“Reality television” might be an oxymoron, but that doesn’t mean the genre has nothing to teach us.

After cooking and canoodling their way through a Hokkaido winter, the 10 young(ish) men on the second season of “The Boyfriend” are no longer at the mercy of Netflix Japan’s producers — at least until the inevitable reunion episode.

Rocket-launched into cultural consciousness and online discourse, the housemates can now settle into their new roles as meme fodder, brand ambassadors or prime targets for individual fans eager to nurture parasocial relationships via social media.