This article contains spoilers for all of Terrace House: Opening New Doors.
Already feeling the effects of Terrace House withdrawal?
Opening New Doors, the latest season of hit reality TV show Terrace House, ended on February 12 in Japan, with the final international release scheduled for tomorrow. The next season will be set once again in Tokyo, raising fan hopes that shorter commute times for members will encourage more in-house group bonding and career-focused storylines. The next season — is Tokyo 2019-2020 really what they’re going to call it? — will begin airing via Netflix Japan in May of this year, with the first international release most likely taking place in summer.
What to do while we wait? If rewatching past seasons for the millionth time just doesn’t cut it anymore, it’s time to explore the world of Another Terrace, the show’s archive of unaired footage on YouTube.
Watch unseen Terrace House clips with English subs
Although Another Terrace videos are unfortunately released without subtitles, members of Terrace House fansubbing group Costco Subs, and more recently the Another Terrace Project, have gallantly taken it upon themselves to translate the Another Terrace clips — thereby giving English-speaking fans access to the same content as Japanese viewers. Although they have not gotten through every single Another Terrace clip yet, there are dozens of videos. You can find the archive of work in the r/terracehouse subreddit, videos are hosted on the non-profit subtitling platform, Amara.
Some Another Terrace clips show the housemates in a slightly different light than their on-air, more curated storylines do. Others offer a deeper look into Japanese society, something many international viewers say is a major reason for their interest in the show. Still, others are a blast from the past or a vision of the future.
The following clips are a pick of the most entertaining. Enjoy and see you in Tokyo!
1. Checking in with Ma-kun
Featuring: Free-spirited pro-skateboarder Kaito (appeared in episodes 35-49)
Kaito goes to visit one of his friends from the Shonan seaside, Terrace House alum Masato “Ma-kun” Yukawa. As one of the very first housemates, Ma-kun was involved in a string of memorable escapades, usually co-starring Seina Shimabukuro, during and after his Boys and Girls Next Door run. He may have come off as a controlling playboy, but his career has only grown since his time on the show. In the Another Terrace clip, Ma-kun, sporting an unfortunate haircut, shows Kaito his line of watches. Good for him, I guess?
2. The reality of job hunting
Featuring: Job-hunting housemother Yui (appeared in episodes 22-49) and put-together mustache-chaser Aya (appeared in episodes 26-38)
Although Yui’s job search already gets its fair share of airtime, this scene between Yui and Aya offers a few more insights as to the attitudes of young Japanese job hunters, well summarized by Yui’s expression “you don’t choose the company, the company chooses you.” The two discuss taking interviews just to practice and joke that becoming a housewife would be so much easier than entering a company. The Japanese working world may not be a cakewalk, but assuming women will stop working after marriage is companies’ excuse for not promoting women, as well as the so-called logic behind Tokyo Medical University’s scheme to deliberately exclude female applicants. Don’t feed the stereotype!
3. and 4. Boys’ night out and girls’ night in
Featuring: The boys (Taka, Noah, Shunsuke)
Featuring: The girls (Aya, Maya, Yui) and Shunsuke
Terrace House has always had a somewhat complicated relationship with sex, with all but the most, shall we say, impulsive members, trying to keep their public image squeaky clean. These two clips — a boys’ night out with Taka, Noah, and Shunsuke and a girls’ night in with Aya, Maya, Yui, and Shunsuke — are therefore notable for being a little spicier than than the usual on-air fare, although the girls make sure to clarify that they have only slept with their then-boyfriend. But hey, Shunsuke and Noah realize they share a kink, Maya talks about loving kissing but not sex, and the girls hilariously theorize what Yui’s bedroom manner will be. Come on, Netflix, put this stuff in the show next time!
5. Seina’s exit interview
Featuring: The legendary Shimabukuro (appeared in episodes 10-34)
Seina’s time on Opening New Doors was marred with speculation and accusations from the other housemates that she had hidden her budding relationship with Noah. Now, at season’s end, we could talk all day about glass houses and stones, but why not give Seina’s final words our consideration too? In addition to sharing more details about Shohei’s behavior toward her and the infamous missing time at the campsite — she was drunk, lost, and looking for a bathroom — Seina chokes up when talking about how kind and affectionate Noah is. Despite eyebrows raised on either side of the screen in response to their relationship, Seina and Noah certainly seem to suit each other.
6. Yui visits a fortune teller
Featuring: Housemother Yui again
In this clip, Yui goes to see the “Karuizawa Mother,” a local fortune teller. Predictably, she asks for insight as to her career and love life. The fortune teller advises Yui that she is most compatible with Aio and that Kaito, who Yui was interested in at the time, would be best left as a friend. Lo and behold, Yui and Aio eventually become a couple — although in an insincere, anticlimactic fashion. As for career, the fortune teller advises Yui to work with plants or with something “thin and long” like soba or spaghetti. The spaghetti idea, in particular, seems fitting, given Yui’s propensity for creating jumbled messes (“So should I not talk about the hand-holding incident, then?” No, girl, you shouldn’t).
7. Yui apologizes to Tsubasa
Featuring: Yui and sporty fan-favorite Tsubasa (appeared in episodes 1-21), among others.
Extra footage from Taka’s goodbye party, when former members Tsubasa, Shion, and Shohei came back to visit, was released through Another Terrace. The clip starts with Shion and Yui regaling the group with former member Yudai’s attempt to ask Yui out, but it transitions into girl talk once the boys leave for a smoke. Yui reveals that this is actually the second time the two Karuizawa locals have spoken, the first time being when an elementary-school-aged Yui asked whether Tsubasa was a girl or a boy — and was promptly and fiercely scolded by her mother.
8. Shunsuke visits a drag bar
Featuring: Aspiring hair and makeup artist Shunsuke (appeared in episodes 32-38)
Although I already introduced this clip in my article about Terrace House and LGBT issues in Japan, it merits another entry because it’s absolutely the best that Another Terrace has to offer (plus, you know, now it has subtitles). The two drag queens Shunsuke chats with in Shinjuku Nichome are a font of good advice, dirty jokes, and bittersweet stories. Through discussing topics such as feeling guilty or isolated, not falling for straights, and the sexuality spectrum, the queens offer a more nuanced look at LGBT experiences than was shown in Terrace House’s official episodes. The drag bar does reappear in the final episode of Opening New Doors, allowing viewers to catch up with Shunsuke and Sota, who seem to have remained friends even after leaving the show.
Think this list is totally out of whack or has a glaring omission? Let us know in the comments!
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