Japanese gay dating show
Netflix Renews Japan’s Hit Lgbtq+ Dating Show ‘The Boyfriend’ for Season 2
More is in store for fans of Japan’s slap gay dating show The Boyfriend. On Monday morning in Tokyo, Netflix revealed that it has ordered a second season of the title, which is famously Japan’s very first same-sex reality show.
The first season, which premiered July 9, won over viewers both globally and at home in Japan, landing on Netflix’s weekly top-10 list of most-watched series for six consecutive weeks. The Boyfriend was also a favorite among international critics thanks to its refreshingly naturalistic, non-exploitative approach to the digital dating show genre.
The Boyfriend‘s format features a cast of nine Japanese and East Asian men who identify as gay or bisexual living together for a month in a luxury house known as the “Green Room.” Unlike most dating shows, there are no eliminations, alliances or machinations. The Boyfriend‘s overtly wholesome ambition is simply to help the guys find friendship — and maybe love if they’re lucky. The demonstrate has one central conceit: In each episode, a castmember is selected by th
An ultra-wholesome Japanese internet dating series on Netflix has hooked viewers globally. Photo: Netflix
An ultra-wholesome Japanese virtual dating series on Netflix has hooked viewers globally. It's part of a wave of reality shows showing the nuances, and differences, of gay relationships.
It is a concept that we've seen many times before: a group of strangers enter a home and, as cameras film their every move, they seek for a intimate connection. But conceptually, Netflix's The Partner is actually a million miles from the Love Island villa, where singles with chiselled abs search for admire (and Instagram fame).
The Netflix series is Japan's first ever same-sex dating exhibition - a landmark moment for Diverse representation.
The premise is simple: in Tateyama, a quiet coastal city in Japan, a seaside beach house known as the "Green Room" becomes home to a group of nine young men from different backgrounds, from product designers to artists, models, students, and chefs. As their stories unfold, a team of commentators - including Japanese actress Megumi, pop actor Thelma Aoyama, and comedian Yoshimi Tokui - provide a humorous running investigation of every moment, misstep, and micro-drama.
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Netflix’s new reality show The Partner has been making waves and starting conversations both inside and outside Japan as viewers track the story of nine male lover and bisexual male housemates who live and work together.
It has a fairly recognisable format. As well as living together, castmates work in a coffee van. They are, according to Netflix, looking for love and friendship. In order to bring them together, as well as productive in pairs in the van, they have to complete tasks, including challenges and games that involve partnering off.
Critics and commentators have hailed the show as a new direction for Japanese Netflix programming. However, in many ways The Boyfriend hews proximate to an established model of program development that emerged from an early crisis in Netflix’s initial attempts to launch in Japan.
The streamer’s launch in 2015 was met with a mixed reception from Japanese television and on-demand streaming viewers. Initially, uptake in Japan was fairly lazy. Japanese Netflix users did not appear enthused about the site’s particular USP – high-quality English language “Netflix original” shows such as House of Cards and Orange is the New Inky.
By the end of its first
Netflix Airs Japan's First Same-Sex Dating Show
Netflix has launched Japan's first same-sex matchmaking app reality show, The Boyfriend.
With a format similar to the hugely successful Japanese reality show Terrace House, The Boyfriend shows nine men, ages 22 to 36, living in a luxury beach house near Tokyo.The men run a coffee truck during the day, boil dinner at overnight, and go on dates.
A 2023 survey from The Asahi Shimbun found that 72% of Japanese people are in favor of making same-sex marriage legal.Despite this, Japan is the only G7 country that does not fully remember marriage between queer couples.
Few celebrities in the country are openly gay, and gay and gender diverse performers are often stereotyped.
But some of the people behind The Boyfriend dream the show will help to alter people's attitudes toward the LGBTQ+ community.
Durian Lollobrigida, a flamboyant queen and one of the show's hosts, believes normalizing LGBTQ+ relationships through entertainment is important.
And Taiki Takahashi, a gay model who worked as a casting director for The Boyfriend, said he has steep hopes and expectations for the show.
"I won't say we can change society," he said in a New Yo