Why Did 2022's Hits "Go Viral"? Analyzing Viewer Desires Through 4 Dramas and Anime!

Analyzed 4 Works ※"silent" and "SPY×FAMILY" will be introduced in Part 10

This series introduces the approach to consumer insights starting from "desire" and future developments, presented by members of Dentsu Inc.'s new consumer research project " DENTSU DESIRE DESIGN (DDD) ".

The "FUKAYOMI" team (hereafter FUKAYOMI), a subcommittee of DDD, attempts to capture consumer insights and the budding seeds of values and desires likely to become mainstream in the future by "deep reading" hit works that captivated many people.

This time, we delve into four dramas and anime that went viral in 2022. Hosted by FUKAYOMI team member Taiyo Hamakubo, four team members each present their analysis based on "Buzz Viewun!" data for one work.

Additionally, we incorporate insights from Hiroyuki Tanai of Dentsu Inc., a development collaborator for "Buzz Boooon!," offering a different perspective. Over two installments, we unravel the viewer insights and desires behind the buzz.

*1 = Buzz Viewn!
A survey system provided by Video Research Ltd. that monitors Twitter user reactions to TV programs in specific time slots in the Kanto region. It enables AI analysis of these posts across three dimensions: "Volume," "Quality," and "Demographics." The service officially launched in April 2023 with technical support from Dentsu Inc.

<Table of Contents>

▼ "The 13 Lords of Kamakura" Buzz Accelerated After the Protagonist's "Fall into Darkness"

▼What Makes You Want to Post! The 3 Gaps That Stirred Viewers' Emotions

▼Viewers "Ride the Wave" with "RTs" for Opinions and Fan Art That Speak for Them
▼"RT" to "Ride the Wave"

▼Buzz Accelerates Beyond Ratings. The Drama "Elpis" That Makes You Want to Talk About It

▼From "Entertaining Suspense" to "Thought-Provoking Social Drama"
Viewer Awareness Shifts

▼In an era where information different from TV floods the internet, how to depict that reality?

Members who conducted the analysis. Back row, left to right: Taiyo Hamakubo, Hiroyuki Taniuchi. Front row, left to right: Yumi Ohno, Naofumi Sato, Masanobu Shiraishi, Toshiki Tanabe.

The buzz around "The 13 Lords of Kamakura" accelerated after the protagonist's "fall into darkness"

©NHK

Hamakubo: This time, rather than critiquing the merits of individual works, we'll analyze Twitter buzz around hit shows from the latter half of last year. By deciphering the expectations and emotions revealed there, we'll explore viewers' desires and attitudes toward contemporary television programming.

Taniuchi: I believe reactions to TV programs have diversified in this era. For example, some shows "go viral" even without high ratings, and deciphering this phenomenon is one of our themes. To analyze viewer reactions and trends on Twitter, we're using Video Research Ltd.'s "Buzz Viewun!" survey system.

Hamakubo: Since all the works analyzed this time are "serialized," we first examine how the quantity and quality of buzz changed over time. Furthermore, while formulating hypotheses about the factors that generated the buzz, we interpret what desires each work stimulated in viewers and what desires were most likely to surface on SNS.
First, please share the analysis results for the historical drama "The 13 Lords of Kamakura."

Sato: I'm Sato, in charge of "The 13 Lords of Kamakura." While this work has an image of overwhelmingly trending in 2022, it actually wasn't a standout in terms of buzz until around the midpoint. The volume and quality changed dramatically after September. This coincided with the story development where the protagonist Hojo Yoshitoki, played by Oguri Shun, "fell into darkness." From this point, posts increased, and notably, the content shifted toward a "negative" tone.

However, this "negative" sentiment doesn't mean the work itself was deemed "uninteresting." Instead, it was an outpouring of emotions like "anger" and "sadness" – essentially tweets filled with cries of agony, accompanied by corresponding fan art. This flood of content seems to have been the catalyst for the major buzz.

Hamakubo: While classified as "negative" keywords, it's interesting that people didn't stop viewing because they disliked it; instead, more became interested. It's intriguing how they seemed to enjoy these negative emotions, almost like a morbid fascination.

Sato: So why did these emotions arise? We examined the "Buzz Essence" (※2) chronologically.

※2=Buzz Essence
A combination of "noun + adjective" frequently used in posts about the program. It visualizes what aspects of the program are being discussed and evaluated.

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Three Gaps That Stirred Viewers' Emotions and Made Them Want to Post!

Sato: Buzz Essence is fundamentally adjectives—words that easily express human emotions. In other words, the source of tweets and RTs (retweets) lies in emotional resonance. For this work, I believe that resonance stemmed from the following three gaps.

・Gap 1: "Life's Ideals vs. Reality"
Hojo Yoshitoki started as an idyllic young man from the countryside. However, witnessing the power and scheming of Minamoto no Yoritomo and his father Hojo Tokimasa, he himself grows into a fixer. In the latter half, Yoshitoki, now a fixer, earns the jealousy and resentment of those around him, becoming lonely, and ultimately meets a very lonely death.

Viewers tend to watch dramas by overlaying their own lives onto the story. While there was some admiration for the fixer-like life of wielding power, when they witnessed Yoshitoki's descent into a dark, lonely world as a result, Twitter likely became the outlet for voicing their honest feelings and thoughts.

・Gap 2: "Expectations for the Taiga Drama and Betrayal"
When we watch a Taiga drama, we more or less expect content tied to "friendship," "effort," and "victory," or conversely, "the fall from success." However, this series depicted neither.

The scene in April where Kazusa Hirotsune, played by Koichi Sato, was suddenly ambushed was symbolic, as seen in Twitter reactions. What makes screenwriter Koki Mitani somewhat "infuriating" is that he deliberately gave the ambushed character such an appealing personality. Viewers became fans of him only for him to be suddenly killed off. This development, bordering on betrayal, made people exclaim, "Why!?", "He was such a good guy!" They couldn't help but mutter. Retweets of such posts also increased. When another compelling character, Yoshimori Wada, was killed, a flood of high-quality fan art poured in, serving as an outpouring of emotion.

・Gap 3: "Mitani Koki's Style of Seriousness and Comedy"
Many screenwriters use the technique of deliberately inserting humor or calm scenes between tense moments to heighten the drama. However, in Mitani's case, he injects extremely modern, over-the-top comedy into these moments.

This was widely discussed on Twitter, and one example that personally caught my attention was the "Tokyusa" gag. Because the protagonist's younger brother, Hojo Tokifusa, has a difficult-to-pronounce name, other characters start calling him "Tokyusa." In the flow of this, the on-screen text even started displaying "Tokyusa." While this was an unnecessary touch, predictably, the hashtag "#Tokyusa" spread like wildfire on Twitter. This was undoubtedly a deliberate attempt to create a meme.

©NHK

※3＝MEME
A cultural phenomenon where "jokes," funny images, or videos spread online through social media.

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Viewers "jump on" opinions or fan art that voice their own feelings by "RT"ing them.

Sato: Based on these three points, I believe what became visible through Twitter in "The 13 Lords of Kamakura" was the "fluctuation" between aspirational desires like "I want it to unfold this way" or "I want to be like this," and the realistic desire that "ordinary is fine after all."

The series impacted viewers by revealing the loneliness lurking behind such aspirations. Many viewers likely harbored desires for the self-serving power and wealth Yoshitoki attained, or the urge to seriously survive in a dog-eat-dog world. Yet by vividly portraying the "darkness" that lies beyond as a stark contrast, it led viewers back to their own realities. This likely fostered a sense of affirmation – "Maybe my seemingly ordinary life isn't so bad after all" – and brought a sense of reassurance.

While social media often visualizes jealousy born from comparing one's life to others, becoming a device that fuels resentment, this work conversely visualized the sentiment "ordinary is best after all," creating a paradox. That was the key point, I thought.

Hamakubo: Normally, the protagonist who built the enduring Kamakura period should be a hero, yet he was portrayed as a tragic figure. That aspect might have resonated well with modern viewers who increasingly believe a higher quality of life is more valuable than obsessing over becoming great or increasing income.

Taniuchi: What struck me most about "The 13 Lords of Kamakura" in terms of its viral appeal was its status as the "RT King." Hearing this explanation now makes perfect sense. Mr. Mitani is exceptionally skilled at creating reactions and gaps that make you respond involuntarily. The show was sprinkled with mechanisms that made viewers want to post and retweet using fan art or hashtags like "#TokuYusa." That ultimately led to a situation where retweets far outnumbered original tweets.

When do Twitter users feel compelled to "RT"? I think it's when they want to convey feelings like "I'm blown away!" or "I'm shocked!" – things they wouldn't (or couldn't) express themselves. Take news posts about heinous crimes, for example. It's hard to voice your own opinion, but you want to share that shock with someone, leading to more RTs. Mr. Mitani's script likely contained elements that provoked that kind of "reaction," didn't it?

Sato: I see. That was a crucial keyword just now. When someone articulates your own feelings, the act of "jumping on" that sentiment (via RT) is easily born on Twitter. Especially with something as visually clear as fan art, we saw a lot of that happening with "The 13 Lords of Kamakura."

Buzz accelerates faster than ratings. The drama that makes you want to talk about it: "Elpis"

© Kantele

Hamakubo: On the other hand, I believe "Elpis: Hope, or Disaster" (hereafter "Elpis") was a work that proposed something to society and presented an antithesis. Tanabe-san, please share the Fukayomi team's analysis.

Tanabe: I'm Tanabe, who worked on "Elpis." This story follows a female announcer, played by Masami Nagasawa, who has fallen from grace due to scandal, and a young variety show director, played by Gōdon Maeda. They discover a death row inmate convicted of serial murders may be innocent and pursue the truth.

A major feature was its inclusion of "reality" in various senses. It won last year's Galaxy Award Monthly Prize, with the citation noting it was praised for "daring to depict the internal barriers within the broadcasting industry itself, while incorporating a critical perspective on the political world and power structures, making it a bold drama that included self-deprecating elements."

Comparing the public reaction to "Elpis" with other dramas aired during the same season, while its viewership ratings weren't particularly high, the volume of tweets about it was about 12 times greater.

Taniuchi: In terms of buzz volume, "Elpis" stands out with exceptionally high "tweet" volume. Not "RTs." From what I observed of its buzz: If "The 13 Lords of Kamakura" was the RT king, I believe this was the "drama connoisseur king" – the kind that makes drama enthusiasts actively "want to talk about it" and "seriously want to comment."

&nbsp;Viewer perception shifted from "entertaining suspense" to "thought-provoking social drama"

Tanabe: What caught my attention in the reactions to "Elpis" was the content within the "positive" category, when separating posts by "positive," "negative," and "neutral" quality. The first episode had 44% positive, the finale 47%. Focusing on the buzz essence within these, I realized that even within the positive category, the underlying meaning clearly shifted over time.

Below is a color-coded breakdown of the top buzz essence keywords from Episode 1 to the finale.

Tanabe: The red box shows words meaning "interesting." The blue box shows "correct," and the green box shows evaluative words about the drama like "amazing" or "good." In Episode 1, "interesting" words clearly dominate the top. However, as the story progressed, these words moved down within the top rankings. This led me to hypothesize that, for this work, viewers began to develop emotions distinct from "interesting" as a suspense drama partway through.

The blue-framed "correct" appears starting from Episode 3. As a viewer myself at the time, I initially watched it with a mystery-solving mindset, but around Episodes 3 and 4, my perspective gradually shifted. To pursue the wrongful conviction case, they must fight against adversaries within the TV station organization itself. You realize it depicts the harsh reality of society – that seeking what is right is actually incredibly difficult.

I think this word "correct" captured that illusion—where you couldn't tell if you were watching a drama or observing real society. In other words, it shows how viewers' perception shifted from "an interesting suspense drama" to "a thought-provoking social drama."

Taniuchi: I feel that nowadays, younger generations tend to enjoy the sensation of reality and fiction overlapping. It's an era where works that skillfully blur the line between real and fictional are favored. In the case of "Elpis," there was a sense of enjoyment in how the drama, which viewers initially intended to watch as pure fiction, gradually had reality interwoven into it, flipping their perceptions. This could be described as a "betrayal of fictionality" – where the real seeps into the fictional.

In an era where information different from television floods the internet, how should this reality be depicted?

Tanabe: I believe the story's characteristics that drove this shift in audience engagement can be broadly divided into two. One is its depiction of the struggle against power in modern society. Within the TV station, the fight against the organization while uncovering a wrongful conviction case; once that barrier is breached, the judicial system emerges as the next wall, and eventually, the political world itself becomes an opponent. I think this point captured viewers' hearts, leading to increased analysis that went beyond mere mystery-solving.

The other crucial feature is the "reality" aspect Mr. Tanai mentioned. This is prominently presented in the finale. Many suspense dramas follow a clear moral resolution: The mystery is solved, the culprit is caught, and it ends with a happy ending. However, in this drama, while the wrongful conviction itself is acknowledged, the mastermind's misconduct is buried in obscurity. The development that real society isn't that straightforward, that it can't be 100% resolved so easily, probably gave viewers that sense of "Yeah, that's right."

Taniuchi: Today, alongside TV news, we have online reporting and social media. Viewers engage with both, meaning some possess "information beyond what TV provides." How we interpret this situation will be a key theme for future TV programming.

In "Elpis," people who were peacefully making variety shows become aware of a wrongful conviction case and awaken to social justice. In a sense, they are betrayed by the world they thought was a flat horizon. This mirrors the everyday reality of viewers watching the drama. I think there are many situations where, regarding a certain news report, people think, "But online, people are saying this." I feel "Elpis" handled this aspect well, and I think other programs will increasingly need to incorporate this strength.

Tanabe: As you mentioned, there's a way of crafting dramas that blend into reality, and I felt that such works make it easier for viewers to voice their own opinions. The desire that emerged from all this was, I believe, something fundamental to the human heart : "I want to know the truth, I want to reach the answer." And through the story, viewers experienced a vicarious pursuit of truth, overcoming all obstacles. When the characters achieved their goal by cooperating with their allies and reaching the answer, that desire was satisfied, bringing a sense of exhilaration.

Simultaneously, many viewers likely sensed the difficulty of resisting distorted social structures and great power. These works also seemed to express a keen awareness that in reality, good triumphs over evil rarely occurs, and individuals are powerless against modern social structures and authority when trying to do what's right.

Next time, we'll delve into the deeper meanings of "silent" and "SPY×FAMILY," and discuss what insights these offer for future content creation.