Studio Delighted as the First-Ever "Mutual Love" King & Queen Are Crowned! Shimofuri Myojo's Seiya Says, "I Seriously Want Them to Get Married." Close Coverage of the New "Popular" King & Queen's Last Night! Former AKB48's Mariya Nagao and Handsome Fighter Share Repeated "Sound-Leaking Kisses"

The new future TV "ABEMA" broadcasted the 8th and final episode of the ABEMA original romance reality show "Love Power Kingdom 2" (8 episodes in total) on the ABEMA SPECIAL channel starting at 10:00 PM on Wednesday, April 1, 2026. Participating in "Love Power Kingdom 2" are 8 male members: Kota (Kota Iwaki / 33), a company executive, actor, and Neppa-shi; Taiju (Taiju Shiratori / 30), a fighter and the 5th RISE Super Lightweight Champion; Taisei (Taisei Riku / 25), a model; Takashi (Takashi Sakaguchi / 35), a physician; Naoki (Naoki Oguro / 28), an actor and model; Yuki (Yuki Tanaka / 30), a restaurant manager; Yuto (Yuto Oku / 28), an actor; and Yukito (Yukito Harada / 21), an actor. There are also 8 female members: Kano (Kano Takahashi / 24), a TV personality; Seina (23), an exclusive model for Koakuma ageha who participated in Season 1 of "Love Power Kingdom"; Noriko (Noriko Nishiyama / 25), an overseas talent; Hazuki (Hazuki Kimura / 25), an actress; Mariya (Mariya Nagao / 32), a former AKB48 member, model, and actress; Moe (Moe Kawase / 32), a TV personality and race queen; Yume (Yume Hayashi / 30), a TV personality; and Rumi (27), a show dancer. A diverse group of 16 men and women of various backgrounds and professions, including those with past experience in romance reality shows, have gathered. The studio MCs are comedian Seiya from Shimofuri Myojo, TV personality YOU, Fuma Kikuchi (timelesz), and TV personality Maria Tani. ■ Studio Delighted as the Program's First-Ever "Mutual Love" King & Queen Are Crowned! Shimofuri Myojo's Seiya: "I seriously want them to get married." In the 8th and final episode, the popularity battle that unfolded in Malta finally reached its conclusion. As a result of the "Final Popularity VOTE," where participants cast their votes for the "one person they are most attracted to," the fighter Taiju and former AKB48 member/model/actress Mariya, who cast their main votes for each other, miraculously achieved a "mutual love" and brilliantly became the 2nd King & Queen. Seeing the two standing together with a crown and a tiara, Seiya in the studio was extremely excited by the ending, saying, "I seriously want them to get married." At the after-party that followed, Taiju proudly confessed, "I really love Mariya," and "When we go back to Japan, I want to go on lots of dates and get to know each other better." Mariya also exchanged a hug with a smile, saying, "Taiju is my ideal person." Furthermore, in the special footage "The King's Proposal," exclusively distributed on "ABEMA Premium," the camera closely followed their date after returning to Japan. Taiju, who had said, "I want to date her with marriage in mind," formally asked her to be his girlfriend amidst the spectacular illuminations, saying, "We might find more good and bad things about each other, but I want to be with you forever," and "Please date me seriously." To this, Mariya accepted, saying, "I still love you, Taiju," and "I want to stay with you," depicting an inevitable heart-fluttering epilogue that developed into a serious relationship. ■ Close Coverage of the New "Popular" King & Queen's Last Night! Former AKB48's Mariya Nagao and Handsome Fighter Share Repeated "Sound-Leaking Kisses" in the Bath, "I'm Glad We Met" Furthermore, at the end of the main feature, as exclusive content for "ABEMA" video, the state of the two, two hours after the after-party, was released. In a bathtub with floating petals, Mariya leans her back against Taiju, soaking in the hot water closely huddled together. Mariya, who listened to Taiju's feelings as he said, "I'm happy you chose me," and "I didn't think I'd meet someone I could care for this much," turned to Taiju and shared a passionate, sound-leaking kiss. Intoxicated by the sweet atmosphere and the feeling of closeness, Taiju spontaneously leaked his raw, honest feelings, saying, "I love you," and Mariya also confessed, "I'm glad we met," and "Thank you." The two, whose feelings had been fulfilled, were shown repeatedly kissing. Also, at the after-party, all the members who had been eliminated so far gathered, and a rush of confessions unfolded by the members who had purely fostered their feelings. Model Taisei, who brought his "mutual love" to fruition after being revived as a loser, reached out his hand to actress Hazuki, saying, "Please keep smiling by my side even after we return to Japan." Hazuki grabbed his hand, replied, "Please take care of me," and they shared a passionate hug and kiss in front of everyone. Following that, restaurant manager Yuki confessed straight to TV personality Kano, saying, "I want you to stay with me with the premise of dating even after we return to Japan." Kano also replied, "Please treat me well," and hugged him gently. The harsh popularity battle reached its best finale with a happy ending enveloped in a celebratory mood. Episode 8, the final episode that resulted in a happy ending where the complicatedly intertwined arrows of love finally bore fruit, is still available for free missed-program viewing. Please take a look. (https://abema.tv/video/episode/90-2021_s2_p80) In addition, starting at 1:30 PM on Saturday, April 4, all 8 episodes of "Love Power Kingdom 2," which has now concluded, will be broadcast all at once for free. Please enjoy it on this occasion. The "Love Power Kingdom" series is a romance reality show where 16 extremely popular and beautiful men and women, who consider themselves popular and lead "explosively popular" lives, engage in high-class romantic bargaining to determine the No. 1 popular man and woman. A "popularity ranking" that reveals everything from the most popular person to the least popular person is constantly announced to the participants, and the true natures of the people that were previously unseen are revealed one after another. The pride of the strong is broken by the merciless popularity ranking, and uncontrollable serious love... In the new season "Love Power Kingdom 2," set in Malta, a beautiful island country floating in the Mediterranean where history and nature fuse, a popularity battle where strategies and love fiercely intersect is delivered on a grand scale, amidst the conflict between the game nature of the "popularity ranking" and serious love. ■ ABEMA "Love Power Kingdom 2" (Total 8 Episodes) Program Overview Program top page: https://abema.tv/video/title/90-2021 Episode 8 Broadcast Date and Time: Wednesday, March 18, 2026, 10:00 PM - Episode 8 Streaming URL: https://abema.tv/video/episode/90-2021_s2_p80 Episode 1 Streaming URL: https://abema.tv/video/episode/90-2021_s2_p10 Episode 2 Streaming URL: https://abema.tv/video/episode/90-2021_s2_p20 Episode 3 Streaming URL: https://abema.tv/video/episode/90-2021_s2_p30 Episode 4 Streaming URL: https://abema.tv/video/episode/90-2021_s2_p40 Episode 5 Streaming URL: https://abema.tv/video/episode/90-2021_s2_p50 Episode 6 Streaming URL: https://abema.tv/video/episode/90-2021_s2_p60 Episode 7 Streaming URL: https://abema.tv/video/episode/90-2021_s2_p70 [Studio MCs] Seiya (Shimofuri Myojo) YOU Fuma Kikuchi (timelesz) Maria Tani * When using images, please include the credit [(C) AbemaTV, Inc.]. ■ About "ABEMA" "ABEMA" is a video streaming business operating as the "new future TV" aimed at innovating television, which will celebrate its 10th anniversary on April 11, 2026. Since its launch, it has been an internet television network that can be enjoyed basically for free without registration, featuring a 24-hour specialized news channel and origina