Netflix announced that it is developing 15 unscripted projects, seven of which are already available or launching this year. The new slate includes a rich variety of genres, from comedy, reality television to documentaries.

Fans of dating shows can look forward to Love Village as well as a new season of The Future Diary, while Love is Blind: Japan is now casting for its second season, which is set to launch next year. Netflix is also rolling out a wide selection of documentaries ranging from LiSA Another Great Day, which celebrates the titular artist’s career as one of the top singers of wildly popular anime theme songs, and Sing, Dance, Act: Kabuki, featuring former-idol-turned-actor Toma Ikuta’s immersion in the world of New Kabuki, to Tokyo Crime Squad: The Lucie Blackman Case (Working Title).

In a news release, Mitsuko Kobayashi and Taro Goto, both Managers for Live Action Creative, Japan said, “As a global studio, we try to entertain both local and global audiences. Unscripted shows allow us to accomplish both in interesting ways. Our priority for each local language show is to make sure it resonates with the respective local audiences, and when we stay true to each culture and make them as authentic as possible, the shows tend to tap into something universal.”

Netflix Japan’s unscripted titles lineup includes:

Netflix Comedy Series

Last One Standing – Now streaming

Last One Standing is a Japanese comedy talk show with the popular and powerful Japanese comedy duo Chidori. 24 comedians and talents will engage in talk battles to move on to the next stage starring in a thrilling drama with strong actors. A portion of the script is unscripted, and the cast is tasked with sharing their stories, in their own words under the themes including The Time When I Was Hurt, A Secret I’ve Never Revealed Best Tip-Offs, Words I’ve Been Shocked By, Passionate Declarations: Scream out against the unjust evil of this world …and more! If their jokes don’t land in the unscripted scenes, they’re off the show. Who will have the funniest story and will be the last comedian standing?

Netflix Reality Series

The Future Diary S2 – Coming in 2022

The Future Diary is “a love diary of events that will happen in the future.” The diary is delivered to the casts who are complete strangers and tells them that they will fall in love in the future. As they experience an unbelievable meeting, a moving confession of love, and extraordinary, dramatic events, will the casts fall in love? This is the second season of the legendary romance reality show that made waves 20 years ago rebooted on Netflix.

Netflix Reality Series 

Love Village – Coming in 2023

Singles relocate to a house in the mountains to see if love might transpire in a tranquil and idyllic setting, away from the realities of the world. The aim is for participants to find their everlasting love – by showing their real faces, crying, laughing and quarrelling. Would the participant find the last love in life and leave the house and village with the partner? This is a new Japanese dating show from Netflix.

Netflix Reality Series

Love Is Blind: Japan S2 – Coming in 2023

Love is Blind: Japan will start its next season! Love is Blind is Netflix’s American unscripted series where singles who want to be loved for who they are, rather than what they look like, have signed up for a less conventional approach to modern dating where they hope to meet the person they want to spend the rest of their lives with… without ever having seen them. With no distractions from the outside world, the singles talk to a stream of potential love interests and when back in the real world, as the couples plan towards their wedding day, they will quickly discover whether they can turn their emotional connection into a true love before the fast-approaching ceremony.

The original show was nominated for 2 Primetime Emmys including Outstanding Structured Reality Program and it was brought to Brazil and the second season released in the US so far. In 2022, Love is Blind: Brazil season 2 and Love is Blind season 3 will be coming, and Love is Blind: Japan will start the casting call from March 25 for its season 2 in 2023. Also, Love is Blind season 4 and 5 is confirmed for its production.

Netflix Documentary

Sing, Dance, Act: Kabuki Featuring Toma Ikuta – Coming on June 16, 2022

A Japanese actor, former teen idol Toma Ikuta and kabuki actor Matsuya Onoe were classmates in high school, and they remain close friends. Now, at age 36, Ikuta will star as a special guest in Onoe’s kabuki stage series. This documentary follows the challenges of Ikuta’s training, his worries about diving into this new world, and his friendship with Onoe.

Toma Ikuta is a Japanese actor who started his career as an idol from Johnny’s & Associates, and he has been focusing on acting and has played various characters since 1997 such as in No Longer Human and Hanamizuki and won Blue Ribbon Awards in 2011, followed by a TV series IDATEN: The Epic Marathon to Tokyo in 2019. In 2020, he won the Best Performance by an Actor at Tokyo Drama Awards 2020 for If Talking Paid.  In August 2021, Ikuta will try the new kabuki performance for the first time joining the final season of the independent Kabuki stage series called “Idomu (Challenge)” led by kabuki actor Matsuya Onoe.  Toma Ikuta and Matsuya Onoe were classmates back in their high school and have been close friends. In their high school days, the two promised that they would stand on the same stage someday. And for the final stage of Onoe’s produced Kabuki stage series, Ikuta will star as a special guest in his first-ever time in the new kabuki “Akado Suzunosuke” and play the role of Tatsumaki Rainoshin.

At 36 years old, why did Ikuta decide to take on kabuki? This documentary follows Ikuta’s challenge to the new kabuki revealing Ikuta’s worries about diving into this new world as well as his diligent training regime, and his long friendship with Matsuya Onoe that has led to this long-awaited co-starring performance.

Netflix Documentary

LiSA Another Great Day – Coming in Fall 2022

Because LiSA has always been very humble but also unbending, she has been confronted with various realities and made many mistakes in life. Later on, the little girl who started a band because of her admiration for Avril Lavigne becomes one of Japan’s leading artists as she celebrates her 10th year anniversary in 2021. With the help of her team, she has been dedicating herself to producing the artist “LiSA” and has successfully realized her dream of becoming a rock singer. What dreams will she and her team pursue next?

In this documentary, we follow LiSA’s journey through the ups and downs of her life as she heads into this new phase that is represented by her 10th anniversary project.

We explore the true face of LiSA as she creates music, performs and tries to make every new day another great day.

Netflix Documentary

Tokyo Crime Squad: The Lucie Blackman Case (Working Title) Coming in Fall 2022

Tokyo Crime Squad is the inside story of the turbulent and complex investigation into the killing of British tourist Lucie Blackman, told through unprecedented interviews with the Japanese detectives who led the case. Revelatory and heart-rendering, filmmaker Hyoe Yamamoto tracks the story of the men and women of the legendary Search 1 Select Division of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department, as they sought to overcome numerous obstacles in the fight to bring the perpetrator to justice. Under an unusual amount of international pressure and scrutiny, this film highlights the personal struggles of the main characters involved in the hunt for Lucie Blackman’s kidnapper as they uncovered the sordid crimes of a culprit who challenged and toyed with them at every stage of the investigation. Known around the globe, the Lucie Blackman case still deeply affects those involved and this film sheds light on the debt the detectives continue to feel they owe the victims of an unusually brutal criminal. Told with interrogative, piercing interviews and poignant, cinematic reconstructions this film is not just an emotional retrospective of one of Tokyo’s most shocking cases, but a film that also dares to pose the bigger questions about what this devastating event meant and what can be learnt for the future.

Netflix Documentary

Carlos Ghosn (Working Title) – Comin in 2022

A feature documentary chronicling the meteoric rise of Ghosn, internal rivalries, tensions he sparked within Nissan-Renault and his dramatic arrest. It is a global investigative film with a team of talented journalists spanning France, Japan and the UK. It was filmed in France, Japan, the UK, Brazil & Lebanon. Carlos Ghosn is not involved in the creative process.

The documentary includes interviews of key stakeholders both in Europe, Middle East, Brazil and Japan (Louis Schweitzer, Patrick Pelata, Hiroto Saikawa, Ravinder Passi, Nayla Beydoun, Takashi Takano and many more).

We have worked to put a team together from France and Japan to ensure journalistic insights – coupled with an award-winning UK director with a great mix of current affairs journalism and cinematic ambition.

It is directed by BAFTA award-winning director Lucy Blakstad who is as well known for her documentaries as she is for commercials. Critically acclaimed documentary work for the BBC includes Lido, Carlos Acosta the Reluctant Ballet Dancer for Imagine, a series called Naked about how you feel about your body at different life stages and a trilogy called Bridges which took her to Bosnia and New York.

The show is produced by multi-award-winning Paul Moreira who has worked on investigative documentaries with several major European broadcasters. He recently directed an episode for Netflix’s production doc series World’s Most Wanted. He is the founder of the French production company, Premières Lignes, based in Paris. And also this is produced by Tokyo-based Hyoe Yamamoto studied filmmaking at the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University. He made his feature debut with the documentary – Samurai And Idiots: The Olympus Affairs – co-produced with BBC, ZDF, and ARTE. He also directed a short documentary – Japan’s Tattoo Outlaws – for Al Jazeera English.

Netflix Competition Series

Iron Chef: Quest for an Iron Legend – Coming in 2022

The legendary Iron Chef series is reborn with a supersized approach to the ground-breaking culinary competition that started it all. It’s been called the toughest culinary challenge a chef will ever experience. This is where world-class cuisine meets high-octane sports. Five new trailblazing Iron Chefs will welcome brave Challenger Chefs to the reimagined Kitchen Stadium, where they’ll face off and be pushed to the limits of endurance and creativity, as they cook up extraordinary culinary creations. The competition’s most successful Challenger will return to battle in a grand finale for the chance to be named the first-ever “Iron Legend.” The series is based on Fuji Television Network’s format.

Netflix Competition Series 

Iron Chef:  Brasil – Coming in 2022

In addition to Iron Chef:Quest for an Iron Legend, the legendary format of the gastronomic competition is reborn with a new approach, highlighting the diversity of Brazilian cuisine. The show will be hosted by Brazilian actress and presenter Fernanda Souza.