Matsuko Deluxe

Matsuko Deluxe and Shingo Murakami dissect whatever has Japan talking, with on-the-ground interviews about buzzy topics and quirky local issues.

After participating to a previous show where they have to bet or be challenged to any kind of competitions, the losing members of the Gaki no Tsukai are selected to spend 24 hours in a setting which they have no knowledge of the theme nor the course of the events. They are exposed to various absurd and crazy situations nonstop for 24 hours and must refrain from laughing. If they do so, hang-men appear and hit the rule breakers with a weapon (the weapon varies every year).

A talk show in which experts from a variety of specialty fields are invited to introduce a surprising and "deep" world unbeknownst to MC Matsuko and viewers.

Yoshitaro Katayama (Masaki Aiba) became a police detective after having followed the will of his father who had been known as a great detective. However, Yoshitaro can never step into murder scenes because he faints whenever he sees blood, and criminals are able to easily slip away because he is afraid of heights. He also has phobias of women and ghosts. Moreover, he hates to doubt people more than anything, so he happens to believe whatever people say. Thus, Yoshitaro has tried, in vain, to quit his job a number of times in the past, but his brother Hiroshi (Naohito Fujiki), who loves mystery novels, and his super active sister Harumi (Aya Omasa) always manage to convince him to remain as a detective. One day, hopeless Yoshitaro finds a calico cat that somehow understands what people say and sometimes shows great reasoning power. With the help of strange hints given by this cat, Yoshitaro luckily succeeds in solving the cases.

Brash single mother Nikuko is well-known for her bold spirit, much to the embarrassment of Kikuko, her pensive yet imaginative daughter. In contrast to her mother, Kikuko wants nothing more than to fit in as she navigates the everyday social dramas of middle school. Life in the harbor is peaceful until a shocking revelation from the past threatens to uproot the pair's tender relationship.

Bakabon loves his Papa, Mama, and little brother Hajime. Of course, he doesn't have a normal family with a name like that: Papa's an idiot who takes matters into his own hands, no matter the circumstances, Hajime's just a baby and is renowned for his genius, and Mama is the extra-resilient voice of reason. Life certainly isn't boring either, with Papa stopping a fraudster, the parents celebrating their anniversary and sharing how they met, and the foolish patriarch himself deciding to run away and solve a marriage crisis on live television. It's a big dumb world out there, but that's how it should be!