Five-second answer
Badly in Love / Love Joto Season 2 is more than a delinquent dating show. Awich’s careful comments about people make sense once you look at her background: she is a career rapper shaped by Okinawa and Atlanta, and she has studied sexual desire, religious traditions, history, the human mind and the body. Meanwhile, the Taichan–Maririn letter scene helps separate being slow to answer from being condemned as a bad person. “He has not replied yet” can justify “please answer her directly”; it does not automatically prove “he erased her,” “he ignored her on purpose,” or “he is trash.” Dating someone does not automatically mean promising to answer within 24 hours. Red ears are not a lie detector. And if someone describes themselves as wanting to “graduate from cheating,” changing that pattern is primarily their own responsibility, not a job for a sufficiently attractive partner. People who want to date more than one partner need everyone involved to understand and agree to that arrangement. Then, after all this serious thinking about relationships, Nagoya PARCO appears and Momonga’s “HAND IT OVER!” keychain destroys the seminar.
1. The show is Love Joto / Badly in Love, and Season 2 moved to Okinawa
Netflix describes the series as a Japanese reality show in which people with delinquent pasts live together and seriously pursue love. Season 2 began streaming on August 4, 2026. MEGUMI and Nagano returned as hosts, with Awich joining them.
Awich quickly creates a recurring viewer reaction.
Hip-hop comes up: she knows it.
How people feel in relationships comes up: she has ways to think it through.
Sex and desire come up: she has studied them.
Mysticism and fortune-teller imagery appear: somehow she has that lane too.
Viewer: “Who is this singer?”
Answer: she is not a random singer invited to comment on rappers. She is the rapper, and her elective credits in life appear to be unlimited.
2. Awich knows hip-hop because she is an insider, not a trivia champion
According to Awich’s official biography, she discovered 2Pac at 13, appeared on a collection of songs by Okinawan hip-hop artists at 14, released Inner Research, a record shorter than a usual album, in 2006, and moved to Atlanta around the same period. She lived there during the ฮิปฮอปทางตอนใต้ของสหรัฐอเมริกา boom and later became a member of YENTOWN.
So when rap culture appears on the show and Awich keeps recognizing everything, the explanation is simple:
the studio hired a subject-matter expert, then discovered the subject-matter expert can also analyze love.
One correction matters. Her official biography says she graduated from university after studying how to start businesses and sell products and services, not psychology. That background does not justify calling her a psychologist.
3. Then why does she keep sounding like she took psychology classes for fun?
In a 2026 interview, Awich described understanding sex and desire as a major life mission. She said she had studied an old religious tradition concerned with mind and body, along with history, how people think and feel, and how the body is built.
This is bigger than “learning about sex.”
Human beings attach an absurd number of systems to sex and intimacy:
- love,
- possession,
- shame,
- confidence,
- power,
- jealousy,
- religion,
- gender expectations.
Study sex and desire long enough and you inevitably run into the question: why do humans become attached, threatened, proud, humiliated or obsessed by these experiences?
Her official biography also describes a long period of depression and self-questioning after the death of her husband. Netflix itself frames her as someone who survived an eventful, difficult life.
This makes her way of hosting easier to understand:
Contestant: “Why can’t he understand me?”
Awich: “Maybe this is not only anger at him but also—”
And suddenly the dating show has been converted into a human-behavior seminar without permission.
There is also a real public connection to fortune-teller imagery: Nike’s 2025 “House of Madame Awich” campaign presented Awich as a mysterious fortune teller. That does not prove she is a professional fortune teller. It only means that an official campaign really did use that image.
4. The Taichan case: “No reply yet” reached “trash human” far too quickly
Maririn gives Taichan a letter. He does not immediately give her a private answer. At the same time, his romantic interest is moving toward Hikaru.
Those are relatively observable facts.
Then the interpretation ladder accelerates:
no answer yet
→ he is ignoring her
→ he erased the letter
→ he treated Maririn as disposable
→ he is morally bad
→ he is trash
A Mynavi Woman review makes an important point: the letter had essentially been delivered only the day before, and Taichan was hit with harsh criticism from three women before he had much space to explain. It also notes that the claim that he did not intend to answer Maririn individually came through Hikaru, leaving uncertainty about Taichan’s original nuance.
There is still an obvious criticism of Taichan:
If you have chosen Hikaru, telling Maririn directly and promptly is kinder.
Fair.
But “slow communication” and “globally defective person” are not the same verdict.
The way everyone reacted to a late reply apparently worked like this:
- “I’m still thinking”: not accepted
- 24 hours elapsed: treated as a major problem
- three-person meeting: called immediately
5. His face stays neutral, his ears turn red, and then he suddenly cries: the ears seem to show how little strength he has left
One of the most memorable visual details is that Taichan’s face remains relatively controlled while his ears become visibly red.
Research on turning red around other people describes blood vessels in the skin of the face, neck and ears widening as nerves that regulate the body without conscious effort become active. Strong feelings can also change how much blood flows through the skin.
So this sequence is not physiologically strange:
Face: “I’m fine.”
Ears: “WE ARE NOT PROCESSING NORMALLY 🔴🔴.”
Later: tears.
But an important limitation: red ears do not identify a specific emotion and do not prove lying, guilt or romantic feelings. Anxiety, embarrassment, anger, heat and other factors can produce redness.
The ears seem to show how little strength he has left.
They do not tell us which feeling he is having.
Exterior: delinquent
Inside: perhaps surprisingly delicate
Warning lights: both ears
That contrast is objectively excellent television.
6. What does “a man should do the right thing” actually mean?
The fairest way to understand the show’s idea of “doing the right thing” is probably as a step everyone can follow:
If you have already chosen one person, directly tell the other person who expressed interest in you.
That is a reasonable rule.
The problem starts when it becomes specifically “a man’s duty” and creates different rules for men and women.
Men:
- decide immediately,
- never keep someone waiting,
- reject cleanly,
- choose one lane.
Women:
- can compare options because it is a dating show,
- can remain uncertain.
That is inconsistent.
Rules that apply to everyone work better:
- Before promising not to date other people, uncertainty and multiple candidates can exist.
- Once you decide, communicate the decision to other involved people reasonably quickly.
- Deliberately keeping someone hopeful merely for attention or benefits is questionable regardless of gender.
- After explicitly promising not to date other people, secret outside relationships violate that agreement.
- A reply that has not arrived yet is not enough evidence for a character verdict.
Same promises. Everyone.
7. Ruru’s “I want a love strong enough to graduate me from cheating” problem
ORICON’s official member profile describes Ruru as looking for a love strong enough to help her “graduate from” her tendency to cheat.
That is excellent reality-TV copy.
As a way of making promises in a relationship, however, it can leave someone else responsible for changing your behavior:
“If the partner is good enough, I will stop.”
The partner may reasonably ask:
“Why does whether you keep your promises depend on how attractive I am?”
If a person wants to stop cheating, part of the work is theirs:
- define what counts as cheating,
- identify situations where they cross boundaries,
- ask whether a relationship with one partner only is actually what they want,
- decide what relationship structure they can honor honestly.
This is why viewers may feel that different rules are being applied when Taichan receives a severe moral judgment for a delayed reply while another person’s recurring relationship problem is framed as something the right romantic partner may cure.
Still, edited television is not enough to diagnose a real person’s complete ethics. The criticism should stay focused on the logic shown on screen.
8. Wanting more than one person is not automatically cheating. Dating several partners requires everyone to understand and agree
A dictionary published by the American Psychological Association describes having several romantic or intimate relationships on the condition that everyone involved fully understands and agrees to the arrangement.
That distinction matters.
Capacity to love multiple people is one question.
Secretly breaking an agreement is another.
If a relationship with one partner fits, agree to that.
If relationships with several partners fit better, be open about that and date people who understand and agree to it.
The problem is changing the promises without telling the other person:
What you say: “We won’t date other people.”
What you secretly do: “I will keep other options anyway.”
What you say after being found out: “That is just how I am.”
Dating several people with everyone’s agreement is not a stylish way to describe cheating. If anything, it often requires more careful discussion about the promises, not less.
9. Why did a three-on-one discussion become so intense? Two ways to understand how people influence each other
These are not diagnoses of the cast. They are models that resemble what viewers saw.
Assuming someone meant harm when their intentions are unclear
The American Psychological Association’s dictionary describes a tendency to assume someone meant harm even when their behavior does not make their intentions clear.
Applied cautiously:
Fact: “There is no reply yet.”
Interpretation: “He intends to ignore her.”
Stronger interpretation: “He does not respect her.”
He may truly have intended not to respond. The point is that the intention was not directly observable from the delay itself.
Similar opinions can become stronger when people discuss them together
When people who already lean toward similar opinions discuss them together, they can move toward a stronger or more extreme version of those opinions.
Individually:
“You should answer her.”
After reinforcement:
“That is cruel.”
“That is unacceptable.”
“What kind of person does that?”
“Trash.”
Again, this does not prove the cast underwent a textbook psychological process. It is simply a useful lens for understanding why the temperature of a group judgment can rise very quickly.
10. And then: Nagoya PARCO, where talking about people’s minds loses to Momonga
After discussing fairness, agreement, expectations about men and women, assumptions about other people’s intentions, and how group discussions can strengthen opinions, reality presents a more immediate challenge: character merchandise.
Nagoya PARCO’s official current listings show:
- Chiikawa Land: East Building, 3F
- KIRBY’S PUPUPU MARKET: East Building, 3F
- Jujutsu Kaisen 5th Anniversary POP UP SHOP: South Building, 10F EVENT SPACE, August 21–September 6, 2026
The East Building’s third floor clusters Kiddy Land, Chiikawa, Kirby, Sumikko Gurashi, Rilakkuma and more. It feels like a test of how long your wallet can hold out.
A crowded Chiikawa store on a Sunday near the end of summer vacation is not particularly surprising.
Then comes a Momonga keychain.
Normal human: “Can I have that?”
Human equipped with Momonga: “HAND IT OVER!”
If a person says it, it is rude.
If Momonga says it, it fits the character.
It is effectively a little object that lets a fictional creature make a demand that would sound rude coming from you.
We began with relationship ethics.
We ended with “Momonga is useful.”
Common questions
1. So Taichan did nothing wrong?
Not necessarily. “You should have communicated directly sooner” is a reasonable criticism. “Your reply took about a day, therefore your entire character is trash” is a different and much larger claim.
2. Do red ears mean he was trying not to cry?
Possible, but not knowable from the color alone. Turning red involves blood flow and the body’s reactions without conscious effort, but it is not a lie detector that identifies a particular feeling.
3. Is Awich a psychologist?
That background does not justify calling her one. Her official biography says she graduated from university after studying how to start businesses and sell products and services. How people think and feel is one of several subjects she says she has studied while exploring sex and desire.
4. Is Awich a fortune teller?
There is no basis here for calling her a professional fortune teller. Nike did present her as a fortune teller in a 2025 campaign called “House of Madame Awich.”
5. Does agreeing to date several partners make cheating acceptable?
No. The defining issue is knowledge and consent among everyone involved. Secretly breaking a promise to date only each other is a different category.
6. Are Kirby and Chiikawa on the same floor at Nagoya PARCO?
Yes. Both are on East Building 3F. The Jujutsu Kaisen 5th Anniversary pop-up is on South Building 10F.
Suggested internal links
- Why dating reality shows make us angry: uncertainty, violated expectations and group psychology
- Dating several partners with everyone’s agreement is different from cheating
- Why ears and faces turn red: what can the body’s reactions actually tell us?
- Why Momonga can say “Hand it over!” and somehow survive socially
- Nagoya PARCO character-store route: East Building 3F is a wallet boss rush
- Why irreversible costs hit so hard in Jujutsu Kaisen
Original wording for checking the quoted expression
The Japanese expression quoted in this article is “筋を通せ”. Its meaning is explained in ordinary English above.
