The Midnight Experiment

It is often said of Japanese drama that new things come out of the late-night slots. The reason usually given for it, though — that budgets were small and no numbers were demanded, so there was freedom — is not written on this map. No material backing it was reached. What can be written is what actually came out. In 2010, Moteki was broadcast in TV Tokyo's late-night Drama 24 slot. The original was a manga by Mitsuro Kubo, and the director was Hitoshi One; it became a film the following year, in 2011. It also ran an experiment: all twelve episodes streamed free for a single day, a first for a terrestrial drama. The late slots were where young makers were first put in charge, and where unusual projects could get through. Where those two overlapped, this band produced the things of the next era — the next section (→ The TV Tokyo Invention) is the leading example.