Chat Boy (2026)

Wow, before going into this I did not expect it to be such a poignant show. I'd been seeing the trailers and snippets of it, plus as a fan of Ae! group, I was going to watch the show either way.

I have to say I had my judgements all ready: vertical drama, previous Esudora with Ryosuke Hashimoto with a completely different tone...

However, Chat Boy turned out to be very well made and managed to cover so many important issues we'e facing in the modern world. From AI to burnout, loneliness and mental health issues (definitely a trigger warning should come with it- feel free to reach out to me if you would like more info/spoilers before watching).

The only thing I would say this show lacked, is that it shed light on so many big societal issues in Japan, but it didn't really give a call to action or leave the viewer wondering what they could do to help/improve these issues. In fact, the ending was where it fell a little short, I feel like we are left with a lot of questions and not really any kind of support system.

I was really happy to see Massan back acting, the last drama I saw him in was Musashino Rondo which I actually really enjoyed. Glad that his acting skills have levelled up, he really nailed some of those emotional scenes.

I think Noel also did an amazing job, great casting because he has that big eyed look which I feel he harnessed really well to give it more a "non human" effect.

I watched the version with all eps edited together like a film and found that really easy to watch, curious to hear about the experience of those who watched episode to episode.

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