Terrace House (テラスハウス) is a Japanese reality show that started in 2012, originally airing on Fuji Television as part of their "COOL TV" segment under the name Boys × Girls Next Door for 8 seasons until 2014 and concluding with a standalone movie in 2015. The show follows a group of people living in the eponymous Terrace House in the Shōnan region as they live their lives, work towards their dreams, and make connections with one another.
What sets it apart from other reality shows which follow people living under the same roof is that the housemates (or members as they're known on the show) will leave Terrace House of their own volition, when their career or personal life requires it, they feel like their goals have been met, or they feel the house has nothing more to offer them. The show also has a panel of commentators composed of various Japanese celebrities and media figures who discuss what happens during the course of the episode and also provide an audio commentary track on Netflix.
In 2015, a new season of the show taking place in Tokyo titled Boys & Girls in the City premiered as a co-production of Internet streaming service Netflix and Fuji TV, running for a total of 46 episodes before concluding. It also marked the first time the series was available for international release. The next season of the show, entitled Aloha State, would shake things up by changing the location of the house from Japan to Hawaii, but still following a group of Japanese-speaking young adults. Aloha State concluded in summer of 2017 after 36 episodes.
The following series, Opening New Doors, brought the series back to Japan, taking place in Karuizawa in the Nagano district. It premiered in December of 2017 and lasted until February of 2019 for a total of 49 episodes. The finale teased the newest series, Terrace House Tokyo 2019-2020, once again bringing the setting back after two series.
Terrace House has been noted by many Internet commentators as being a refreshing take on reality TV, being relatively free of staged drama and fights that are commonly associated with similar shows and focusing more on the bonds and relationships formed by the housemates, who seem like ordinary people rather than over-the-top characters.
However, after the tragic death of housemate Hana Kimura in 2020 which is believed to be linked to cyberbullying after a dramatic incident on the show, the Tokyo season was cancelled and the last episodes that were filmed remained unaired. Many fans have called into question the authenticity and nature of the series after former members have come forward and described being asked by producers to stage scenes and fake drama to drum up interest in the show, also admitting to be cyberbullied. The future of the series now remains uncertain.
This series provides examples of:
- Action Girl: Hana from Tokyo was the poster girl of this trope, being a famous wrestler from World Wonder Ring ST★RDOM and going to the house during her free time.
- Risako who is also from the Tokyo 2019-2020 season is a professional fitness trainer and a parkour enthusiast.
- Alternative Foreign Theme Song: Taylor Swift has provided the opening songs for all of the series, but internationally the show uses royalty-free music both for the opening themes and background music.
- Armor-Piercing Question: Seina delivers one to Ma-kun when he returns from his trip abroad to California, asking him which one is more important, her or surfing? Ma-kun answers "surfing" since it's what he's truly passionate about.
- Back for the Finale: The finale of Opening New Doors shows how several former housemates spend their Christmas.
- Beach Episode: Usually there is one at least once every series, especially in Aloha State since it took place in Hawaii.
- Bruiser with a Soft Center: Raoumaru, a heavyweight kickboxer and one of Dyki-kun's friends, is quite the softie as shown by his reaction to Dyki's forced retirement. Just as the two are going off to hang out, Raoumaru stays behind for a bit to keep his friend from seeing his tears.
- Brutal Honesty: Natsumi from the second series is never afraid to speak her mind, something that put her at odds with some of the other members, particularly Minori and Misaki.
- Career-Ending Injury: In one of the most heart-rending moments of the original series, kickboxer Dyki finds out that he has an arachnoid cyst in his skull and he is forced to retire from combat sports. He spends the rest of his time in the house searching for a new career path.
- Catchphrase: YOU or Tori-chan usually starts off each episode with a variation of "In this show, six strangers live together under one roof. All we have provided is a nice house and nice cars. There is no script".
- One episode of Boys × Girls Next Door is actually centered around eight different memorable phrases from noteworthy scenes in order to come up with a catchphrase for the show.
- Cool Big Sis: Kurumi Nakada is stylish, sophisticated, and offers valuable life advice to her younger sister Minori. Many fans of the show wish that she would have joined the house as a member, as well.
- Cool House: All of the Terrace Houses featured so far, which are all very stylish and modern.
- Early-Bird Cameo: Whenever a new member is set to move in, they will be shown an episode before either out with friends or with their coworkers talking about how they're moving into Terrace House. The scenes are always shot in a way that avoids showing their face to build suspense.
- Early-Installment Weirdness: YOU was the only commentator there from the very beginning of Boys × Girls Next Door. She would be seen at the beginning of each episode being driven around Tokyo, giving a basic rundown of the episode and doing a recap of the previous episode. Reina Triendl, aka Tori-chan, eventually joined her in episode 14 and the two would either watch the episode from a theater or occasionally be driven around, as well. The rest of the familiar commentator panel would not appear until episode 27, roughly 1/3rd of the way through the first series.
- Everyone Meets Everyone: The first episode of each series has all six housemates arrive at around the same time and introduce themselves.
- Gratuitous English: A few house members (who with a few exceptions are all native Japanese speakers) inject English phrases into their speech.
- In Opening New Doors, Mayu gets made fun of by the commentators for exclaiming "めっちゃ me too!" note in response to Noah saying he likes nature. The episode is even named after this.
- Seina seems to be fond of telling people "Hug me!" in English.
- Lauren Tsai from Aloha State was noted by the panel for often falling back and speaking in English either when she felt uncomfortable or she had trouble verbalizing how she felt in Japanese.
- Hard-Drinking Party Girl: Seina Shimabukuro, who debuted in the first series, is a glamorous fashion model who is known for her outgoing and fun-loving personality, especially when she drinks. She is one of the few members to reappear in later series of the show.
- Hopeless Suitor:
- Tecchan from the first series had a huge crush on Rie, but since she is an idol, she's forbidden from dating. The two did go on a few casual dates, but it never progressed any further. Notably, on their last date, Ricchan pushes his hand away when he tries to hold her hand and the camera lingers on his anguished face.
- Mayu from Opening New Doors ran into this almost immediately with Shion (who is already involved with Tsubasa). She moves on to Noah after Shion graduates, but it's the same result as he's interested in Yui (at the time; he moves on to Seina himself later). He even tells her to her face that there is no chance of things moving forward between them.
- Misaki from Boys & Girls in the City had a huge crush on Hikaru and tried in different ways to show her interest to him, but he coldly shut her down on a date, telling her that he thought she was insecure and had no core.
- Idol Singer: Rie Kitahara was one of the first housemates in Boys × Girls Next Door. She is famous for being in the J-pop group AKB48 and was forbidden to date anyone due to the infamous "love ban" that many idols have to follow. A lot of the initial interest in the series was seeing her.
- Incompatible Orientation: Shunsuke, the first openly bisexual male member throughout the series history goes on a "date" with Sota, but it's pretty clear that Sota doesn't seem interested in men.
- I Will Wait for You: Seina towards Ma-kun in the original series when he goes off to California to pursue his surfing career. However, ultimately their romance fizzles when it is revealed that Ma-kun had been ignoring Seina's calls and texts and he decides to prioritize his surfing career.
- Like Brother and Sister: Best exemplified with Tecchan and Seina from the original series since they had grown very close among the original members of the house. When she comes back a second time to live in the newer house, she introduces herself as Tecchan's older sister to the members she hadn't met yet.
- Masculine Girl, Feminine Boy: Though downplayed, the dynamic between Tsubasa and Shion in Opening New Doors is this: she's a professional hockey player with short hair who doesn't dress very femininely, while he's a male model who's good at cooking and cleaning, and isn't good at sports compared to Tsubasa. She discusses this when she visits the house after graduating, noting that after she and Shion started dating she felt like she needed to look more feminine.
- Mixed Ancestry Is Attractive: Sometimes comes up in relation to half-Japanese residents.
- Boys & Girls in the City: Half-Italian Hikaru Ota was highly sought after by Misaki and both the girls in the house and the commentators noted that his mixed background gave him his handsome appearance.
- Opening New Doors: Both Shion (half white American) and Noah (half-Austrian) were considered "high spec" prospects by house members and the commentators in part because of what they considered to be exceedingly good looks due to their mixed ancestry. Both would be the focal point of love triangles during their stay in the house.
- Near-Death Experience: In Aloha State, this happens to Guy when he gets knocked face-first into a reef by a wave while surfing. He ends up going to the hospital for his injuries. This becomes a major point in subsequent episodes as he feels anxiety about trying to surf again.
- Old Flame Fizzle: Yuriko tries to rekindle her relationship with her ex, but he rebuffs her and tells her she needs to focus on medical school. She leaves the house afterwards.
- One-Steve Limit: The original series of the show has two Tetsuyas. Original member Tetsuya Sugaya is usually referred to as Tecchan by the other housemates. Tetsuya Iwanaga eventually joins the house and the other members struggle with how to refer to him, eventually settling on "Oji" due to his princely looks. Tetsuya seems somewhat uncomfortable with the nickname, but he never makes a big deal about it, being referred to as Oji for the rest of his time on the show.
- Prone to Tears: Tecchan from Boys × Girls Next Door would often break into tears, particularly when one of the members he had become close to left the house. It happened so frequently that it was remarked upon by the panel.
- Reality TV Show Mansion: The show is a variation of this, where the young boys and girls live together in a fancy mansion, but they can go out anytime, just passing their freetime there. All of this is later commenting during the show as a talk show by the hosts and guest stars who see everything that happens in the house.
- Relationship Upgrade: Most notably in Boys & Girls in the City with Minori and Uchi, who are the first couple in the Tokyo house. Misaki & Yuuki and Arman and Martha respectively become couples, as well.
- Dyki and Hana from Boys × Girls Next Door were the first pair in the series to become a couple after a few weeks of hanging out and dating.
- Shion and Tsubasa from Opening New Doors, a fan favorite couple who has a slow, but heartwarming, progression to their relationship.
- Sequel Goes Foreign: Aloha State takes place in Hawaii, but also shows some scenes in Japan like when Lauren took a trip there.
- Serial Romeo: Taishi from Aloha State, who stated that he moved into the house to find a "love worth dying for" and subsequently tried to date almost every female housemate that moved in. He eventually began a relationship with Chikako, but the two broke up after the show's end.
- Slice of Life: A notable difference from English reality shows is that the housemates continue to go to school and work while they live in the house. Housemates are even allowed to leave the house temporarily (generally for work reasons) and return days later.
- Spin-Off: The first series had one in the feature-length film Closing Door, which picks up where the TV show left off with 2 of the previous members (Seina and Tetsuya) returning.
- Team Dad: Hansan from Boys & Girls in the City, who was the oldest member of the house and is known for his levelheadedness and maturity, as well as imparting wisdom to his younger housemates.
- Takayuki from Opening New Doors is also one of the older housemates at 31 and often gave out life advice to the younger members.
- Technical Virgin: This becomes a major source of contention in the appropriately-titled "Still a Virgin" in Opening New Doors. After Yui, Maya, Aio and Risako get into a heated argument, Risako and Aio then talk privately afterward, where he claims that he and Yui went "all the way" despite her claims to be a virgin. However, she later states:Tanaka Yui: He said we went all the way, right? We didn't actually go all the way. But, um... we sort of did it. That's the true answer. [...] It's true that we started to do it. But then I... I felt that it was impossible to continue and asked him to stop.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Mizuki delivers a particularly scathing one to Makoto over his laziness and attempting to stir up drama between Minori and Uchi. It's one of her most notable moments from her time on the show.
