Mysterious Countdown in Digimon's Website!

Remember Digimon? Those little digital monsters that can be taken care of similar to a Tamagochi? Yep, the franchise is celebrating their 20th anniversary this year.

Digimon or "digital monsters" first launched as a virtual pet back in 1997. According to Siliconera, Bandai Namco opened a website that contains a countdown to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Digimon.  The countdown is expected to end on January 6, 2017, at 10:00am JST. No details have been shared about the countdown except the fact that it's Digimon's 20th anniversary this year.

When the Digimon virtual pet was first released in 1997, it garnered positive reviews which in turn, created an anime adaptation called Digimon Adventure in 1999. Digimon Adventure tells the story of eight chosen children coined as "DigiDestined" and their Digimon partners as they explore the Digital World and battled the evil Digimon who threaten to take over the world.

Digimon Adventure gained a positive feedback from their audience, giving and a direct sequel to the series called Digimon Adventure 02 in 2000, which takes place three years after the events of the original series. A new story and a new set of "DigiDestined" takes place in the series, along with new Digimon and new evolutions.

After the success of the first two series, Digimon spanned more series of the franchise, each giving a new set of "DigiDestined", Digimon and new concept of evolutions:

• Digimon Tamers - Released in 2001

• Digimon Frontier - Released in 2002

• Digimon Savers (Data Squad) - Released in 2006

• Digimon Xros Wars (Digimon Fusion) - 2010

In 2014, it marked the fifteenth anniversary of the first Digimon anime series. To celebrate its anniversary, Bandai released a new series called Digimon Adventures tri. Digimon Adventures tri brings back to original "DigiDestined" who are now in high school, except for T.K and Kari, who are still in middle school. Their Digimon partners returned with a brand new concept of evolution as they take on the mysterious calamity that's happening in the Digital World. Returning cast includes Koji Wada, the original singer for the series' opening theme song and some of the original voice actors and actresses for the series.

While waiting for the countdown to expire, fans can check out Digimon Adventure tri's episode here.