[Editor's note: The following article includes spoilers for Netflix’s “Offline Love”]
Reality TV has always been a space for fantasies to thrive: What if you were stranded on an island? What if you could race around the world? What if Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie worked on a farm?
Netflix’s latest Japanese program in this realm proposes a 2020s scenario with a touch of nostalgia for a simpler time — what if you couldn’t use your smartphone for just over a week?
“Offline Love,” now streaming on Netflix, follows five men and five women, ages ranging from 20 to 30, as they spend 10 days in Nice, France, making connections and finding romance. The title gives away the twist: Their smartphones have been turned off and put under lock and key, with other digital tech also off limits. As a result, the participants wander the picturesque seaside city assisted only by a Netflix-produced guidebook, a letter system that allows them to communicate (albeit with time lag) and hopeful hearts.
The set-up gives the young Japanese participants a chance to have their very own “Before Sunrise” moment, referring to the 1995 Richard Linklater film. They encounter one another by chance while walking on the beach or visiting landmarks, which leads to spontaneous dates — as well as missed potential connections. Not having a smartphone on hand means they have to take bolder swings, and if plans suddenly change they could be left waiting at a cafe for hours without mindless scrolling to pass the time.
“Offline Love” exists in the same “calm Japan” space as romance-focused Netflix offering “Terrace House.” Couplings develop by chance, and the majority of the first two episodes show participants getting lost as they explore the picturesque streets of Nice. It’s pure comfort viewing for the streaming era.
That is until the third episode, when the 10 participants are summoned to the cafe serving as their homebase for a dinner. Sometimes fate can’t supersede a good reality premise, so everyone now has the chance to meet one another and develop fresh crushes to pursue.
The episode also introduces its best device — the “Wish Letter” system. Every participant chooses a “wish letter,” which is really an itinerary for a day trip scheduled for a specific date. The holder of this perfect vacation plan can ask anyone to join them on the excursion, and the invitee can’t say no. Complicating the matter is that the inviter can’t ask out someone who has a “wish letter” scheduled on the same day unless they trade with someone else.
Tricky? A little bit, but it introduces some strategy and significantly ramps up the drama. This touch nudges “Offline Love” closer to reality shows such as “Ainori” or “Love Village,” which feature more stipulations and assigned challenges in the search for a relationship. It’s closest to Netflix’s 2024 offering “The Boyfriend,” which allows participants to select one person to help them operate a coffee truck and get to know them better.
Like all of these Netflix Japan reality shows, a panel in a studio watches and offers commentary between segments. Veteran pop-singer-turned-actor Kyoko Koizumi offers her perspective as someone who knows what life and dating was like before digital devices, while comedy duo Reiwa Roman (Kuruma Takahira and Kemuri Matsui) listen and offer their own observations (the pair may be the funniest people to appear on these between-the-action breaks yet, so Netflix, don’t think about switching it up just because one of them was recently found using an online casino).
The actual dating aspect of “Offline Love” resembles what you’d find in any other Japanese series, albeit with the romantic backdrop of the French Riviera. Coloring the experience throughout, though, — and commented on frequently by the participants — is the throwback nature of an analog life. Asking someone out becomes much more intimidating when you have to do it face-to-face, and writing a letter proves tougher than texting.
It’s the first Netflix Japanese reality show using nostalgia — specifically the sensation of longing for a time you never experienced — as a hook. The players talk about how not having a smartphone forces them to spend more in their own head, thinking about the days they’ve experienced and how the people around them make them feel. It’s a simpler kind of dating but also a more emotionally complicated experience — something the Gen Z-leaning participants crave.
Imagined pasts are never as rosy as people think — at one point, member Yudai says how they wish they could experience a time when train stations had boards where people could leave messages for people, which sounds like a pretty annoying experience — but the show’s premise works as a meditation on the pros of disconnecting — which is probably all the more welcome nowadays.
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