Series: Terrace House: Boys and Girls in the City

^ All of us watching tbh.

So, we just got Netflix and I'm having a lot of Thoughts and Feelings about Terrace House. I figure I might as well chronicle them as I watch. I'll write down what episodes they're applicable for.

Episodes 1-4 (Episode 4 is "In Tears Again")
To recap, Adachi (Tap) and Yuriko (Med) have just had a night out drinking, Makoto (Baseball) apologized to Mizuki (Officegirl) for not speaking up when Adachi made her cry much to the (apparent?) chagrin of Minori (Model), and Uchi (Hairstylist) told Adachi not to hold back on trying to win Yuriko's affection just because Uchi expressed interest in her.

What made me want to write about this was really the whole conversation/confrontation between Mizuki and Adachi. When Mizuki was talking about what she wanted to be when she was 50 years old, she painted the picture of someone who wanted to open a shop where she could "create an environment where people can come together." Adachi, despite being the one who repeatedly insisted on having this conversation, said her dreams were basically meaningless because they weren't concrete and weren't painting a picture in his head. Mizuki, who clearly had thought thus far that she had a pretty good vision for the future, got frustrated (With her inability to articulate her dream? With its apparent vagueness? With Adachi for being a jackass? Who knows) and started crying. Witnessing this sudden display of emotion in what was supposed to be a celebratory dinner for Adachi's birthday, Yuriko also started crying because "Mizuki's trying so hard."

So it should be pretty obvious how I feel about this. But we'll talk about that later. I want to talk about how the commentators --- most of them Japanese comedians/talents that I have encountered many times before through Arashi --- handled it. I liked that they didn't all share the same points of view. Personally, I found Yama-chan's anger pretty cathartic, but Ayumu's matter-of-fact opposing opinion also made me, well, not think twice (I knew I was pissed), but kind of be more understanding of the other end of things. I like how they handled the differences in opinion and how they tried to see where it could go and how it could go there.

Personally, I hated Adachi for this. I get where he's coming from --- like Tokui says, he comes from a place where he's been stoically studying Tap Dance since he was seven years old. STILL, I thought his nonchalance and apparently mockery of Mizuki was uncalled for and it really pissed me off. I hate that he claims (to Yuriko) that he was trying to help Mizuki by probing, when really he was the furthest thing from constructive. If this were any other reality show, I would write Adachi off as an asshole and be done with it, but the beauty of Terrace House is that I don't feel that way. The most extreme I feel is that if we knew each other, we would probably fight 5 minutes in and we would not be talking again any time soon. I don't know where his thing with Yuriko is going, and at this point, if Yuriko is for some reason into this masochistic relationship, I mean... they're old enough to make these kinds of mistakes so go for it, girl. Yama-chan and I will just be here not-so-subtly side-eyeing you.

Episode 5 ("Eenie Meenie Miney Mo")
I cannot believe Uchi just asked them all out in front of one another. At this point, I am sympathizing the most with Mizuki since she's coming out as the sort of underdog in all of this. My hate for Adachi's also slowly becoming more pronounced because of awkwardly direct he is. Maybe it's my nonconfrontational nature but that's really the kind of thing that will set me off. Like, why do you have to bring this kind of thing up? Why do you have to be such an asshole about things? It's 1:30AM and I should really sleep instead of dwelling on this more. Haha.

Episodes 6-22 ("Case of the Meat")
A lot has happened, but I've only felt the need to hash things out on this episode. First of all, I just need to take a moment to appreciate the format of having a panel of reactors. They are the Jim Halpert of this show - they see things as we do, but they hash it out amongst themselves. In this way, even a solitary viewer can get different viewpoints and you're not left to stew in your feelings of hate or shame or embarrassment over whatever is happening. This is one way to humanize reality TV that goes beyond seeing the show, as it has been referred to, as a sort of cultural tour of Japan.

So at this point, only Minori (model) and Uchi (hairstylist) remain from the original set of housemates. They are joined by Arman (half-Iranian athletic freelancer), Hikaru (half-Italian model/actor/construction worker), Natsumi (Type A Extraverted model), and Arisa (hat designer from Kagoshima). Minori and Uchi are still a couple so far, which Minori planning to leave the house in two months in time with her college graduation. There's a sort of love triangle about to form between Arman, Arisa, and Hikaru, and Natsumi's just all up in everyone's business.

The situation with Natsumi really shook me up as much as it shook up the house. On one hand, I relate to her personality because I can be that way sometimes too, but on the other, her desire to control others and her uncontrollable mouth really irk me. I spent a good amount of time cheering Minori on whenever Natsumi was being annoyingly confrontational without basis, but it helped that Tokui and co were there to explain that it was probably a Kansai thing and it wasn't ill-intentioned.

Still, I really felt the anxiety when Natsumi called the house meeting and called people out for being rudely unsubtle (Uchi), rude with words (Minori), and bad at communicating (Arman, kind of). However, it really annoyed me that she kept interrupting whenever other people tried to talk. That's the kind of Type A personality that, though I can be pretty Type A a lot of the time, really, really gets on my nerves. At first, I imagined I'd get along with Natsumi but the more it went along, the more I found myself not liking her. She and Adachi would have made a great couple, the same way Hikaru and Mizuki would have also been interesting to see.

Now the recent spat with Minori and co eating Uchi's steaks without permission - I get that. The panel really downplayed it, but I genuinely understand where he's coming from. It wasn't just meat for him - it was grade A meat that was given as a sign of appreciation by his clients. To take the meat and cook it without even letting him know or asking permission is a bit... asshole-y. It seems trivial next to everything else that has happened in the house, but by itself, I don't think his was necessarily an overreaction. It wouldn't be weird to me if that was the last straw that made him and Minori break up, because I can also understand the frustration with Minori's lack of desire to do anything. It isn't even that she has no goals, it's that she doesn't seem interested in exploring anything or developing a goal. So what I'm trying to say is I get it.

This is not basically a blog for me to keep track of my thoughts. But yeah, the fact that this show is a reality show that makes you reflect instead of providing an escape is pretty incredible in and of its own. It's best encapsulated for me when You-san says that it must be different/difficult to have all your relationship stuff publicized that way, and even though we hem and haw, we don't know if we ourselves would have reacted in what we deem a problematic way if we were in their shoes.

Episodes 23-32 ("Shall We Pas de Deux?")
So there's an almost-total overhaul of the housemates. I don't know what Arman's role in all of this is, but in my view, his and Hikaru's friendship is probably one of best and purest we've seen the whole time in this show. I have no strong feelings about the current set of housemates -- Arman (Iranian), Misaki (perky model), Handa (architect), Riko (18 year old high schooler), Momoka (ballerina), and Hayato (chef).

I did have a lot of feelings about how Natsumi treated Misaki when she was dumped by Hikaru though. I wanted to write then but everything happened so fast, and just when things reached their lowest point (the welcome dinner for Rikopin), suddenly they made up in the same week and Natsumi announced her departure. I was pretty happy that she was leaving because right on the onset, I thought, "Oh boy. This girl is going to be a handful." And she was. It's so tough to root for her when she's such a unique combination of outgoing and apathetic. She did not want to bother with what other people thought but she got offended whenever someone was different from her. That's the kind of lack of self-awareness that is difficult for me to deal with. I did feel for her when she cried and said it's not easy to change, but I don't know. I felt a sense of relief when she left.

In any case, I am not feeling Hayato at all (he seems creepy and awkward), and I'm really only rooting for Handa, though I am waiting for him to screw up and burst the proverbial bubble at the same time, haha.

Episodes 33-35 ("Bye Bye Mr. Perfect")
This was beautiful. I'm gonna talk about my personal rection then I'm gonna be meta about it.

Hansan with an image even more perfect than it was when he came into the house. I didn't think it was possible and honestly, I was waiting for him to screw up, but he was just... a really good guy. From his will not to cheat on his girlfriend to his passion for solving problems through architecture to his pro-PWD initiative to how freaking kind he is to himself in the face of failure... I mean, honestly. I don't know if I love him or I just look up to him. He seems like such a well-balanced ideal that I can't process how I feel about him.

When I saw the episode title on the Netflix queue, I knew it meant he'd leave, but I definitely didn't think I'd feel anything strong about it. I remember specifically saying, "Aww, I guess Hansan's leaving. Well, he's been so busy recently, it doesn't really make sense for him to stay any longer." But honestly, how he saw and talked to Arman -- who was as different from him as someone can possibly be -- really got me. He has the sort of empathy for others that is so refreshing to see on TV and he was always so level-headed and patient with all of their crazy hijinks. It got even worse when he cried at the scrapbook they made for him... something snapped inside of me and I could not stop crying. I suppose it was the fact that even though he's so chill and reliable, he still loved and treasured his experience with his housemates as much as they treasured him. T___T

Going on to the meta part, my reaction -- and You-san's reaction, where they showed her crying when Hansan left -- is a beautiful example of the strength of a parasocial relationship. That is, we didn't even know each other, but the empathy was so strong that I honestly felt like the proverbial rug was being pulled out under me. I'm sure many people felt this way, as if they too needed his presence in the house so they could feel stable. Man. お疲れ様、はんさん。

Will be updated as I move further along. Last updated 30 March 2018 for Episodes 33-35.