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Tamagotchi! Yume Kira Dream TV Anime to Debut Next Week

Tamagotchi! Yume Kira Dream will premiere on Monday, September 10 as the fourth year of the most recent anime based on Bandai's Tamagotchi! virtual pets. Mametchi and his friends return to study abroad at Dream Town, a place that supports the dreams of all who live there. At Dream Town, Mametchi meets the aspiring idol singer Yumemitchi, Kiraritchi and other new characters as they all follow their own dreams. One day, they visit the circus and an old lady hands them a mysterious bag with a secret.

Tamagotchi! Yume Kira Dream loosely ties into Tamagotchi! P's, the newest generation of the virtual pets. These six new 5,040-yen (about US$64) Tamagotchis feature interchangeable "Tama Deco Pierce" cartridges and the ability to link up to four different devices together via infrared. Tamagotchi! P's will debut on November 23.

Bandai launched the franchise in 1996 and sold about 40 million virtual pets in that first batch. It then revvied the brand in 2004 and sold over 38 million more Tamagotchis, 1.72 million of them in the Tamagotchi! iD line that launched in 2009. The company aims to sell 600,000 Tamagotchi! P's by next March, mainly to girls 7 to 9 years old.

Before the 2009 Tamagotchi! television anime series, there were the 1997-1998 Anime TV de Hakken! Tamagotchi television series and the 2007-2008 Saikō! Tamagotchi television series (which Bandai is still streaming in seven languages on YouTube). There were also the 1997 Tamagotchi Honto no Hanashi theatrical short, the 2007 Eiga de Tōjō! Tamagotchi Doki Doki! Uchū no Maigotchi!? feature film, and the 2008 Eiga! Tamagotchi Uchū Ichi Happy na Monogatari!? feature.

Sources: Saishin Anime Jōhō, Famitsu

Update: More information added.