[Recommendation]: Terrace House - Netflix
Hello!~
So, recently I stumbled across a Japanese reality show called "Terrace House" which is now airing on Netflix in most countries.
Without knowing anything I just started with a season called "Boys and Girls in the City" which is the first season available on Netflix, but there's an original series from 2012 that is unfortunately not available on Netflix (outside of Japan). Anyway, I quickly got rather addicted to the show and I've caught up to the most recent season which took place in Karuizawa (Nagano) which I visited in 2016.
A quick explanation what this is about for those of you who don't know it:
This is a Japanese reality show. Six strangers (always 3 men and 3 women) move into a shared house. There are cameras 24/7, but it's different from Big Brother. The cameras aren't at fixed positions. They're just being filmed by a team during the entire time. They're allowed to leave the house and live their normal lives, commute to work and go out on dates (preferably with each other).
Everybody has different reasons for joining. A lot of them are in the entertainment business and want to become more popular by joining the show (e.g. models, comedians, actors, pro sport athletes), but there are also "normal" people with "normal" jobs. The age ranges from 18 to 30 with very few exceptions.
What I find rather unique about the series is that the respective episode airs shortly after it was filmed, so the shared house members can actually watch that episode and see what others said about them. So, it's basically impossible to have any secrets as it will get out there eventually. At the same time they'll get reactions from the viewers on their social media and friends comment on the previous episodes as well.
If a member has the feeling they've achieved whatever they moved in for, they'll graduate and a new member will follow, so it's always 6 people in the house.
With new members joining, there will be new relationships, a new atmosphere and it usually never gets boring that way.
At first I thought it must be really fake, but without spoiling couples formed and some of them are still together nowadays.
You'll observe the members as they go through different times in their lives (job, health, love) and how they motivate each other, how their relationship changes over time etc.
There are many moments were you can laugh and cry and I think that is what makes it so addicting.
That's probably also why it became so popular internationally!
Another unique feature is that you have a panel of comedians and other people from the Japanese entertainment world who will give their opinion a few times during the show.
They get to see the actual film material before anybody else does and their comments are so funny and interesting. It's definitely another reason why the show became so popular.
The show airing on Netflix in Japanese with English subtitles.
And from here on onward it's my opinion and rambling about each season, so please skip if you don't want any spoilers or skip a particular season if you haven't watched that one yet.
Season 1: Boys and Girls Next Door (Shonan / Kanagawa) - 2012-2014
So, this is the original season and by far the longest with almost 100 episodes.
Originally this was broadcasted on Fuji TV and somehow Netflix took note of the show and thus took over.
I think this is still my favorite season.
I loved how all the members were so connected with each other. In no other season did old members appear, re-visit and play a big role later on.
My favorite member of that season was by far Dyki. His story was so sad and yet motivating ..... I also liked Hana and the very little Dyki x Hana moments.
And the legend! The one and only .... the queen of "trendy", Seina!!!
[Spoiler for all seasons]: She's the only one who ever moved back into the house. And she's the only one who appeared in each and every season.
If you like Seina, you NEED to watch the first season.
Season 2: Boys and Girls in the City (Tokyo) - 2015-2016
This was the first season I ever saw and I thought it was my favorite season until I watched all the others.
There wasn't really a favorite member for me.
I did root for Misaki and Byrnes and they did have some really cute moments.
I really liked Minori and I have to thank her and Uchi for some of the most hilarous (food) moments ever.
This one or the infamous "meat incident". Seriously, kudos to Minori that she could deal with all that shit. Btw. in case you didn't know, Uchi and Minori are not together anymore. Judging by their Instagram photos they didn't go out for very long, but I guess that's what we all expected anyway.... ;P
If I had to pick a favorite, I'd go for Martha. She's so beautiful, cheerful and it's a shame that she joined that late.
Just looking at her made my day, but I never understood why she went after that stupid cook ....... why, oh, why?? XD .....
Season 3: Aloha State (Hawaii) 2016-2017
At first I thought I'd hate this season.
I didn't like the fact that they tried to "westernize" the show so much now that it was so successful internationally.
They mainly put "half" people and even non-Japanese people in the show. It just felt weird in the beginning.
However, the show really had some of the best members ever and turned out to be my second favorite season.
Apart from all the beautiful scenery we got to see. Yes, all the sceneries in Japan are great as well, but as I've personally been there and have seen them with my own eyes already, I was more fascinated with the Hawaii scenes. I really need to visit one day.
Although I'm biased I really liked our guilty samurai Taishi!
It was just a pleasure to watch him, although it was sometimes just way too hilarious (pumping up at the beach while your date is waiting for you? Really???!!!).
His looks were totally my type, so I also just enjoyed the eye-candy all the time. (*_*)b ......
So happy for him at the end as I was also team "Shinuhodo no koi" and he finally got Chikako!
It seems to go really well for them even nowadays. I think he already proposed to her if I saw that correctly on Insta.
And let's not forget about Guy! Is there even one person out there who didn't like Guy?
He's just so soothing to watch and his moments with Niki threw you back into your own teens. Aww.
Could have watched that forever and ever. ;P
I didn't like Lauren from the start.
I don't even know why ..... her Japanese wasn't very good. I couldn't deal well with her behavior most of the time .... and ... yeah. I guess it's hard to explain.
Surprisingly she had a REALLY great career in Japan after the show ... I hope she was able to improve her Japanese at least ... XDDD ....
Season 4: Opening New Doors 2017-2018
This is the newest season that hasn't finished yet. It's still airing on Netflix and even in Japan it's not finished yet.
Scheduled to finished in the beginning of February.
For me this is by far the most boring season. I'm a bit worried .... I just hope it was because of the members and that next season will be more interesting again.
Or maybe one just gets used to the series' concept too much....??!!
The only good thing about this season was that we got to witness that the handsome popular guy Shion actually goes for the cheerful, nice, but totally non-girly type.
I love "Captain Tsubasa" so much and I'm so happy for her. I hope it goes well for them.
I'm still not so sure what to think about Seina grabbing yet another guy from the show. Yet again one that's so much younger than her. But I totally understand her.
Noah is the most handsome one (half Austrian, half Japanese) and his dad is the CEO of Skymark .... BINGO, Seina!
I'm just quite sure this won't last ...... if she's really looking for a guy to marry, maybe she needs to change her preferences and go for a bit older guys. ;P
I still love Seina, though .... she's just .... well, SHE IS TERRACE HOUSE, let's be real here.
And yes, there were some hilarious moments.
How creepy can one get, Mayu?
Do people like Yuudai REALLY exist? Woah!!! .....
Oh, and they FINALLY threw in some people who said they think they're "bi" .... we're slowly getting there Japan .... S.L.O.W.L.Y ....
[/SPOILERS END HERE]
I'm happy that the show is popular all over the world. When I first watched it, I wasn't sure if people who don't know Japanese society could relate
to it at all. But you certainly get to know more about Japanese culture that way. You'll see how they celebrate traditional Japanese festivals and holidays among other things, so that's nice.
Btw. in the photo above they're eating an uncut maki sushi roll because it was "Bean Throwing Day".
Okay, that was long. Over and out.
If you've watched the show, let me know what you think!!!
I'd love to fangirl a bit!
Bye~chuu!
So, recently I stumbled across a Japanese reality show called "Terrace House" which is now airing on Netflix in most countries.
Without knowing anything I just started with a season called "Boys and Girls in the City" which is the first season available on Netflix, but there's an original series from 2012 that is unfortunately not available on Netflix (outside of Japan). Anyway, I quickly got rather addicted to the show and I've caught up to the most recent season which took place in Karuizawa (Nagano) which I visited in 2016.
A quick explanation what this is about for those of you who don't know it:
This is a Japanese reality show. Six strangers (always 3 men and 3 women) move into a shared house. There are cameras 24/7, but it's different from Big Brother. The cameras aren't at fixed positions. They're just being filmed by a team during the entire time. They're allowed to leave the house and live their normal lives, commute to work and go out on dates (preferably with each other).
Everybody has different reasons for joining. A lot of them are in the entertainment business and want to become more popular by joining the show (e.g. models, comedians, actors, pro sport athletes), but there are also "normal" people with "normal" jobs. The age ranges from 18 to 30 with very few exceptions.
What I find rather unique about the series is that the respective episode airs shortly after it was filmed, so the shared house members can actually watch that episode and see what others said about them. So, it's basically impossible to have any secrets as it will get out there eventually. At the same time they'll get reactions from the viewers on their social media and friends comment on the previous episodes as well.
If a member has the feeling they've achieved whatever they moved in for, they'll graduate and a new member will follow, so it's always 6 people in the house.
With new members joining, there will be new relationships, a new atmosphere and it usually never gets boring that way.
At first I thought it must be really fake, but without spoiling couples formed and some of them are still together nowadays.
You'll observe the members as they go through different times in their lives (job, health, love) and how they motivate each other, how their relationship changes over time etc.
There are many moments were you can laugh and cry and I think that is what makes it so addicting.
That's probably also why it became so popular internationally!
Another unique feature is that you have a panel of comedians and other people from the Japanese entertainment world who will give their opinion a few times during the show.
They get to see the actual film material before anybody else does and their comments are so funny and interesting. It's definitely another reason why the show became so popular.
The show airing on Netflix in Japanese with English subtitles.
And from here on onward it's my opinion and rambling about each season, so please skip if you don't want any spoilers or skip a particular season if you haven't watched that one yet.
Season 1: Boys and Girls Next Door (Shonan / Kanagawa) - 2012-2014
So, this is the original season and by far the longest with almost 100 episodes.
Originally this was broadcasted on Fuji TV and somehow Netflix took note of the show and thus took over.
I think this is still my favorite season.
I loved how all the members were so connected with each other. In no other season did old members appear, re-visit and play a big role later on.
My favorite member of that season was by far Dyki. His story was so sad and yet motivating ..... I also liked Hana and the very little Dyki x Hana moments.
And the legend! The one and only .... the queen of "trendy", Seina!!!
[Spoiler for all seasons]: She's the only one who ever moved back into the house. And she's the only one who appeared in each and every season.
If you like Seina, you NEED to watch the first season.
Season 2: Boys and Girls in the City (Tokyo) - 2015-2016
This was the first season I ever saw and I thought it was my favorite season until I watched all the others.
There wasn't really a favorite member for me.
I did root for Misaki and Byrnes and they did have some really cute moments.
I really liked Minori and I have to thank her and Uchi for some of the most hilarous (food) moments ever.
This one or the infamous "meat incident". Seriously, kudos to Minori that she could deal with all that shit. Btw. in case you didn't know, Uchi and Minori are not together anymore. Judging by their Instagram photos they didn't go out for very long, but I guess that's what we all expected anyway.... ;P
If I had to pick a favorite, I'd go for Martha. She's so beautiful, cheerful and it's a shame that she joined that late.
Just looking at her made my day, but I never understood why she went after that stupid cook ....... why, oh, why?? XD .....
Season 3: Aloha State (Hawaii) 2016-2017
At first I thought I'd hate this season.
I didn't like the fact that they tried to "westernize" the show so much now that it was so successful internationally.
They mainly put "half" people and even non-Japanese people in the show. It just felt weird in the beginning.
However, the show really had some of the best members ever and turned out to be my second favorite season.
Apart from all the beautiful scenery we got to see. Yes, all the sceneries in Japan are great as well, but as I've personally been there and have seen them with my own eyes already, I was more fascinated with the Hawaii scenes. I really need to visit one day.
Although I'm biased I really liked our guilty samurai Taishi!
It was just a pleasure to watch him, although it was sometimes just way too hilarious (pumping up at the beach while your date is waiting for you? Really???!!!).
His looks were totally my type, so I also just enjoyed the eye-candy all the time. (*_*)b ......
So happy for him at the end as I was also team "Shinuhodo no koi" and he finally got Chikako!
It seems to go really well for them even nowadays. I think he already proposed to her if I saw that correctly on Insta.
And let's not forget about Guy! Is there even one person out there who didn't like Guy?
He's just so soothing to watch and his moments with Niki threw you back into your own teens. Aww.
Could have watched that forever and ever. ;P
I didn't like Lauren from the start.
I don't even know why ..... her Japanese wasn't very good. I couldn't deal well with her behavior most of the time .... and ... yeah. I guess it's hard to explain.
Surprisingly she had a REALLY great career in Japan after the show ... I hope she was able to improve her Japanese at least ... XDDD ....
Season 4: Opening New Doors 2017-2018
This is the newest season that hasn't finished yet. It's still airing on Netflix and even in Japan it's not finished yet.
Scheduled to finished in the beginning of February.
For me this is by far the most boring season. I'm a bit worried .... I just hope it was because of the members and that next season will be more interesting again.
Or maybe one just gets used to the series' concept too much....??!!
The only good thing about this season was that we got to witness that the handsome popular guy Shion actually goes for the cheerful, nice, but totally non-girly type.
I love "Captain Tsubasa" so much and I'm so happy for her. I hope it goes well for them.
I'm still not so sure what to think about Seina grabbing yet another guy from the show. Yet again one that's so much younger than her. But I totally understand her.
Noah is the most handsome one (half Austrian, half Japanese) and his dad is the CEO of Skymark .... BINGO, Seina!
I'm just quite sure this won't last ...... if she's really looking for a guy to marry, maybe she needs to change her preferences and go for a bit older guys. ;P
I still love Seina, though .... she's just .... well, SHE IS TERRACE HOUSE, let's be real here.
And yes, there were some hilarious moments.
How creepy can one get, Mayu?
Do people like Yuudai REALLY exist? Woah!!! .....
Oh, and they FINALLY threw in some people who said they think they're "bi" .... we're slowly getting there Japan .... S.L.O.W.L.Y ....
[/SPOILERS END HERE]
I'm happy that the show is popular all over the world. When I first watched it, I wasn't sure if people who don't know Japanese society could relate
to it at all. But you certainly get to know more about Japanese culture that way. You'll see how they celebrate traditional Japanese festivals and holidays among other things, so that's nice.
Btw. in the photo above they're eating an uncut maki sushi roll because it was "Bean Throwing Day".
Okay, that was long. Over and out.
If you've watched the show, let me know what you think!!!
I'd love to fangirl a bit!
Bye~chuu!