Di Gi Charat (デ・ジ・キャラット) is a Japanese manga and anime series created by Koge-Donbo. The series follows a catgirl named Di Gi Charat "Dejiko" who was adopted as the mascot of Broccoli's retail chain store, Gamers. The original anime series and its original video animations (OVAs) are set in a Gamers store. There are twenty Gamers stores across Japan. Several specials, OVAs, and movies have been adapted as prequels, sequels and alternate stories; trading cards and video games are among the many forms of merchandise released for the series. The original series, movie, and Leave It to Piyoko! were licensed in North America by Synch-Point. The manga series is licensed by several companies. The original series, 4 specials and the Winter Garden special are now licensed by Sentai Filmworks.

Manga

The characters of Di Gi Charat and her sidekick Gema first appeared in July 1998 in From Gamers, a promotional magazine for the Akihabara store, Gamers. In August of that year, the two appeared in Gema Gema (げまげま), a four-panel comic-strip in From Gamers drawn by dōjin artist Koge-Donbo. Dejiko was later adopted as the mascot of Gamers. Broccoli Books in the US published the Di Gi Charat Theater series, which contain a number of Di Gi Charat manga by Koge Donbo and several dōjin artists. The comic strip Gema Gema, which still runs in From Gamers, is republished in these volumes. Broccoli Books have stated that all the manga will be translated and released. However, due to Broccoli closing their offices in the US in 2008, Dejiko's Adventure and Leave It to Piyoko! were left unfinished. Current Di Gi Charat manga released in North America: Broccoli Books Viz Media Studio Ironcat Comic Di Gi, a bimonthly magazine that is issued by Broccoli, included a Di Gi Charat comic called GemaGema Theater by Koge-Donbo.

Anime

An animated Dejiko and her sidekick Gema first appeared on in a television advertisement for Gamers, set to the store's theme song, Welcome! by Hiroko Kato. The first anime premiered on the Tokyo Broadcasting System on November 29, 1999. Set in a Gamers store in Akihabara, the original series was sixteen episodes long with each episode running for three minutes. Light-hearted and relatively cheaply animated, the series follows the story of Di Gi Charat (Dejiko), her new sidekick Petit Charat (Puchiko) and Gema, who arrive in Akihabara, Tokyo. Dejiko dreams of becoming an idol, only to realize that they have no money and nowhere to stay. The manager of a Gamers store takes pity on them, and the series follows their exploits as they work in the shop. The series introduces Dejiko's rival, Rabi-en-Rose, and minor characters Abarenbou, Takeshi, Yoshimi, Takurou and Takurou. All other citizens of Akihabara, including the manager, are drawn as anthropomorphic thumbs, the reason being that Akihabara is one of the largest shopping areas of Earth for video games, among other things, and thumbs are most commonly used by people to press buttons while playing video games. The creative team was given free rein over the content of Di Gi Charat, and it is outrageous at times. The anime is directed by Hiroaki Sakurai, animated by Madhouse and produced by Broccoli. As 2008 was the 10th anniversary of the series Di Gi Charat, Broccoli Inc. decided to recast the actresses of the main characters of Di Gi Charat. The new actress for Dejiko, Puchiko, and Usada were Satomi Akesaka, Nao Minakami, and Rieka Yazawa respectively. However, as of the 15th anniversary in 2013, Broccoli Inc. has since reverted to using their original voice actresses and retconned the 10th Anniversary in a comic. For the series' 24th anniversary, a new mini anime series titled Reiwa no Di Gi Charat has been announced. Hiroaki Sakurai is directing the new series at Liden Films, with Atsuko Watanabe providing the character designs. It aired from October 7, 2022, to January 3, 2023, on Tokyo MX and BS NTV. The theme song is "Aimaisa, Kōfukuron" by Masami Okui.

Specials

Despite the series' low budget and its status as an advertisement for a games store, sequels for Di Gi Charat, several feature-length Di Gi Charat special episodes and OVAs, followed. Each special was around twenty minutes long. The specials introduce the Black Gema Gema Gang (Black Gema Gema Dan) and Dejiko's rival, Pyocola Analogue III (Piyoko).

Movie

Di Gi Charat - A Trip to the Planet (デ・ジ・キャラット 星の旅) is a movie that premiered on December 22, 2001 in Japan. The twenty-minute animation follows the adventures of Dejiko, Piyoko and Gema as they use the spaceship seen in the first episode to travel back to Dejiko's home planet, Planet Di Gi Charat. It was licensed by Synch-Point and announced at Anime Boston 2003 along with Leave It to Piyoko!. Synch-Point planned to include a 13-minute bonus episode called "Kuchi kara Bazooka" ("Rocket From the Mouth Special" or "Upchuck Bazooka") that was also included in the Japanese release, but it was never released.

Panyo Panyo Di Gi Charat

A prequel of sorts with its own alternate continuity, Panyo Panyo aired from January 5, 2002 until September 29, 2002. The characters are drawn to look much younger. Princess Dejiko and Puchiko wish to escape castle life to help people of Planet Di Gi Charat achieve happiness. Pyocola Analogue III and hologram Digi Devil try to stop her. In this series Dejiko, Puchiko and Gema meet friends Meek and Rinna. Panyo Panyo was arranged into five-minute mini episodes in order to make it feel like classic four panel manga. Panyo Panyo did not have the wide open endings which the original series had.

Di Gi Charat Theater - Leave it to Piyoko-pyo!

Di Gi Charat Theater - Leave it to Piyoko-pyo! (デ・ジ・キャラット劇場 ぴよこにおまかせぴょ！) is an eight episode OVA that was released in 2003. The OVA is the only show in the series where Dejiko is not the main character. Instead it focuses on Piyoko, Rik, Ky, Coo, and the rest of the Black Gema Gema Gang as they leave Planet Analogue and make their way to Earth to kidnap Dejiko. At Anime Boston 2003, Synch-Point announced they have acquired North American distribution rights to the OVA. It was released on two DVDs on November 15, 2005 and March 7, 2006. Miyuki Sawashiro, the voice actor of Puchiko, also dubbed Puchiko in English for the first six episodes. It marked the first time a Japanese voice actor repeated their role in English for an English anime dub.

Di Gi Charat Nyo!

An alternate story to the original series, Nyo!, aired from April 6, 2003 until March 28, 2004. There were two stories for each of the fifty-two twenty-minute episodes.

Winter Garden

Winter Garden (ウィンターガーデン) is a two part spin-off series. Dejiko is around 20 years old and Puchiko is now around 15. Until recently, this was also the last animated project to feature the original voices of the characters. The story starts on Christmas with Dejiko working at a cake shop. She meets a young man named Senba Takuro while going home on Christmas night. Dejiko accidentally drops her cake, but Takuro exchanges his for hers, and love starts after several unplanned meetings with each other. A promotional video premiered at Anime Expo 2006 during the Di Gi Charat panel sponsored by TBS, PONYCANYON and Broccoli. The series first aired on TBS on December 23, 2006 and December 24, 2006 and later on BS-i.

Relation of each series

Characters

Most of the characters of Di Gi Charat originally debuted in the yonkoma Gema Gema, and later appeared in the anime series. Across all of the Di Gi Charat series, each catgirl ends their sentence with a cat sounding suffix, such as Dejiko's Nyo. The four DVDs of the series Panyo Panyo Di Gi Charat are named after each of the four catgirl's onomatopoeia. Piyoko talks in a similar manner.

Main characters

Di Gi Charat (デ・ジ・キャラット) / Dejiko (でじこ) Petit Charat (プチ・キャラット) / Puchiko (ぷちこ) Hikaru Usada (うさだ ヒカル) / RabienRose (ラ・ビ・アン・ローズ)

Black Gema-Gema Gang

Pyocola Analogue III (ピョコラ＝アナローグIII世) / Piyoko (ぴよこ)

Minor characters

Takeshi - and Yoshimi - A boy who comes into the store to buy trading cards and falls in love with Rabi-en-Rose, in the Reiwa anime, is confirmed that he and Rabi-in-Rose study in the same school. Enjoys melonpan. Not related to Kimura, though they share the same first name. A rich and long-haired man infatuated with Puchiko's cuteness and have a problem with the suffix that some characters use at the end. Not related to Minagawa. A rowdy creature seemingly made of water. His appearances in the series are always incredibly random and crazy. An excitable American fan of Di Gi Charat. A thoughtful finger-person who runs Gamers and sends Dejiko on errands. A cat who is Puchiko's sidekick. It can walk sideways and has five kittens; Sa, Shi, Su, Se, and So. During the time between Di Gi Charat and Reiwa no Di Gi Charat, it takes the place of Puchiko in the store when she and Dejiko are in the Di Gi Charat Planet. A small green creature likened to a kappa, is Rabi-en-Rose's sidekick. During the time between DiGi Charat and Reiwa no Di Gi Charat, it takes the place of Rabi-en-Rose in the store, meanwhile she is very busy with the exams and homework. Henna Ikimono (変な生き物) A mysterious, tiny, yellow bear. Its face always appears to be angry, crying, depressed and laughing at the same time. It always remains in its box and is always seen as being completely still. On one side of the box, "Please give me a home" is written in Japanese. It can eat things bigger than itself. In Party Night, he ate the Earth. Broccodes She is the goddess of Broccoli's company. She appears for first time in Reiwa no Di Gi Charat, replacing Dejiko when she and Puchiko are in the Di Gi Charat Planet during the time between Di Gi Charat and Reiwa no Di Gi Charat. The only two that knows about the change are Dejiko and Gamers's Manager. Bushimo-no-Mikoto She is the goddess of Bushiroad's company, she had as aspect of a devil samurai, is kouhai of Broccodes and is a fan of the original anime. She appears for first time in Reiwa no Di Gi Charat

Music

A great number of Di Gi Charat albums have been released, including soundtracks to the anime as well as collections of original songs sung by the main characters. These albums include drama CDs which expand the Di Gi Charat story.

Games

A game titled Di Gi Charat Fantasy was released for the Dreamcast. It's a visual novel style game, in which the player takes on the role of a boy with a crush on Dejiko who, along with Dejiko, Puchiko, and Rabi-en-Rose, gets sucked through a dimensional vortex into a fantasy world. The player finds himself alone with Dejiko in a forest, and she's lost her memory. In this game, players are given a very different view of Dejiko, as the amnesia makes her innocent and shy. This game later was ported to PlayStation 2 and was renamed Di Gi Charat Fantasy Excellent. Since the PS2 version uses DVD-ROM media, it features improved FMV cutscenes and additional VA. The PS2 port came with a Standard release and a "Premium Box" release that contained one extra disc. Di Gi Charat: Digi-communication I & II Digi-communication (でじこミュニケーション) is a game series for the Game Boy Advance. On October 25, 2002, the first game was released by Broccoli, the sequel a year later. The games are based on money management. Choosing one of the three main characters of the anime, the player takes the role as the manager of the store with the objective of running the store on the little money available. The game takes aspects of the anime into its gameplay including character art and an instrumental music score of popular songs from the anime composed by Manabu Namiki for the games. Glove on Fight Dejiko appeared as a selectable character in the 2D fighting game Glove on Fight for the PC. The game contains several popular mascot characters such as Ecoco and characters from well known visual novels and anime such as To Heart and Tsukihime. This was a fanmade (or doujinshi) game by the circle French-Bread. Dejiko no Maibura Dreamcast game. Dejiko no Mahjong Party Game Boy Color game. Di Gi Charat Puzzle Game for iOS.

Reception

Zac Bertschy of Anime News Network gave a review of the limited edition Di Gi Charat volume 1 release with saying “Even if you're turned off by the cute little characters, give Di Gi Charat: The Original Series a spin. Even the crankiest and most jaded of anime fans will appreciate the wildly original and very funny humor. It's never weird simply for the sake of being weird; everything that happens in the show is in the name of comedy, and the series religiously follows its own twisted logic." Tho would give a comment on the dub being very poor. Later Carl Kimlinger from Anime News Network gave Di Gi Charat Nyo's first DVD a review in which he describes Dejiko having a "mercenary personality and butt-scratching manners" with a "frilly-cute exterior". In Panyo Panyo Di Gi Charat, Carlo Santos from Anime News Network describes Dejiko having a temper that "adds some spice to her goody-goody nature". In contrast, in the alternate story Winter Garden where she is now twenty, Chris Beveridge from the Fandom Post describes Dejiko as a "normal young woman".