NHK Game Genome Brings Pilot and Season 1 to On Demand
The On Demand release gives the NHK series a permanent home, letting viewers revisit the earliest episodes that established its format of treating games as cultural literacy.
Key Facts
- NHK will distribute 11 episodes of "Game Genome" on NHK On Demand starting September 1, 2026, with each episode arriving at 17:00 Japan time.
- The lineup includes the extended pilot focused on "Death Stranding" and 10 Season 1 episodes covering titles such as "Resident Evil," "Persona 5," and "DARK SOULS."
- Tsubasa Honda hosted the pilot and first half of Season 1, while Daichi Miura hosted the second half.
- The "Death Stranding" pilot episode features game creator Hideo Kojima and artist Gen Hoshino as guests.
- Theme music for the program is composed by Yoko Shimomura, known for the "Kingdom Hearts" series.
Reporting from 3 sources: 4Gamer.net, Denfaminicogamer, KAI-YOU.
NHK announced on August 28 that its game culture program "Game Genome" will be distributed sequentially on NHK On Demand starting September 1 at 17:00. The service will carry 11 episodes covering the 2021 pilot and Season 1, which aired in 2022. The program treats the emotions and values players gain from play sessions as "game genomes" and analyzes classic titles with guests. The pilot episode, an extended version focused on "Death Stranding," features creator Hideo Kojima, host Tsubasa Honda, artist Gen Hoshino, and former Famitsu editor-in-chief Katsuhiko Hayashi. Season 1 episodes cover "Shadow of the Colossus" and "The Last Guardian," "Persona 5," "Ace Attorney," "Dark Souls," "Resident Evil," "Romancing SaGa 2," "Life is Strange" and "Life is Strange 2," "Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin," "This War of Mine," and "Tokyo Jungle" and "Stray." Honda hosted the pilot and first half of Season 1, while singer and dancer Daichi Miura took over for the second half.
The distribution schedule runs from September 1 through September 13, with each episode arriving at 17:00 Japan time. Several episodes are extended versions, including the "Death Stranding" pilot and the installments on "Resident Evil," "Romancing SaGa 2," and "This War of Mine." The "Dark Souls" episode includes comments from FromSoftware's Hidetaka Miyazaki, while the "Resident Evil" episode brings together developers Jun Takeuchi and Shinji Mikami to examine why players keep going despite fear.
Hosts Honda and Miura, narration voice actors Hiroshi Kamiya and Aoi Yuki, and theme composer Yoko Shimomura all contributed comments praising the On Demand release. Shimomura, known for the "Kingdom Hearts" series, noted her theme music continued into Season 2 and beyond. The rollout also places emphasis on games that widen the medium's expression, such as "This War of Mine," inspired by the Siege of Sarajevo during the Yugoslav Wars, and the "Tokyo Jungle" and "Stray" pairing, which analyzes survival instincts through animal protagonists.
- Connections ~Death Stranding~ (extended): September 1; features Hideo Kojima, Tsubasa Honda, Gen Hoshino
- Loneliness and Life ~Shadow of the Colossus / The Last Guardian~: September 2; features Fumito Ueda, Tsubasa Honda, Takayuki Yamada
- Adventuring in the World of the Heart ~Persona 5~: September 3; features Katsura Hashino, Tsubasa Honda, Kurisutaru Noda
- Reversal is Mystery ~Ace Attorney~: September 4; features Shu Takumi, Tsubasa Honda, Koshiro Matsumoto
- Ultimate Sense of Achievement ~Dark Souls~: September 5; features Hidetaka Miyazaki via comment
- The True Nature of Fear ~Resident Evil~ (extended): September 6; features Jun Takeuchi, Shinji Mikami
- Creating History with Inspiration ~Romancing SaGa 2~ (extended): September 6; features Akitoshi Kawazu, Daichi Miura
- The Weight of Choice ~Life is Strange / Life is Strange 2~: September 10; features Jean-Luc Cano, Michel Koch
- How to Make a Hometown ~Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin~: September 11; features Daichi Miura, Ryota Yamasato
- Self-Questioning ~This War of Mine~ (extended): September 12; inspired by the Siege of Sarajevo
- Playing Wildness ~Tokyo Jungle / Stray~: September 13; features Daichi Miura, Hikaru Takahashi
Synthesized by Yomimono from the 3 cited sources below, including Japanese-language reporting where cited, then editorially reviewed before publishing.