‘From NEET to Peak’ Starring Wataru Ichinose and Suzu Hirose Premieres January 2027

‘From NEET to Peak’ Starring Wataru Ichinose and Suzu Hirose Premieres January 2027 

Somewhere between a shut-in's bedroom and the brightest billboard in Tokyo, an impossible love story is about to unfold. From NEET to Peak, premiering worldwide in January 2027, follows an eight-year hikikomori who decides — against all odds and all logic — to win the heart of Japan's biggest idol. Directed by Yu Irie (8000 Miles, A Girl Named Ann) from a screenplay by award-winning writer Shigeki Kaneko (Operation Love, Life's Punchline, My Story Is Long), the series stars Wataru Ichinose and Suzu Hirose in a reckless, big-hearted comedy sparked by the collision of a “beast” and a “beauty.”

Kanta Kakuhata (Ichinose) has spent eight years as a shut-in, living at home under his mother's care, with zero romantic experience. When she falls ill and receives a terminal diagnosis, Kanta, flooded with regret over all the trouble he's caused her, comes face to face with his mother for the first time. Gazing outside the window at a billboard featuring Mami Hamamiya (Hirose), Japan’s top idol, his mother tells him she once dreamed he would marry someone just as beautiful.

Kanta responds with a declaration as sudden as it is absurd: he's going to marry that woman — and until he does, his mother is absolutely not allowed to die. Thus begins an utterly impossible challenge: a socially inexperienced shut-in setting his sights on the most unattainable woman in Japan.

First, Kanta has to leave the house. Then, talk to people. And finally, find a way to get close to Mami. As he tackles one “mission in life and love” after another, he meets an array of eccentric characters and steadily levels up from zero experience. What begins as a promise to his mother gradually becomes a grand adventure that transforms his own life. Will he ever reach Mami, as lofty and out of reach as Mount Fuji itself?

Ichinose takes on his second leading role for Netflix after captivating global audiences as Enno in Sanctuary. He brings irresistible charm to Kanta, a gruff and awkward man whose sincerity makes him impossible not to root for. Hirose (Our Little Sister, Wandering, The Human Vapor) plays Mami, a top idol who commands the stage with overwhelming star power and has forged her own path in pursuit of a dream.

Kanta is dead serious about pursuing an impossibly reckless dream — and the road ahead is anything but predictable. Laugh, cry and see where his determination takes him.

From NEET to Peak premieres worldwide in January 2027, only on Netflix.

About From NEET to Peak

Cast: Wataru Ichinose, Suzu Hirose

Director: Yu Irie

Writer: Shigeki Kaneko

Music: Masaru Yokoyama

Executive Producer: Yuta Fukui (Netflix)

Producers: Naoto Fujimura, Yuki Shibata, Hidehisa Chiwata

Production Company: Nippon TV, Django Film

Planned and Produced: Netflix