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Saturday, November 1, 2025

Love and Chocolate in "Romantics Anonymous"

Ha Na Lee ( Hyojoo Han) is a young woman working as a chocolatier specializing in specialty bonbons for a chocolate company called Le Sauveur . Due to a childhood traumatic experience, she cannot look people in the eye and has severe anxiety about being in public and socializing with people. 
Because of this, she has a hard time trying to get a job, but through the kind understanding of the old owner and chef of La Savuer, Kuroiwa (Okuda Eiji),  who takes her under his wing and hires her in his kitchen, she becomes his apprentice and a genius in her own right creating confections!
Understanding about her malady, he makes a deal with her and the chocolate shop, where Ha Na will be allowed to make her creations in the privacy of her own kitchen and then deliver it anonymously to the shoppe!
This agreement works out fine for both the company and for Ha Na, that is, until the Le Sauveur’s head chef and owner passes away, leaving he company to be taken over by a huge conglomerate confectionary company called Futago Confectioners.
 This company is to be run by Sosuke Fujiwara (Shun Oguri), a young businessman who is making his way in his company and has a great deal invested in the success of this absorption. He also harbors a secret: like Ha Na, he ALSO has a phobia developed from a childhood event- his is the phobia of germs and of human touch!
His first order of business with this new Chocolate shop is to manage all outside distributors, and  when he sees that one is from an anonymous and undisclosed supplier, he immediately orders all business with her cut off!
Stunned at the news, Ha Na bravely makes her way to the company in order to plea her case, but her awkward manner and inability to look anyone in the eye causes everyone to think she’s there to apply as a new candy confectioner! And as NO ONE knows that she’s  the supplier that has just been cut, she ends up taking the job!
Ha na's first day is hard as she struggles to work without looking anyone in the eye, and she feels she jsut cannot do it. But when she bursts into President Fujiwara’s office to call it quits, she crashes RIGHT INTO HIM flyting into the air and stumbling to the ground!
Scrambling to get up, both of them realize a staggering fact: Ha Na can look right into Fujiwara’s eyes and not flinch- and Fujiwara can be touched by Ha Na without any adverse reactions!
They do not know how, but somehow when they are dealing with each other, their psychological maladies do not flare up at ALL!
This creates a bond between the two that they cannot share with any other person in the world and makes for a lively partnership! And it’s a good thing too, because it will take both of their skills to get Le Sauveur back on tis feet and become the huge success Fujiwara knows it can be!
So far ROMANTICS ANONYMOUS is a fun and sweet show (pun intended) with leads with great chemistry and a great support cast which includes both Yuri Nakamura and Jin Akanishi as romantic interests of sorts for the two leads....
We'll see when this drama goes!