***THIS CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR TERRACE HOUSE: BOYS & GIRLS IN THE CITY***
Hello Internet!
I hope everyone is having a wonderful week and is staying healthy. Also Happy 4th of July to all my readers in the US of A. Just be careful if you are setting off fireworks because a lot of the country is hot, dry, and flammable right now. If you have doubts, play it safe! I have been super busy this week. I actually moved from one apartment to another apartment. Yay being an adult! I’ve only been really living at this new place for a few days now but I really love it. Lugging things up the stairs was not fun, but I’ve enjoyed unpacking some stuff and setting up my space. There are still some key things missing from my room like a bookshelf but in time my room will be a great space to write, work, play games, and sleep. I’ve been so busy the last couple days with work and moving that I barely had any time to write. However, I pushed through and made sure that you all got a Weekly Blog about a show that I actually watched a couple months ago and wanted to talk about.
Before we get to that however, let me quickly talk about the pieces I published the past couple of weeks. On June 20th, 2021, I published a Weekly Blog about My Content. I’ve been thinking about my content for awhile now, but after I watched Bo Burnham’s Netflix Special, I started to really think about what my content is and what it should be. I think it’s healthy for all content creators no matter how big or how small to check in with their audiences and think critically about the stuff they make. Really Bo Burnham’s special has been on my mind a ton as I wrote things this past couple of weeks. On June 23rd, 2021, I published some new Six Word Memoirs. Six Word Memoirs used to be a staple to the website but now they only pop up from time to time. The readers can have a little Six Word Memoir as a treat. Anyway, here are some Six Word Memoirs for the summer. This Wednesday I published My “Funny Feeling” Verse. I know that ever since Bo Burnham’s Netflix Special, “Inside” was put out, people have been uploading their own verses to the song “Funny Feeling” on YouTube and Tik Tok. I do not have any musical talent, but I decided I’d write my own verse and put it out here on the Blog. Just play a Karaoke version of the song in the background as you read it. Or you can just kind of read it as a poem. Whatever works for you. Finally, this past Friday I published a Writing Prompt Piece titled “Accompanied By A Shadow.” A small group of survivors are trekking across a post-apocalyptic world where they meet a stranger. One survivor, Alex, doesn’t trust the man because he seems to not breathe or eat. This is a shorter Writing Prompt piece, but I might write a second part to it if people really like this one and want to see more. That’s all the stuff I’ve written in the past couple of weeks so if you missed any of them, go ahead and give them a read.
So there has been a show that I’ve watched probably three months ago now that I’ve wanted to talk about in a Weekly Blog. But for whatever reason I keep pushing it back over and over because I have other things I also want to talk about. And I figured today of all days is a great day to finally talk about this show. There’s this Japanese Reality Show on Netflix called Terrace House. There is a whole series of shows but the one I watched was Terrace House: Boys & Girls in the City. This is on Netflix and was co-produced by Netflix and Fuji TV. The basic premise of this show, and the other Terrace House shows, is that six people (three boys and three girls) in their twenties move into a house together. They live together in a house in Japan and just hang out. There’s dating and people going around Japan and people just living their lives. It’s great! From that description I might have not convinced you so let me tell you a little more. Do you know slice of life anime that are just about people living their lives in Japan? Imagine that but as a Japanese reality TV show that has a group of people reacting and talking about it. It’s not like American reality TV shows where the drama feels over the top and completely manufactured. I’m sure the people at Netflix aren’t completely hands off when it comes to this show but any “manufactured drama” seems subtle to non-existent in Terrace House: Boys & Girls in the City. It really does feel like it’s just people living in a house together, seeing the sights of Tokyo, eating food, and going to their jobs. They also aren’t locked in a house where they can’t experience the outside world. They regularly travel into Japan, use their phones, and even watch past episodes as they air in Japan. This part is a little strange to me, but it seems to work fine for Terrace House.
For a show like this that doesn’t have manufactured drama and unnecessary storylines, other facets of the show really have to shine. Three things that really stand out for me are the housemates, the sights of Tokyo, and the theme song. Let’s start with the song because it is really good. So good that even months later, I probably listen to the song once a week at least. For the international version the theme song is Slow Down By Lights Follow. Every time the song would slowly creep into the scene I got pumped. When the opening credits came in showing off the current people in the house, I’d dance every time. Truly a great song that gets stuck in my head and I’m not complaining about it. The second thing that really stands out to me during this show is all the places they visit in Japan. I’ve never been to Japan and speak no Japanese but the shots of this show make me want to pack up and go right now. They go to so many cool places that look like perfect spots to visit. And the food. Don’t even get me started on the food. I have no idea if the places they go to eat are fancy or just normal places, but all of it looks amazing. It’s kind of laughable that eating is such an essential part of the show, but all of the stuff they eat looks so yummy. Also they go to many cool locations on their dates that I’d love to visit.
The third and most important thing that makes this show great are the people that are living in Terrace House. The show starts with six people all moving into the house together, but these people rotate as the show goes on. Some people stay for only a little while, while others stay for large portions of the show. I want to talk about some of the people that I really liked on the show. First is Mizuki who was one of the original six to move into the house. During the show, she worked as a part-time Barista and worked part-time in an office building. I feel like she didn’t get a ton of screen time during the seventeen episodes she’s on, but I really liked her and I thought she had a great personality. See I say that this show doesn’t have unnecessary storylines, but they do still control the overall story of the show by deciding who gets the most screen time from episode to episode. Do you have some spicy conflict with another housemate or are you starting a relationship with another charismatic housemate? You are getting a lot of screen time. Other people who live in the house but aren’t really pursuing romance as hard kind of fade into the background, which sucks. Mizuki didn’t have a big romance in the show so she wasn’t the center of attention, but I still liked her. One of my favorite guys on the show ws Arman. Arman wasn’t one of the original housemates but he came in the first third of the show and he made it to the very end. Arman was a laid-back guy from Hawaii who was trying to become a firefighter. Arman sometimes got heat from the panelists for being lazy, but it turns out he was just a chill dude and actually worked really hard at a landscaping company. He was around through most of the show and he seemed to make strong friendships with many house members. Arman even managed to get into a relationship with Masako which lasted for a bit after the show ended.
Lastly, I want to talk about Minori and Tatsuya. These two were also part of the original six that moved into the house at the beginning of the show (I swear I like the people from the later half as well) and they ended up dating each other while the show was filming. There are some spicy moments that involve food (Looking at you Omurice and “The Meat Incident”), but I honestly think that their relationship was great to watch. You gotta see it develop as the two had to figure out where exactly they wanted this relationship to go and what they wanted out of the relationship. There were moments where they seemed to have trouble communicating and talking about their future. That’s a very realistic part of relationships that don’t often get talked about or discussed in a show like this. Minori is someone I really clicked with from the beginning and I loved seeing the relationship through the good times and bad. They even left the show together, but are no longer together. Plus Minori’s sister was pretty cool too and I loved seeing her show up for a couple episodes. I should also mention that this show aired in 2015 so they are probably in different places in their lives compared to the show. Many have gotten married to people not on the show, but for me that doesn’t take away from the show. I really just liked seeing these people succeed in their personal and professional lives and I rooted for the romance. I just want all of these people to be happy!
So there are some thoughts I have about Terrace House: Boys & Girls in the City. Should you watch it? Well I will say it’s probably not for everyone but as someone who cannot stand watching American reality television, I found this show very refreshing. I loved the people living in the house, the panel talking about the events of the show, the food, and the sights. If any of that sounds good to you, I’d give it a try. There are several series of Terrace House on Netflix so you can watch a bunch if you really want to. I can only speak for Boys & Girls in the City because that’s the only one I’ve watched. I do want to find a way to find the non-Netflix Terrace House series because I heard it’s really good, but we’ll see if that actually happens.
Thank you so much for reading that Weekly Blog. I’m glad after the months of not talking about Terrace House, I finally got to share my thoughts on the show with all of you. If you liked this Weekly Blog or are a big fan of the show, I hope you give this Weekly Blog a like. You can also leave me a comment down below if you want to tell me about your favorite moments from Terrace House: Boys & Girls in the City. You can also give me some recommendations for other shows that you think I might like. If you really liked this Weekly Blog and want to support me further, please consider Following me here on WordPress. I want to create a positive and creative space on the internet and every single person who Follows me helps me expand that space. Some of the kindest and most supportive people Follow me and it brings me so much joy. If you want to see the stuff I write show up in your feed, following me is the best way to make sure that happens.
Thank you again for all your support and I hope you have a wonderful week!
-Allen_The_Writer
Header Photo Credit to Terrace House’s IMDb page
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4790546/
Allen The Writer 