A new craft program that focuses on the “interestingness of movement.” By combining the program’s craft mechanisms with viewers’ ideas, something new is created. Making full use of expressive techniques unique to video streaming, it nurtures children’s interest in and ability for making things. This is the first special episode. Using smartphone- and tablet-based interactive segments such as “Ani-Kougei” and “Ani-Kamera” to suggest new ways of engaging with video, and clearly presenting the “Moving Craft Engine,” where simple crafts create surprising motion, the program also makes use of video expression to introduce and update what it can do now. Please take a look.

“NEMURUMA EHON” is an original picture book read-aloud program that began streaming on U-NEXT in October 2024. Featuring a carefully selected lineup of Japanese picture books that we want people to read now, chosen together with Nemu Yumemi, the program invites a variety of readers to bring them to life. To convey the appeal of picture books themselves, the actual books are filmed on camera. By making full use of editing techniques such as preserving the sound of pages being turned and action cuts, we aim to transform a single reading experience into video. At the end of the program, “Nemuruma Anime” by Yosuke Omomo continues to play, gently encouraging a calm state of mind and sleep. By exploring what is uniquely possible with streaming video—such as not showing “the next recommended video” and not fixing a set runtime—we aim to create a program that can be a small help in childcare, one that parents can feel comfortable handing to their children on a tablet or smartphone.

“Hirake Hako” is a new packaging design, along with a group of technologies that form its elements, developed with Keiaki Nakaji and presented at TAKEO PAPER SHOW 2023, “PACKAGING—Function and Laughter.” By treating the wave-like structure of Takeo’s fine-paper corrugated board “Fine Flute” as if it were the teeth of a gear, we developed mechanical element technologies that create a variety of “movements” using paper. Building on this technology, we proposed a package that contains the mechanism within the box itself, offering a new way to open it and a distinctive unboxing experience.

This is an original segment for the new craft program “Ugokosaku,” which is being developed jointly by the video streaming service U-NEXT and designer Masaya Ishikawa. By working together with animations displayed on a tablet or smartphone and placing the craft on the screen, you can create a moving craft—that is, “ugokosaku.” “Ugokosaku” also uses technology and optical illusions to deliver the joy of making things by hand through new crafting and visual experiences unique to streaming.