'Love is Blind: Japan' Review
Netflix’s Love is Blind is a reality-dating drama in which singles approach love in unforeseen ways, pursuing relationships without seeing their possible partner in person. The cast of Love is Blind meet each other while separated by “pods” before deciding whether or not to become engaged. Through this, the cast members hope to find the person they will spend the rest of their lives with--a risky gamble, to say the least.
The show’s singles talk to various love interests, and once they have found a potential match, the couples attempt to live together in the real world, testing whether their connection can withstand life outside of the pods. If their relationship holds, the couples marry; if not, they break off the engagement before the fast-approaching ceremony.
Takashi Fujii and Yuka Itaya have brought Love is Blind to Japan for the all-new series Love is Blind: Japan. In their own experiment with the show, they attempt to discern whether love truly is blind. The events of the first season produce mixed answers to this question.
The season came out in February 2022 on Netflix with 24 participants, 13 men and 11 women. What struck me initially was the larger range of ages seen in this iteration of the show in comparison to the American version: for the male cast, ages ranged from 23 to 56, and for the female cast, they ranged from 27 to 39. This has made some audience members uncomfortable, as this is not as common of an occurrence with the American and Brazilian versions. However, the range in ages does make for a largely diverse cast in terms of background and lifestyle, a compelling aspect that was much stronger with Japan’s version than the American version.
In terms of the show’s production, each episode compelled viewers to fall in love with certain pairings from early-on in the pods. Everything felt like it was set up with attention to detail, composing an evenly split narrative audience members could easily follow. While this may seem inauthentic, it felt instead like the producers had paid close attention to the threads of the romances that were most important to focus on. In fact, the team gave more time to depicting the cast’s time spent in the pods than in the American and Brazilian versions. Instead of only two and a half episodes dedicated to these scenes, Love is Blind: Japan included four and a half episodes. Taro Goto, an executive producer at Netflix, commented on this: “We felt that was necessary—to follow all their stories, to be able to show why they got together.”
This decision may not have been made if eight couples hadn’t gotten engaged, an amount much higher than what the producers had been expecting. If fewer couples had emerged from the pods, they wouldn’t have felt the need to spend so much time focused on that initial stage of the romances. “Behind the scenes, we were all looking at each other in amazement as one couple got engaged after another because we simply weren’t expecting that…It did require us to make some changes,” Goto said.
The couples who ended up engaged are as follows: Ryotaro (32, hairstylist) and Motomi (27, advertising salesperson), Wataru (38, executive) and Midori (30, business planner), Shuntaro (56, consultant) and Ayano (30, corporate worker), Misaki (31, baseball coach in Kenya) and Kaoru (31, singer-songwriter), Odacchi (31, comedian) and Nanako (35, ex-ballet instructor), Mori (37, cosmetic dermatologist) and Minami (26, architecture firm), Yudai (23, men’s hairstylist) and Nana (31, online marketer), and Mizuki (29, restaurateur) and Priya (27, entrepreneur). Of these couples, the fan-favorite couple Ryotaro and Motomi got married, as well as Wataru and Midori. Episode 11 of the season features scenes filmed three months after the wedding date, including segments in which both couples say they plan to fill out the paperwork to confirm their marriages.
The filming locations were stunning, especially in comparison to those in the first season of the American version. For instance, when the couples first see each other after exiting the pods, they do so under beautiful cherry blossoms. They were then sent to dazzling locations in Okinawa, Nasu, and Niigata.
There is also a sincerity from the cast that compels the audience to truly care for how the drama unfolds. Although many reality TV dating dramas lose authenticity in exchange for dramatics, Love is Blind: Japan gives us a cast of singles who want to marry someone they have a real connection with. Especially over the course of the episodes in the pods, the audience gets to see the singles dive into discussions about who they are and what they really want out of a relationship. This kind of cast quickly inspires affection in viewers, making for an addictive and enjoyable viewing experience.
Love is Blind: Japan moves audiences through its emotionally deep representation of what Fujii and Itaya coin a “social experiment” to determine whether or not love is blind. Although only a small number of couples get married in the end, the show appeals to all who hope that love does not need to rely on outward appearances, that everyone can find true love if only they are brave enough to open their hearts to others.
All of season 1 of Love is Blind: Japan is streaming exclusively on Netflix.