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Final Newsletter of 2025 - N°84
🎬 Media: Japan to Broadcast AI-Powered Film/Drama in January 2026
Japanese broadcaster NTV (Nippon TV) has announced that in January 2026, it will air a drama that makes extensive use of generative AI throughout the production process, marking one of the first times a major television network will present such a project on live broadcast.
Titled TOKYO 巫女忍者 (TOKYO Miko Ninja) and scheduled for a late-night premiere on January 8, 2026, the program was produced with significant AI support, with technical cooperation from industry partners including CyberAgent and creators associated with the film 8番出口 (Exit 8). The production combines traditional live action with AI-generated visual and narrative elements, leveraging generative AI across multiple creative tasks.
Scenes from TOKYO 巫女忍者 showcasing the use of generative AI
A central contributor to the project is CyberAgent’s GOKU AI Odaiba Studio, a specialized production studio launched to industrialize the use of generative AI in video content. The studio focuses on applying AI to visual generation, background creation, compositing, and production workflow optimization, enabling faster iteration and scalable content creation. In the case of TOKYO 巫女忍者 (TOKYO Miko Ninja), GOKU AI Odaiba Studio supports the integration of AI-generated assets into a broadcast-compliant production pipeline, bridging experimental AI tools with television-grade requirements.
Beyond its linear TV airing, the drama is also expected to be made available after broadcast on major Japanese streaming platforms, including TVer and Hulu, extending its reach through on-demand distribution and reinforcing Japan’s hybrid broadcast–streaming model.
This announcement follows a growing momentum in Japan’s film and media landscape around AI-assisted content creation.
In 2025, AI-powered works have already gained visibility through dedicated AI film festivals and competitions, highlighting a broader institutional and creative shift toward generative technologies.
For France, the forthcoming broadcast is particularly notable. While AI tools are increasingly used in post-production and visual effects, there has not yet been a mainstream TV broadcast on French airwaves of a production publicly positioned as being created with generative AI at its core. The Japanese case may therefore signal a new phase in how audiovisual media experiments with AI-driven creative workflows.
As global media increasingly incorporates generative AI — from script development to image and video synthesis — Japan’s move toward broadcasting an AI-augmented drama on television highlights an emerging hybrid production model that industry players worldwide, including in France, are following with close interest.