Nippon TV’s flagship title for this year’s Forum is the suspense thriller The Right to Judge. Escape, another suspense story, will also make its international debut.
Nippon TV announced that it will return to Series Mania Forum and will premiere two new scripted formats for the first time.
The first title, The Right to Judge (10 x 60’), is a suspense thriller that has surpassed 44 million views in its original Japanese version broadcast on Nippon TV. The second title, Escape (10 x 60’), is a continuous suspense story that follows a fugitive heiress and her kidnapper.
In what marks the company’s fifth consecutive participation as the only Japanese company exhibiting continuously at the Forum since 2021, this year’s delegation will include Shinji Enari, Studio Strategy Director responsible for the development and approval of Nippon TV’s scripted series, and Masanori Kobayashi, Director of Global Strategy. Both will attend for the first time to explore new opportunities for the international expansion of the company’s scripted content.
Shinji Enari, Studio Strategy Director, said: “Nippon TV has a strong track record of bringing dynamic stories to global audiences through scripted formats and co-productions. Building on the success of award-winning titles such as Mother, we are proud to present these new formats: The Right to Judge and Escape.”
Masanori Kobayashi, Director of Global Strategy, added: “We look forward to exploring new opportunities to grow our scripted series internationally. Series Mania Forum is the perfect stage to connect with key industry players and foster new global partnerships.”
Flagship Title: The Right to Judge
Nippon TV’s flagship title for this year’s Forum is the suspense thriller The Right to Judge. The original series, broadcast by Nippon TV in 2025, achieved remarkable success, becoming the network’s most-watched drama on the national VOD service, with more than 44 million views.
The story follows a group of former elementary school classmates who reunite 22 years after graduation to unearth a time capsule, only to discover a yearbook in which the faces of a group of bullies have been violently crossed out. Members of the group begin to die in ways that precisely recreate the innocent “When I grow up” drawings they made as children.
To stop the chain of murders, the former class leader — who had been the main bully — forms an uneasy alliance with a successful journalist he once tormented. Together, they must find the killer while confronting the dark sins of their shared past.
The series features a dual-timeline structure, alternating between the present and the characters’ childhoods, and delivers a gripping mystery that challenges viewers to uncover the culprit.
International Premiere of Escape
Escape will also make its international debut as a high-voltage human suspense story that blends intrigue, travel, self-discovery, and romance. The drama follows a sheltered heiress of a pharmaceutical empire who, after being kidnapped on her 20th birthday, chooses to flee with her captor instead of returning to her controlling father.
She hides a secret ability: she can see people’s hidden emotions as “colors” when she touches them, and she is terrified by the cold, dark tones she perceives in her father.
Under constant pursuit by those searching for them, their relationship evolves from “kidnapper and hostage” into a deep and emotional bond. Along the journey, the protagonist is forced to confront the cruel truth about her own birth — a secret that had long been kept from her.
