Terrace House: Tokyo 2019-2020

This was the first ever season I watched of Terrace House. It's a rabbit hole, you keep watching and watching because you are curious how their stories develop and it's unscripted. Until I realised what is being filmed is highly curated by the producers, they decide what is being showed. Like Risako and Haruka are friends in real life (they mentioned it on Instagram), but the producers didn't show those scenes, only drama and fight scenes. And 1 episode = 1 week that consists of +/- 20 minutes of filmed content, so what's being shown is not accurate at all, there were many plot holes throughout the show.

Also a few cast members went on the show to only help their careers and not find love. It was clear as day. I watched this show until Hana Kimura came around, who was really after love. What a bright lady. I went on the internet and by surprise saw that she was found dead in her house at the end of May 2020 due to cyber bullying and her skin color following a fight with a cast member which apparently was shown on the show. It saddens me and I was so shocked. Also, the panel that gives commentary on the show is sometimes funny, but there are boundries. They went overboard many times. In the end the panel in the show is highly toxic and influence the public opinion. I will not continue to watch this show anymore. I will not support the toxicity of this show. I recommend to not waist your time and move on to another series.

Via this show, you can understand Japanese very well. Very polite, clean, organized.... just to name a few. If you expect something crazy or fight happen in this show, pls pass. One point to applaud is the carmera setting just so versatile even outside the house. The sounds captured as well. It's not like other reality show the way it filmed, very natural.

This is actually quite a good reality-TV series, despite that it feels somewhat scripted at times. The six housemates are interesting and beautiful people, and they are - surprise! - kind to each other (for the most part). So no such drama that usually is the staple of other similar shows. Instead, here you get decent people trying to navigate their careers and potentially their love lives.

Is this boring? Not at all. Watching 20-somethings (and one in his early 30s) living and interacting maturely and generously to each other is rather a refreshing respite from the standard fare of drama queens and hateful selfishness often seen in this genre. The scenes outside the house add to good story-telling, as do the often hilarious commentaries from the six "hosts".

If, like me, you didn't really take to the earlier versions of the series, do give this one a try.

I remembered watching 1st episode of the older season almost 2 years ago & it didn't grab me. This current season pop up on my recommendation & probably due to my age & different settings in my life, different cast etc, this season does grab my attention. Just like any reality show, I think it really helps if the showcased individuals has charms & real personalities instead of fake persona. The producer does a good job so far for this current series. As the camera is not turned on 24/7 & the whole week is edited in 30 minutes, commentator helps bridge the gap on things that are not aired, activities on tweeter etc.

While waiting for the next episode to arrive I actually ending up binging the previous seasons (as I wrote the netflix in the country where I lived aired until eps12 while in factual it's already at eps15) & googling about all the other seasons (there are 4 on Netflix), the good, the bad & the ugly. I managed to just read enough without spoiling it.

Yes, it can be boring, yes it can be cheesy, feel scripted at some points, not intellectually challenging but it's entertaining without overly exaggerating. I'm entertained... so Netflix thank you for sponsoring this show.

Even omitting the out-of-show events that lead to this series cancellation, Terrace House 2020 was already at reaching it's worst point since the late portion of 'Aloha State'.

Envisioned as a lead up the 2020 Tokyo Olympics (cancelled), the season starts interesting enough, but finds itself sabotaged by poor casting choices that created objections not only in Japan, but with it's worldwide audiences. First, commentary regular Tokui was suddenly removed from broadcast due to tax evasion. Then, a particular member's aggressive advances towards another cast members lead international critics to blame the show of being an enabler of sexual predation.

Finally, the show came to it's abrupt end with the suicide of a member who was cyberbullied following an altercation with another member.

So, while there may be enjoyable moments to this season, as a whole, it is very difficult to recommend watching TH 2020 to anyone but the most diehard TH fans.