for the series. We live in a world where AI is becoming increasingly prominent, and while they may not have meant the show would explore AI in the same way it's used today, the show itself is about bridging the relationship between humans and artificially intelligent creatures. There's a series of characters our heroes will interact with, and hopefully, we'll see entertaining, interesting character dynamics.

Digimon has always felt like that series that still sticks with people decades later. Although the franchise's success hasn't been as consistently strong as others like Pokémon, it's still clear that it is hitting a strong chord with fans of all ages around the world. With a new game and new anime fresh off the market, there's a lot to get excited about. I look forward to this excitement continuing for years to come.