Takumi is to appear as one of the studio guests in 2016's edition of NHK's Nazotoki Live (Mystery Solving Live) show, titled "The Murder Case of the Locked Room in the Square Mansion". As with the previous editions, the interactive mystery show consists of two live episodes broadcast on consecutive days on NHK. This time, the episodes will broadcast on January 23 and 24 (starting at 21:00). It's an interactive show, and viewers can participate with their televisions through the D-button on their remotes (which calls up the interactive menu on Japanese TV). You can thus try to solve the mystery yourself, alongside the studio guests who do so to. As always, the story is written by popular mystery writers, and this year it's Yukito Ayatsuji, a writer Takumi actually met during the promotion of DGS.

Takumi seldom appears in non-game related items, and especially not on TV, so this is a pretty rare appearance. It might be funny to see how he tackles mystery fiction by other people!

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Well, dang. Is there a way for people to see it outside of Japan? I doubt I'd be able to catch it live, but this sounds so interesting...

How often do they hold these shows? The last update to that page was back in August.

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They basically do one each year, but it's not always around the same time of the year; I remember the previous one was relatively "recent".

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This sounds really cool! Interactive TV shows like that I'd like to try out myself XD Sounds fun!
I'd love to watch this if I could.

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To elaborate on how viewers can participate: at set times during the show, viewers will be shown "character cards" or "evidence cards", and they can choose which of them seems the most important/relevant to them through the d-button/interactive menu. Get all the choices right and you get 100 points. After the show's over, the final ranking is announced (you need to register a nickname before participating). In the meanwhile, the studio guests (so Takumi among others this time) try to solve the case too.

The show's not been made available on home video, sadly enough.

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Wow, I need to watch this!

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Takumi is able to do non-game developer stuff?! Who would have thunk it. This does sound really fun to watch though, I'd love to see a recording of it or something.

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Takumi had a discussion interview with Ayatsuji (writer of this year's show) today at Capcom. The interview will be posted on the site of the show soon.

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Will anyone here translate it?

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Considering I translated most of Takumi's interviews here, I think it's fairly likely I'll do this one too.

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Cheers! Much appreciated!

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I believe this is the interview? :)

http://www6.nhk.or.jp/nhkpr/post/original.html?i=03064

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Yep. I'll try to post a translation later today (unless someone else wants to translate it).

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So I had an opportunity to catch Takumi's appearence on Nazotoki Live. I wrote a review on the episode on my blog, but there I focus on the show as a piece of mystery fiction. A slightly more Takumi-focused summary:

- The story is about the production of the latest episode of "Kigurumi Detective". Series protagonists Momo and Miko are helping the show as advisors (being "experts" on the mystery genre). A lot of goings on during the production: certain film crew members having issues with other members, an unfinished script, and more. And then a murder happens that is awfully like the murder of the episode they were going to film, in a study that is locked from the inside. It's up to Momo and Miko, but also the viewers back home and the three studio guests (including Takumi) to solve it.

- The other two studio guests have appeared in earlier iterations of the show; Takumi is the only 'newbie'. As such, Makita Sports was the one who acted as de facto discussion leader.

- The show has a certain flow. First they show you a part of the mystery drama. After a while, the show goes back to the studio, where the "Butler" of the show will ask the viewers (and the studio guests) to deduce something. Answers are given through cards, somewhat similar to Ace Attorney. There are "Character Cards" and "Data Cards". The studio guest get physical cards, while the viewers back home can see the cards through the interactive menu on their TV sets, or the official website. After about 10 minutes of thinking, everyone has to make their final choice, and the drama continues again (revealing the answer, but also moving the storyline again). Points are given to right answers, which add up to 100 in total. There are several deduction parts throughout the show. There are also a few bonus rounds, with no points ("Who do you think will die?").

- Takumi did fairly well, I think. It was obvious he's a fan of the genre, because a lot of his deductions were based on familiar tropes. Makita Sports for example was a regular of the show, so his deductions were based more on his experience with the show. Takumi picked on quite a few hints, and he obviously tried to think out loud (for the television), but it got him pretty far. Because the show is pretty intense (the three guests sit around a table and watch the drama along with the viewers back home, and then have to deduce during the pauses), there's basically no off-topic chat. So no discussions about Ace Attorney or anything like that. Everyone is really focused on the puzzle. They also bounce ideas of each other, which is pretty interesting to see on TV.

- There are some moments where you see Takumi nervously peeking at the camera ^_~

- There were also a few times where Takumi really didn't know what to answer and came up with rather surprising answers (more for laughs than real serious answers).

- Takumi didn't manage to solve the case, though I have to say he got close. Actually, one of his later deductions was a great assist for my own, though for some reason Takumi himself went the other direction based on his own ideas. I think there were about four 'big' deduction scenes, and while he never got everything right, he did always get them partly.

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Hmm... I really wish there was a way to watch this somewhere, but I doubt it'd be pretty legal...

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There is the hope that services like crunchyroll will license it.

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A one-shot live show, that focuses on the interactive element with the viewers back home, the use of interactive TV and the use of a website for supplementary material? Unlikely, I'm afraid. I'd sooner see Kohaku Utagassen licensed =_=

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