Netflix’s Japanese reality dating show “The Boyfriend” stars Dai Nakai and Shun Nakanishi recently visited the Philippines for their Valentine’s Fan Signing in Manila 2025 held at the Novotel Manila Araneta Center.
Dai and Shun, popularly known to fans as DaiShun, gained fame through the show as viewers became curious about their relationship.
“The Boyfriend” premiered in 2024 on Netflix and showed the challenges they had before falling in love with each other.
In the show, nine men, including Dai, 22, a university student, and Shun, 23, an artist, lived together in a pool house, dubbed as “Green Room.” They ran a coffee truck and navigated through their emotions with the aim of finding love. The show was filmed in Tateyama in Chiba Prefecture, Japan.
Japanese reality show stars Dai Nakai and Shun Nakanishi at their fansigning event in Manila (Wish Us Luck Entertainment)
Japanese reality show stars Dai Nakai and Shun Nakanishi at their fan signing event in Manila (Wish Us Luck Entertainment)
Netflix’s Japanese reality dating show “The Boyfriend” (Netflix)
Dai and Shun confirmed that they were in a relationship in a reunion episode. Now, they have a YouTube channel called Daishun where they upload videos to update their fans about their daily lives.
Their fame and the support of fans brought Dai and Shun to Manila for the fansigning event.
Before the event, Dai and Shun held a press conference at Novotel where they revealed their experiences in the show and how they fell in love with each other.
Shun said he joined “The Boyfriend” to have new experiences while Dai said he wanted to meet new people.
“I wanted to have new experiences, that's why I joined. But I think the happiest moment for me was meeting a lot of new people and they're very good people and I was very happy to meet them. But I didn't really expect anything when I joined,” said Shun.
He added, “So in the beginning, I was always thinking that love was something that I just had to have to like their face but when I met Dai I was able to realize the form of true love and I was able to also improve my relations with other people through our relationship.”
Dai is a fan of reality shows, saying, “every time I watch those shows, I see a lot of people with very unique backgrounds. When I got the offer, I was expecting to meet people that have very unique backgrounds or histories, stories that I would never have known without meeting them.”
“So I wanted to meet new people and that’s my perspective that's why I joined the show. I wasn't really expecting to meet someone that I did feel in love with because for a long time, it was really hard for me to find someone that I could just open up to and somehow it happened. So yeah, you never know,” he said.
The show, which premiered in July last year, spent six weeks in the top 10 on Netflix in Japan. It gained a following, especially Dai and Shun.
The cast of Netflix’s Japanese reality dating show “The Boyfriend” (Netflix)
Dai Nakai (Netflix)
Shun Nakanishi (Netflix) 
The cast of Netflix’s Japanese reality dating show “The Boyfriend” (Netflix)
Dai and Shun said they were surprised about gaining fame through the show and their relationship.
“So I didn't really expect that we would become a big thing and because of that, I did not have any expectations,” said Shun.
According to him, “I was able to express myself and live my life as is and I'm really grateful for the support of the fans. But I think that more than our romance or our love story, our fans are are more interested and more focused on supporting us as people and our personalities.”
Daid said he “was not expecting anything this big. We even thought that it might not go long. Even in Japan, we were not so sure about how things would go but…so thank you everyone.”
He said he felt confused about the attention they are getting but he is grateful for the love of fans.
“It's very weird because I've been like this for my entire life and suddenly a lot of attention is on me which is very weird but at the same time I am very grateful for everyone's support. I would say it's a little confusing but I'm enjoying this moment with everyone supporting us and being able to have this freedom,” he said.
The 10-episode “The Boyfriend” showed how the participants tried to find true love.
Shun said the most memorable moment in the show was when they fought over a t-shirt.
“I was really enjoying all the moments but I think the most impactful moment was when we fought over the t-shirt–that incident. Because of that, even though we fought, after we talked and we properly communicated with each other, I felt that Dai really supported me. And I think that’s different from all the other forms of my past relationships, that's why with Dai. I feel safe and comfortable,” he said.
Japanese reality show stars Dai Nakai and Shun Nakanishi at the press conference in Manila (Wish Us Luck Entertainment)
The first episode was memorable for Dai.
“For me it was, I think, in the first episode when we were doing the barbecue outside and I went inside and he came inside. I think he went to the bathroom and then he called my name. I was like … and he told me about his past. And I think for him to do that, he needed a lot of courage to open up and after I watched the scene through the screen, I realized that that was the first moment he opened up to me,” he said.
The two said there was no specific moment where they realized they fell in love with one another.
“So there was really no specific moment when we fell in love. It was a gradual process where we learned to understand each other's hearts through fighting and then making up after. And I realized that this person is for me and I want to be with him,” he said.
Dai said, It's the same for me. I cannot think about the moment but I think everything we've been through we fought and we talked, and I think the most important thing was that we communicated and through that we started to understand each other little by little.
As they experience popularity amid nurturing their relationship, Shun said they go to places where there are not so many people.
“We tried to make it a point to date in a place where there's not a lot of people and we also have a lot of dates at home. And before the show aired, actually, I had a lot of fights in public but after the show finished airing, there were a lot of people with me so I thought that I should stop fighting with people in public,” he said.
Dai and Shun said dating shows like “The Boyfriend” are important.
“I really think that shows like ‘The Boyfriend’ just portray us as normal people so that is an important reality show. But I think what's most important is to make these kinds of shows accessible to be able to have platforms for LGBT stories to be told,” said Shun.
Dai said, ““I think it is important to have such shows like this because to show how nothing is special about it. I see a lot of clips and edits about, I don't know, sometimes queer love is special but I think it's not special.”
“It's just super not special just like everything else. Yeah so it's to show that how, I don't know. it is just a part of our humanity and nothing to be afraid of. I hope that our show or shows like this will make it easier for everyone to talk about it and even watch the show and then deepen the understanding of what love is. It's difficult but it is important. I will be very grateful for this opportunity,” he said.
Dai & Shun Valentine’s Fan Signing in Manila 2025 was organized by Wish Us Luck Entertainment, APlan, New Evidence, and The Works.