Ever watch BS-i, the satellite channel owned and operated by the TBS network? I thought not. Or maybe you did, flipping through the 100 or so channels on J-COM, giving it only a glance. Too bad, because under producer Tamon Andrew Niwa, BS-i has become a lab for interesting experiments in TV and film production, as well as a notable success in star making.
Niwa's biggest discovery so far is Maki Horikita, who stars in his latest film "Tokyo Shonen (Tokyo Boy)." Best known for her appearances in the two "Always" films and hit TV dramas, with Niwa's backing she has become a BS-i staple, starting with the goofy 2003 series "Keitai Keiji Zenigata Mai (Cell Phone Detective Mai Zenigata)," and continuing with Ryuiichi Hiroki's "Koi Suru Nichiyobi — Watashi Koi Shita (Love on Sunday: I Fell in Love)" in 2007, in which she played a terminally ill girl who seeks out her first love.
This is not to say that Niwa single-handedly made Horikita a star, but she has done some of her best work for him. In "Koi Suru Nichiyobi" she may have played that cliche of all Japanese movie cliches — a dying teenager — but she brought a fervent honesty to the role that was all her own.