Koichi Nakamura

This documentary special, featuring interviews with main Dragon Quest creators Yuji Horii, Koichi Nakamura, Akira Toriyama, and Koichi Sugiyama, originally aired on NHK at the end of 2016 to celebrate Dragon Quest’s 30th anniversary. In addition to the interviews, there’s behind the scenes footage of DQXI, plus a re-telling of the making of the very first Dragon Quest.

Dragon Quest Fantasia Video is a direct-to-video live action production of the Dragon Quest series that was released by Enix in 1988. A silent reinterpretation of different elements of the Erdrick trilogy games set to various music from the games composed by Koichi Sugiyama and performed by the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra. The video was planned and produced by Toshio Okada, who was then the head of anime studio Gainax, who worked on the movie's special effects, and Tohokushinsha Film.

Host Peter Barakan delves into various aspects of Japanese culture; exploring practices, history, and modern innovations in such areas as ramen, rice, sushi, geisha, bonsai, and so much more. Local experts discuss their passions at fascinating length, and American Japanophile Matt Alt experiences the food, practices, and cultures in each episode in depth. Viewers will finish each half hour episode with a new understanding of an area of Japanese life through demonstrative videos and explanations, all delivered respectfully and true to the Japanese way of life.