A plan for a "theme park" where AI reshapes the story around a child's emotions has begun to take shape. Japan's largest telecom, NTT, and broadcaster TBS Holdings are teaming up to co-develop an experience facility where the storyline branches for each child, along with an original IP to anchor its world. With anime and games on the horizon, it's a new form of play for the AI era.

NTT and TBS Launch the "e6 Project"

On February 10, 2026, NTT and TBS Holdings announced a joint venture called the "e6 project."

It rests on two pillars. One is developing a fully original IP (intellectual property), an adventure fantasy titled "Emotional Knight" (感情騎士 - エモーショナル・ナイト -). The other is building a permanent "AI Theme Park" (working title) where visitors can experience that world firsthand.

The "e6" name comes from six words starting with "E": Education, Entertainment, Experience, Emotion, Evolution, and Epiphany. At its heart is "edutainment," the idea of learning through play.

Why an AI Theme Park, and Why Now?

The backdrop is the rapid spread of generative AI. With tools like ChatGPT woven into daily life, vast knowledge, ideas, and even "plausible-sounding answers" are available instantly.

For children growing up in that environment, the two companies argue, what matters is not the amount of knowledge but the ability to decide for themselves: to judge, among countless options, which one to choose and what they truly want. The project treats emotion as the source of that will.

Rather than putting AI forward as something to "study," the project uses AI behind the scenes to deliver stories and experiences that move children, drawing out their own sense of "I like this" and "I want to do this."

"Emotional Knight": A Quest for Invisible Feelings

The first original IP, "Emotional Knight," follows a quest to find "invisible emotions." Through the story, children come to notice their own values.

What draws attention is the plan to expand the IP across anime, games, and merchandise. With Japan's anime and game industries highly competitive worldwide, it's rare for a broadcaster and a telecom to jointly launch a brand-new original IP.

Characters and stories will extend into TV anime, mobile games, and goods, while the world connects to a physical venue, the theme park. It's a concept that pushes the familiar "media mix" strategy a step further.

How the AI Theme Park Works: A Personalized Experience

The "AI Theme Park" breaks fundamentally with the traditional model where every visitor follows the same ride or show.

Advanced technology tracks each child's behavior and emotional shifts in real time, and the story, staging, and environment change to fit that individual. When a child is excited, the adventure speeds up; when a child feels anxious, a different route opens. The difficulty of the staging and the direction of the story are meant to react and evolve on the spot.

Children step into the story world and, through trial and error with AI, build their "power to decide" and their creativity. Each visit is different, a theme park tailored to one person.

The Two Companies' Roles: Technology Meets Storytelling

NTT and TBS each bring their strengths.

The NTT Group integrates advanced technologies such as its next-generation communications base "IOWN" and its own large language model "tsuzumi 2." Built into the experience as "play infrastructure," these form a foundation that responds in real time to changes in a child's behavior and emotions.

TBS draws on the creative and storytelling skills honed over years of television production. It has set up a dedicated unit, the "Edutainment Business Center," to build immersive worlds in which children pose their own questions and lose themselves in play.

The Three Experience Cycles

The e6 project frames its six E's as three cycles: Immersion, Judgment, and Awakening.

In "Immersion," entertainment and education combine so that children get absorbed in "play" rather than "study," naturally drawing out interest in new technology and knowledge.

In "Judgment," experiences blending the digital and the real make children aware of how their hearts moved, what they liked, disliked, or found moving. That emotion becomes the "compass" for choosing among the AI's suggestions.

In "Awakening," the chemistry with an AI buddy leads children to insights they couldn't reach alone, and to moments where their own abilities "evolve."

Cycling through these, the design goes, children raise their own sense of will as they play, updating themselves while coexisting with technology.

Impact on the Anime and Game Industries: A New Way to Build IP

One reason the project draws attention is its potential as a new model for creating anime and game IP.

Traditionally, Japanese anime and game IPs have often started from manga serialization, light novels, or game software. "Emotional Knight" takes the reverse approach: a telecom and a broadcaster co-develop it, designing everything from the theme park experience to anime, games, and goods as an integrated whole from the start.

NTT President Akira Shimada said the project is a challenge to create the moment a child's will takes shape, by delivering AI not as something to study but as "stories and experiences that move the heart." TBS Holdings President Ryujiro Abe said it opens a new path to creating IP and expanding globally, expressing an ambition to build a standard that spreads from Japan to the world.

The first batch of experience content was revealed in late February 2026, with three offerings showcased at "AKASAKA Asobi! Manabi! Festa 2026" (held March 20-22 at TBS Akasaka BLITZ Studio). How far the concept extends into concrete experiences is the next thing to watch.

How is AI-based entertainment and education for children developing in your country? What do you think about a future where AI is built into theme parks? We'd love to hear your views.

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