Vilarejo do Amor

Gosh. After years of travel, I somehow never made it to Japan. The authenticity and openness and thought process of this group of singles living together, working together, refurbishing an historic property together, all while getting to know each other / considering their needs and their hearts for a life long partners, was an honor to have witnessed. This series has haunted me with insights way beyond the first viewing. That said: The format of 2 commentators interrupting the flow of the actual footage is irritating. But it is what it is. There is a Season 2 as well. However Season 1 is the Season that moved my heart the most.

Interesting different concept of a matchmaking show where the participants are a more mature cast of those that are not just looking for love, but a life partner. Since they are more mature, having been married before or have had previous relationships that have taught them experiences in life, they know what they need, want, and what their internal struggles are already. Since they are more mature they open up more quickly and are more straight forward with each other in their feelings. Some are a little more naive than others and misunderstand which causes some drama within the village. If they find a partner they believe they can become life partners with, they ring the bell and confess their feelings in front of the rest. The person getting confessed to then has overnight to think about it and either accept (leave with them) or refuse (the confessor goes home alone). Some happy endings and some disappointments happen, but all the relationships seem real from the heart and not fake and scripted like some of the other match making shows we see.

Four episodes in and I am hooked :D

Hosted by Becky and Tamura Atsushi, two of the most friendly Japanese TV personalities, this new reality romance series features more mature participants in a derivative of its famous and infamous spiritual predecessor "Terrace House".

The participants live together in a house in a rural village. They get 30,000 yen per month for food, which is not a lot for the number of people (8), but they can grow vegetables to supplement their food. Oh, and their mobile phones are taken away.

There are strong personalities and characters, and a vibe which differs a lot from the young adults featured in "Terrace House". The participants range in age from early-30s to 60, some are divorced, some have children, or ongoing careers.

So you're not watching young, good-looking people trying to find love; you're watching older, average to good-looking people with previous life experience trying to find love. And you get an intimate look into the lives of "ordinary" Japanese adults.

Except ...

Japanese society is normally very reserved. People, especially strangers, don't normally share intimate details or have intimate conversations. They just don't usually happen. So by simply appearing on this series already these participants are not ordinary.

And I am 100% on board with that.

Already I think there will be lots of tension and I'm not sure there will be many matches, if any at all. This series will probably not be a hit with most younger audiences. But I'm willing to bet that older viewers will love it. Ganbatte ne.

Its a nice reality show.

For once we can see adults and it change from other shows who bring idiots and shallows.

The only thing i dont like about the show is the song.

I would like they choose a Japanese song better than Backstreet Boys.

It still an entertainment show!! Whoever I think they could make it better.......

We can feel they need a little push. For example more fun activities, or intellectual games where they can know more about the person they have crush on.

Maybe if they do season 2, they can make some progress to make it better and less boring

I wish they can all find love.

What an absolute misunderstanding of the Terrace House concept. Or, rather, not even attempting to re-capture the beauty of Terrace House.

The commentator setting is sterile and uninteresting. The hosts are OK; the annoying thing is that the hosts' faces keep interrupting the main flow of the TV show (and because they talk over the participants, the subtitles skip out on some of the participants' speech). The camera work is just OK at the best of times, but mostly shaky AF up to a headache-inducing point.

The participants' environment is superficial, and requires participants to disconnect from their day-to-day lives (something that was amazing about the original terraha).

I don't know who green-lit this show, but you're better off not wasting your time on this.