When we look at the highlights from the season of The Future Diary, we are told that these two young singles embarked on an experience as strangers. You will receive a diary outlining the next steps in your relationship. On the last day, they had to part, and a social experiment should see if the two fall in love in the meantime.
Then we return to the day before their meeting.
Maai Nakasone, a 19-year-old student from Okinawa, received the diary on July 1, in which he wrote. “When you visit Yokohama, you will suddenly meet your soul mate. After your joint project, a sunflower will appear in front of you. The symbolism of the mere sunflower that is “love at first sight”.
Fearon Wakamatsu, 24, is from Hokkaido but works as a cook in Tokyo. His diary has two entries in common. He decided to shave his beard because he thought it would make a better first impression.
They sat in a theatre in Yokohama the next day, not knowing that they would meet. After the mysterious presentation, the lights go on, and only the two of you are present. They introduce themselves, but Maai is so nervous that she can’t even remember what he told her. After this first meeting, Maai receives a diary just for her. In which she says that she won’t be actually able to say anything about it until the end. Even if she develops feelings for Fearo.
Then they go to a cafe to get to know each other. Here they understood that they were coming from the opposite side of Japan. Maui, for example, had never seen real snow. And he also liked the beard, which made Takuto laugh; he confesses to her that he shaved the day before. You’ve got over it.
They took a bus in Yokohama to a cruise ship a few days later. According to the diary, they will have a surprise, an emergency they must avoid together. It turns out that the ship’s galley crew didn’t board, and Fearon had to prepare roast beef for the other passengers, and Maai had to be the cook.
He was impressed by her ability to put dishes together:
He’s a chef in Tokyo, so he’s not even sure he can do that. And when the shift was over, he made the burgers and ate them with the Cosmo Clock 21 on a glowing yellow background. Yes, it looks like a sunflower. They also gave them bracelets to remind them of each other.
When the two of them returned home. That they were given a new diary labelled “Kissing in a Field of Blooming Sunflowers”. Hu-boy.
The Future Diary concept is solid: can the producers bring two strangers together, define their relationship. And see if they fall in love? While the show is reluctant by any standards for a reality dating series. It’s even lower than standards in Japan – even the four “moderators” commenting on what happened were all pretty cool. But quite manipulative and left us with questions.
In the first place, why is the meeting so young? Yes, we love young and beautiful people on our reality show. But you might think it would make more sense. To pick low-mileage people for meetings to see if this experiment could overcome their cynicism and get them to join Imagination.
Maui is still 19, for God’s sake! He doesn’t have enough time to meet someone and leave them or be left alone. He seemed more like a cute and friendly kid. Who would quickly fall for Fearon because he planned romance for the two of them. Fearon looked a little more mature but was still almost childlike. He seems to live in the basement of the restaurant where he works.
I think this experiment works better:
Two people that are in their late 20s or early 30s are a little more settled in their personal and professional lives and have some experience in meetings behind them. But maybe the producers wanted to open up a lot of people because what was planned for them seemed predominantly Roman and not very realistic.
What other obstacles will the producers put on the pair’s path? And what if they end up having to leave each other without knowing how to connect (give them a new phone for the dating phase)? Maybe it’s because the two encounters were so much fun that we’re ready to see how it turns out, but we’re also waiting for a bit of heart on the road that might seem a little fictional.
The future diary seems like a sweet story for two strangers who fall in love through diary entries. Maybe we should all go down this path.
