Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Terrace House: Tokyo 2019-2020’ On Netflix, A New Season Of The Japanese ‘Real World’

Terrace House is a very popular reality show in Japan, which Netflix picked up after the first season was produced by Fuji Television. If the format of the show feels familiar, it’s because it is. It’s six young strangers living in a gorgeous house, like The Real World, and aired in real time in Japan, like Big Brother. Read on to find out how this may be better than those two shows….

TERRACE HOUSE: TOKYO 2019-2020: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: Six hosts sit on a couch and bow “Good evening.” They welcome us to a new season of Terrace House, where six young strangers live in a house for months on end.

The Gist: This is the fifth season of Terrace House, which is a bit of a cross between The Real World (at least the chaste parts) and Big Brother. It’s pretty straightforward: Six strangers live in a house for months on end, and the panel of six presenters serve as the representatives of the audience, watching each episode with us and chiming in with comments about every ten minutes or so.

No one’s being challenged with games or eliminations or are they required to work a group job or go on a group trip. They simply live together in a gorgeous two-story house, drive beautiful Jaguars, and work their usual jobs. If someone decides to leave, someone else moves in. And on it goes; at this point the six housemates are scheduled to live there until at least the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, so about 18 months (the series premiered in Japan in May). This is actually relatively brief compared to some other seasons, which have stretched on for two years or more.

In the first episode, we see an extended sequence where everybody politely and awkwardly introduces themselves, ask about each other’s ages and jobs, and basically start sizing each other up. The age range is from 31 — Larry, a singer — to 20 — Ruka, a part-time retail worker whose face turns red when he talks to women. Kaori, 28, is an illustrator; Haruka, 24, is an actress; Shohei, 25, is an actor who lives in Taiwan, who has a housepainter job in Tokyo; and Risako, 20, is a fitness instructor who does parkour.

Three of them go shopping to stock their fridge, while the other three wash dishes. All the women like the shy Ruka, despite his young age, but it seems that Shohei is keen on the creative Kaori. At the supermarket, Kenny and Haruka blow off Risako. But as the men and women hang out in their respective rooms, they each try to figure out who they’re interested in; the women visit the men’s room out of curiosity, and the Shohei makes the first big move and asks Kaori out for a drink.

Our Take: Why are we doing a Stream It Or Skip It for Terrace House now, after four seasons and a movie? Because we were curious; we knew that the show was going back to Tokyo after being in Hawaii and elsewhere, and we just wanted to see how the show’s aesthetic compared to TRW, which just came back on Facebook Watch.

We’ve got to be honest: We’d much rather watch Terrace House than TRW. While both shows have a pop music soundtrack, TH uses its soundtrack sparingly, letting the unscripted moments between housemates play out, even if there’s some silence. The soundtrack is tryly there as background, not thumping in our ears to tell us how to feel.

Also, the house is gorgeous, all wood flooring and modern but comfy furnishings. Having adult men and women sleep on bunk beds is a little odd, but the men’s and women’s bedrooms look cozy, and the “play room” is one we’d love to have. But what strikes us most is that the housemates aren’t there to hook up or climb into the pool with each other right away; yes, they’re scoping each other out, and they’re all looking to flirt and date, but they’re cautious… well, at least everyone but Shohei is. But there’s still an innocent quality to all the flirting, which is refreshing given how TRW has been a noisy hook-up show since oh, about 2002 or so. What the producers of TH are doing is showing these six people living the lives they arrived with, just in a beautiful house and surrounded by five other young and pretty people. Simple, right?

What’s more than awesome about TH is the commentary from the six hosts that pops in every ten minutes or so. This season’s panel — You, Reina Triendl, Yoshimi Tokui, Azusa Babazono, Ryota Yamasato and Shono Hayama — have the experience of hosting other seasons, so they already have preconceived notions of who might have conflicts and who won’t… and they’re pretty funny expressing those notions. When they talk about the shy Ruka’s crinkly smile, one of the hosts says, “I want to find that person. The swindler who smiles with crinkly eyes.” Another chimes in: “There are people who have that smile that are up to no good.” That’s the kind of conversation we would have watching show like this, so we’re glad that being gossipy about reality show cast members is a worldwide phenomenon.

Sex and Skin: Again, all innocent so far.

Parting Shot: The women discuss what just happened between Shohei and Kaori. Kaori was so surprised she said she had to hide her face while saying yes.

Sleeper Star: We almost want to watch a show with the hosts instead of the housemates, that’s how much we enjoyed that part of the show.

Most Pilot-y Line: Referring these adults to “Boys” and “Girls” is annoying. That just feeds into millennial notions that they don’t feel grown-up yet, despite being well past drinking age.

Our Call: STREAM IT. Terrace House: Tokyo 2019-2020 is like The Real World during its early years, when people finding out about each other was more important than seeing them hook up. The cast is charming, the hosts are hilarious, and the house is amazing. What’s not to like?

Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, VanityFair.com, Playboy.com, Fast Company.com, RollingStone.com, Billboard and elsewhere.

Watch Terrace House: Tokyo 2019-2020 On Netflix