[Editor¡¯s note: The following article includes spoilers for Netflix Japan¡¯s ¡°Badly in Love¡±]

First encounters on Japanese dating shows usually drip with polite discomfort. Strangers engineered together by ambitious programming exchange hellos, fumble through small talk and strain to find common ground ¡ª ideally something harmless enough to bond over.

This is not how ¡°Badly in Love,¡± Netflix Japan¡¯s newest reality-dating experiment, begins.