How ‘The Boyfriend’ stars Dai, Shun navigate relationships, LGBT+ love in mainstream media

Many viewers felt kilig when Japanese couple Dai Nakai and Shun Nakanishi fell in love with each other in the hit 2024 Netflix dating show “The Boyfriend.” 

Dai and Shun developed feelings for each other on the show and went on to be a couple, capturing the hearts of many viewers and as they chronicle their love story online.

At a recent Manila visit, they shared with Filipino reporters their journey as a couple, how they navigate their relationship and the importance of queer representation in the media. 

Narrating the TV Love Story

For Shun, joining the show was initially just for new experiences. He was glad to meet new people "but I didn't really expect anything with I joined."

“So, in the beginning I was always thinking that love is something that — I just had 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,” Shun said.

It was the same for Dai. He joined the show "to meet new people and broaden my perspective."

"I wasn't really expecting to meet someone that I could fall in love with because for a long time, it was really hard for me to find someone that I could just fall in love with and then I met Shun and somehow it happened. You never know,” he said. 

Many fans followed Dai and Shun’s journey on the show, which surprised the two.

“I didn't expect there to be so many people that my fans are invested in my love story in real life, that's why I was able to show my true self in real life. That's why I was able to show my true self in real life, that's why I felt that there are more people who support us in our love story than we do in our personal life. myself and live my life with it 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 more interested and more focused on supporting us as people and our personalities,” Shun said.

“I was not expecting anything this big. We even thought that it might not even gonna go well, even in Japan. We were not so sure about how things would go but yeah, so thank you everyone,” Dai added.

“It's very new because I've been like this all my entire life and suddenly a lot of attention is on me which is very weird but at the same time I'm very grateful for everyone's support. Yeah, I would say it's a little bit confusing but I'm enjoying this moment where everyone is supporting us and being able to have this freedom. So yeah, thank you, thank you.”

After their love story aired, Shun shared how difficult it was to date in public. “We try to make it a point to date where there's not a lot of people and we also have a lot of our dates at home.” 

“Before the show aired, actually, I had a lot of fights in public places 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 added. 

Dai admitted not being used to the attention but the fans’ support fuels his love for Shun. He says he's able to focus on the positives of their relationship because of this support.

“It's really different from the relationships that I've had in the past. Back then it was only me and them. But this time, we have a lot of people supporting us. Because a lot of people are interested in what we do, what we are, it's amazing that they remind us of being true, and how they supported me until today, and all that,” Dai said.

“Because they're reminding us of what he is to me, I am able to focus on the positives, and move on from the negative things that are going on between us. So I think that's the biggest difference, and I love them,” he added. 

Dai said he still makes sure that they have their private time and usually they spend it with their loved ones as well.

“I make sure that me and him have our own private time. And also, I always make sure that me and him have time to spend with our family members. So I think most of the time when we are with family members, we don't film. And in those moments, we keep it private,” he said.

When asked what they love about each other, Shun said, his partner is "cute" and "very considerate of me."

"I like that he works hard and I think it's a very cute part of him," he said.

For Dai meanwhile, he loves Shun's "ability to believe in himself. And he's very confident of what he's capable of. And that's something that I'm starting to get but still not there. So I admire him for being like that and that's very, very cool.”

More Opportunities and Queer Representation

As Dai and Shun continue to chronicle their love story after the show, they realized new opportunities continue to come their way.

“After the show, we get more opportunities. Things like we get to share our thoughts with people. And that's something I've been wanting to do for a long time. But to do that, we kind of need to be lucky enough to be able to do that,” Dai said.

“So I'm very grateful for being able to share my thoughts and opinions and ideas with people. And I love singing. I get to release our own song and that's amazing,” Shun added.

With the full circle moment after the show aired, Dai saw how important it is to have shows like “The Boyfriend” that talks about queer love.

“I think it is important to have such shows like this — to show how nothing is special about it. I see a lot of people who are like that. I see a lot of clips and edits about it, I don't know, sometimes queer love is special, but I think it's not special. It's just super not special,” Dai said.

“Just like everything else. Yeah, so it's to show that. How? How? Yeah, to show that it's normal and just part of our humanity and nothing to be afraid of and nothing to be,” he added.

Dai is hoping that the show would also help navigate conversations and understand the LGBT community.

“I hope that our show — or shows like this — will make it easier for everyone to talk about it and watch the show and deepen their understanding. It's difficult, but it is important. So, I will be very grateful for this opportunity,” he said.

Shun added the show has helped the LGBT community humanize their stories and hopes that it will be accessible to a larger audience. 

“So, I really think that a show like ‘The Boyfriend’ just portrays us as normal people, so it 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,” he said. — LA, GMA Integrated News