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Fuji Television Network Inc announced Wednesday that it has decided to produce and distribute original content for the world’s leading Internet television network operated by Netflix Inc, that boasts a membership of approximately 62 million subscribers in 50 countries.
There will be two productions: a new series of "Terrace House," called "Terrace House New Season Coming" (tentative title), and drama serial "Atelier" (Japanese title - "Underwear"). In addition, both productions will be forerunners in being broadcast for distribution to exclusively premiere on Netflix globally. The credit of “Fuji Television presents” will be seen together with Netflix’s logo in global distributions.
"Terrace House" is a reality show series broadcast on Fuji Television from Oct 12, 2012 to Sept 29, 2014, in which six ordinary young men and women live together in a share house. There is no script. It is a new flavor of content, sharing their glossy lives that has been very popular with young people in their teens and twenties. In addition to the episodes broadcast on television, official program videos on YouTube showing original footage, such as sub-episodes that were not broadcast, saw high cumulative viewing numbers of 280 million.
Furthermore, in February this year, a movie called "Terrace House: Closing Door" was released, and was an unprecedented hit for this kind of movie, demonstrating the firmly rooted popularity of the content. With incessant calls for a revival of the program, production of the new season has been decided. The open casting call for new residents starts today on its official website. The show will be seen on the various media platforms of Netflix and Fuji Television.
"Atelier" is a brand new, original drama produced by Fuji Television, with a main character named Mayuko who finds a job with a high-class lingerie manufacturer in Ginza. It is the story of a woman experiencing confusion, struggle and growth in a world with a new set of values different from any she has ever known, and seizing the Japanese dream. Atelier is a “workplace-based coming-of-age novel” drama, written to present the story of a working woman, with the setting of a glamorous world of lingerie manufacturer.
Both series are scheduled to be distributed on Fuji TV On Demand (FOD), a video and comic distribution service, in addition to broadcast television, after their initial exclusive distribution on Netflix. Fuji said it hopes that this content will be able to utilize the strategic expansion of its content that has used the “4M” media, i.e., broadcast television, BS, CS, and the internet, which has been spelled out in previous plans.
Greg Peters, president of Japan Netflix KK, said: “Netflix will commence its service in Japan this fall. We feel that Japanese content is paramount in order for all of Japan to enjoy our service. We are extremely happy that we can be involved in providing original series in Japan with Fuji Television, which has an established reputation in producing content that is especially popular with young people. We believe in our vision of 'Connecting the world through amazing stories' and will continue to concentrate our efforts on producing amazing content. We hope to use the opportunities from this project to transmit Japan’s amazing content to our customers in Japan and across the globe.”
Toru Ota, senior executive at Fuji Television, said: “With the launch of Netflix in Japan, Fuji TV has decided to produce and provide the first-ever Japanese original content on Netflix. We have taken this bold initiative as we firmly believe it is a meaningful and significant endeavor in the context of the future of the television business. Even with the evolution of infrastructure and devices, we believe the most important factor in the end is the level of capability in content production. These two new shows will allow us to demonstrate to the world the high quality of our content and production standard. There are many areas where we feel the same as Netflix, including being proactive in producing original shows, such as House of Cards, and attitudes regarding handling of content. These are just some of the reasons behind our decision to undertake this project.”
© Japan Today
17 Comments
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papigiulio
Yuck, Fuji is not famous for their quality of programming, case in point "Terrace House". The other show "Underwear" sounds quite interesting though.....
Wakarimasen
Hurrah!! The one thing missing on Netflix is those panel shows with lots of "tarento's" on sugoi-ing and amai-ing and generally being daft.
onagagamo
Good luck competing with actualy quality material such as "House of Cards".
Melissa Huynh
I got excited about the Fuji TV-Netflix deal as I just finished the drama Ghost Writer and absolutely LOVED it (best Japanese drama I've watched in a long time) but this whole Terrace House thing.. Even if it's popular there, I doubt it'd carry well internationally. And the Underwear one sounds iffy. PLEASE, don't disappoint me, Fuji TV!
smithinjapan
This will increase the awareness, popularity, and subscribers of Netflix in Japan, but that's all. And if that's the goal of Fuji doing this, then it will succeed. If it thinks the programming will fly internationally, they're not going to succeed as both Terrace House and Atelier sound like utter garbage, especially compared to the international shows currently featured on Netflix (well, not all, of course). In fact, Atelier (which even has to give itself another, Japanese title!) doesn't sound original at all, and only put in the backdrop of a lingerie manufacturer instead of, say, at Prada or some fashion company, because it's probably written by some oyaji that likes the weird bras that Japanese companies come up with every year.
harvey pekar
If they can make daring, quality programming instead of pseudo-reality crap like Terrace House, then great. Otherwise, don't bother. Stop recycling the same lame cop/doctor/family drama plot and do something challenging and fresh and it isn't packaged with a Johnny's singer and a cutey-pie of the month.
JoiceRojo
Ohh I would love to watch some Japanese content in Netflix! just recently, I was able to watch on Netflix the last two movies of the Rurouni Kenshin trilogy, and there are some animated.
I just hope that this alliance will open the access, I would love to watch some taiga dramas, even if they are old taiga like Ryomaden or Yae no Sakura... and Gunshi Kanbee
HongoTAFEinmate
Don't know about the programming, but I have had some contact with the streaming technology that Fuji has been developing. That happens to be rather impressive.
SauloJpn
Not that interested in Fuji's programs but I am very excited to see how it compares to HULU japan. I still pay for Hulu but there are months I don't watch anything. Movie selection and TV shows are laughable but it is the only legal option here that I know of, so I have it. We don't need a gazillion tv shows, only a few good one updated regularly, not 3 years after airing in the US. A little competition might do some good!
Paul Laimal-Convoy
Wait, Netflix is in Japan now? Not that I care, as I've got HULU+ and Netflix USA waiting for me when I come home from work in Japan.
Ethan188
Just finished watching this this and must say it was well done. Obviously not a fair comparison to the big budgeted grand taiga dramas such as Ryomaden. Seems very "western" in production quality, yet graceful and subtle in Japanese sensibilities. This rivals some of the best Korean dramas. Kudos!! Can we expect a sequel?
Wesley Winfield
I was actually surprisingly impressed with Alelier. The production quality is fantastic, and the actors are very good. I'm more of an action, adventure kinda guy. I also really enjoy political dramas like house of cards, and detective dramas like white color, so I didn't expect to enjoy this. But I know Japanese quite well and figured I'd give it a shot. Very glad I did, it's very unique, delightful little show. Nice change of pace. Also, very happy to see more Japanese content rather than only anime coming to Netflix
maglev101
One man's quality is another man's crap.
Elyce Goff
I just finished watching Atelier and I absolutely loved it. I'm already itching for season two.
Alessa Shu
This is obviously a small budget show but the story and the actors and even the settings are AMAZING. I just finished watching the whole series I was blown away! Usually I only watch suspense like Elementary or comedies like the big bang theory or sometimes Sci-Fi shows, I'm so glad I tried this one. Absolutely fascinating!
Ornthariga Krittayanutkul
Hello! I'm from Thailand.
I've watched Atelier few months ago. It was so impressive! Not long after that, "Good Morning Call" has been released, and I love it even more! (In fact I can't compare them at all, I would rather say that I love both of them)
I wish there would be more and more great quality with nice content japanese drama like Atelier and Good Morning Call on Netflix again and again.
If there could be Atelier season 2 that will be nice! and if there could be Good Morning Kiss (Sequele of Good Morning Call), It would be so cool!
Looking forward to seeing them!
Ash Butler
Being a lover of all things Japanese over here in Europe, I just loved Atelier. Loved the set - the 'atelier' was cool, and the bar too. Loved too the use of the soft lighting - the way the 'sun' would shine through the windows, or the way it would be shining in the streets with the golden glow. As for Mao Daichi's wardrobe, it was just amazing - really classy. Please please let there be another season.
Half way through Good Morning Call - it's cute.
But the best series so far has to be Midnight Diner. Too few episodes on Netflix