Romantics Anonymous

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Romantics Anonymous is a Netflix Japan–Korea co-production made by the Korean production company Yong Film and based on the 2010 French-Belgian film Les Émotifs anonymes, about two people who meet at a chocolate shop: the heir to a major confectionery company whose germophobia keeps him from even shaking hands, and a chocolatier whose fear of eye contact keeps her from looking people in the eye.

Netflix released all eight episodes worldwide on October 16, 2025. The original film was directed by Jean-Pierre Améris and written by Améris and Philippe Blasband. Netflix described the series as a romantic comedy about the pure love of adults in their 30s and 40s. Ahead of its release, it premiered in September 2025 in the On Screen section of the 30th Busan International Film Festival. According to Oricon, this series and Last Samurai Standing were the first Netflix Japan titles invited to that section. The theme song is a Japanese version of "Confession," sung by Kim Chaewon of LE SSERAFIM. The song, originally released by Park Hye-kyung in 1999, was given new Japanese lyrics and arranged by music director Dalpalan, and it is the first time Kim Chaewon has taken part in a drama soundtrack on her own. The Netflix Korea page rates it 15+.

Park So-yeon developed the project, and Lim Seung-yong of Yong Film, the company behind the films The Handmaiden, Believer and The Call, produced it, with Netflix credited for planning and production. Ilgan Sports noted that it is a Japanese production developed and produced by a Korean company, financed by Netflix Japan, and made with a Japanese director, cast and crew. It was directed by Sho Tsukikawa, known for the film Let Me Eat Your Pancreas (2017) and the Netflix series Yu Yu Hakusho (2023), and written by the Korean screenwriter Kim Ji-hyun, with Yoshikazu Okada collaborating on the screenplay. Korean crew members, including Parasite's production designer Lee Ha-jun and editor Yang Jin-mo and music director Dalpalan, worked alongside Japanese crew such as cinematographer Kosuke Yamada. Han Hyo-joo began filming with Shun Oguri in Japan in early March 2024.

Shun Oguri plays Sosuke Fujiwara, heir to Futago Confectionery, whose germophobia, rooted in past trauma, keeps him from touching other people, and Han Hyo-joo plays Hana Lee, a genius chocolatier with a fear of eye contact who has kept herself steady by making chocolate. Jin Akanishi plays Hiro, who runs a jazz bar and is one of the few friends Sosuke opens up to, and Yuri Nakamura plays Irene, Sosuke's friend and a psychiatrist. Ryo Narita plays Takashi Fujiwara, Sosuke's cousin and business partner; Ayumi Ito plays Motomi Kawamura, head chocolatier at the chocolate shop Le Sauveur; Eiji Okuda plays Kenji Kuroiwa, the shop's owner, who understands Hana's fear of eye contact better than anyone; and Koichi Sato plays Shuntaro Fujiwara, Sosuke's father and chairman of Futago Confectionery. In episode 1, Sosuke ruins an important presentation when his hand touches someone else's. In episode 2, when a supplier stops supplying yuzu, Sosuke takes Hana with him to visit in person.

Han Hyo-joo said "Confession" was a song she loved as a student and often sang and listened to, and that when she saw it written into the script, she suggested making active use of it, though she never imagined it would become the theme song. Shun Oguri explained that the fact that "Confession" is Hana's favorite song became a kind of theme. A column in IZE pointed out that almost all of the dialogue is in Japanese and that Han, too, delivered most of her lines in Japanese. By Netflix's weekly figures, it ranked No. 6 on the Global Top 10 Non-English TV list in its first tracking week (October 13–19) with 2.1 million views, and rose to No. 3 in its second week with 2.6 million views. On the country charts, its highest weekly rankings were No. 1 in Japan in its first tracking week and No. 6 in Korea in its second tracking week, and over its entire run it made the weekly Top 10 in 31 countries and territories.

See alsoYu Yu Hakusho 2023Let Me Eat Your Pancreas 2017Moving 2023

Drama Lineup editors · Fact-checked against: mt.co.kr, oricon.co.jp, realsound.jp, netflix.com, isplus.com, Japanese Wikipedia, about.netflix.com · 2026-10-18