Just like what I did with the Boys & Girls in the City, here’s a completely subjective ranking on the Aloha State members. While Boys & Girls in the City was difficult because it was hard to choose which one I liked best, my challenge for this one was nominating the ones I hated less. Aloha State was such a season full of polarizing parts and I don’t know if my watching habits contributed to a lot of the decision making but whatever, I’m gonna do it the way I did with the previous one.

Another note, this was also a little bit more difficult to write than the Boys & Girls In the City version because I feel like I’m not really doing as much justice? Unlike B&GITC which was a whole marathon, Aloha State was released in parts. I was lucky to score a VPN subscription where I got to watch Part 4 almost 2 months before the worldwide Netflix release. Let’s do this!

WARNING: SPOILERS if you haven’t completed Part 4.

Format: Name / Born / Professional Status

16. Cheri Lavoie / 1993 / Real Estate Agent & Beauty Queen

I think this is self explanatory. If you’re reading this and you haven’t seen Part 4, STOP READING!!!! I’ve never seen such vile attitude in all of my reality show watching (in my defense, I don’t watch a lot). Cheri started on a somewhat high note, being a beauty queen therefore supposedly possessing qualities of a true respectable lady. Her presence started to go downhill when she lectured Taishi about his dating life but was totally twice, or even thrice worse in actions. Being totally reckless and always intoxicated around housemates? Rude.. and not even the happy, cute drunk. She was just a mess overall and it didn’t look great. Don’t even get me started on her supposed rules on friendship and who should be worthy to be her friend. Somebody on Reddit fired back at me with the whole double standards talk but NOPE, unless you’ve watched the last few episodes you will know and you will see for yourself the kind of person she is, having such awful attitude. I’m done.

15. Yusuka Aizawa / 1998 / Musician

In my opinion, Yusuke did not fit the whole Terrace House dynamic at all, but who am I to validate that? It’s just an opinion. Let’s just say if he were a fruit, he still wasn’t ripe enough to eat. That’s putting his talent aside because he’s got lots of it, blessed to posses the gift of music. I do think that attempting to pursue Lauren was a great decision in steps to ripening himself. At they very best he got life experiences and lifelong friends out of Terrace House. More than he could ever ask for.

14. Wez Nakajima / 1988 / Rapper

Wezu, wezu, wezu. Where do I begin? So detached, so lazy, so self-centered, so.. annoying. He’s not in last place because I had high hopes for him. I was counting on him to be a breath of fresh air, to bring something new to Terrace House in Hawaii with his interests, his career and his love for rap music. But nope, his music sucks, and I feel like he’s doing music for not so great reasons (e.g. to get girls). Also, I don’t know if that’s just him or if he suffers from major RBF or RLF (Resting Lazy Face) and he contributed NOTHING to the Terrace House circle. He grunts a lot, his comments hardly warrant any useful contribution, and he refuses to be part of house issues—I can get past this attitude because I for one hate confrontation but you’re in a shared house for fuck’s sake, be sensitive and compassionate. The reason why he’s 3rd to the last is because he at least has some sort of swag, even though his music is really really awful. INSTA-GRAM, INSTA-GRAM! Stfu Wez. He also probably banged Anna and just left her in the dumps. Yuck.

13. Anna Haneisihi / 1994 / Part-timer

Anna was one of the silent slash sly bitches in the house. I laughed so much when Yuya pointed her as the villain of the house when they were asked about who’s who during Cheri’s arrival. I didn’t really understand why she was all over Yuya and Avian’s relationship so much. It was like she was stirring up drama for them and that turned me off her because she hadn’t exactly established friendship with either but she was all up in their grill already. Avian definitely avoided her because of that and looks like they’re not much friends after either. I liked her more when she came back a few times after having officially left the house but man, Wez really burned her. I thought they would have had something good if they tried. But nope, Wez is an arsehole. I’m genuinely and positively curious about her ethnicity though, if she’s purely Japanese or has a bit of Southeast Asian blood in her, because her beauty is so unique (in a good way).

12. Mariko Nitta / 1991 / Private Banker

Sorry but this is purely personal: I think her face is really weird. She was good natured but she let Cherie walk all over her which really annoyed me. That’s all I can say.

11. Jennifer Mila Hasegawa / 1997 / Aspiring Fashion Designer

Mila was super cute but did not seem to contribute to the house/cast on a personal level. It seemed to me like she was the members’ sponge, taking in all their activities and happenings while nothing was happening to her. It was too bad because I felt she would have had a lot to offer. 11th place is all cuteness, and disappointment that she left the show so early and so abruptly which was for sure largely a part of editing and producers’ discretions. Too bad.

10. Eric De Mendonca / 1989 / Carpenter & Cafe Owner

Eric isn’t that attractive to me, physically and emotionally. He does possess qualities of a typical guy’s guy who has a potential of becoming an alpha male, or probably already is. I do like his very Hawaiian lifestyle of doing things at the bare minimum, like opening a pop up instead of a real cafe so he could maintain his social life, being chill and happy, and not so much chasing ambition. Can’t blame him for that, all respect. I also thought he was loads more interesting in Part 4 than he ever was during his stay in the house.

9. Naomi Lorraine Frank / 1993 / Undecided (Waitress in Hawaii)

Naomi is cute, good natured, but lacks strong-will. During her stay I felt like she let the girls overpower her but in her defense, she sees herself as totally Japanese with very minimal Western upbringing except her bloodline so she had a bit of a hard time mixing in the Westernized Lauren and Avian. It was also kind of a shame that she let her Yuya heartbreak dictate her exit of the house because it would have been interesting to potentially watch her grow as opposed to letting one or a few issues faze her then leaving because of it.

8. Taishi Tamaki / 1987 / Waiter & Aspiring Actor

Where do I begin? Taishi is the “ace” of Terrace House. He milked the hell out of it by enjoying the last year of his 20s and that’s something I can’t blame him for. At the end of the day, I respect him. Many of his actions, words, or decisions are elements I don’t necessarily agree with, but having good regard for his housemates and always looking out for them even though his methods aren’t properly communicated (e.g. intense scene of lecturing Yuya, like wtf right). His preference to date the girls one after the other in the house weren’t all to play them like he was Mr. Lothario but definitely his means of finding that one true love and I can’t blame him for that. I’m glad he found it! And all that crying, that was more funny than annoying to me. I never once thought that he was acting. He is just a big ball of emotion and intensity, and it happens to anyone.

7. Yuya Shibusawa / 1998 / Aspiring Actor

Yuya is no. 7 because he was the cutest guy for me when he entered the house. Many might think he’s a slacker but at 18 and already doing things outside his comfort zone and home country, that says something. Despite being young, I loved how he only set his eyes on Avian and went for the relationship in the end even though he had doubts in the middle. Say what you want about them but I feel like they balance each other out. I hope they last long.

6. Guy Sato / 1996 / Pro Surfer

Guy was just the best breath of fresh air for me all throughout the series. He is such a unique individual and positively so. He’s the perfect example of the saying, “If you do what you love, you’ll never have to work a day in your life,” or something like that. His surfing accident was so difficult to watch because it could have ruined his career, worse, his life. We could have seen the shift of his happy-go-lucky attitude to someone who lost his zest of life and I’m so glad that didn’t happen. I’m happy he got to bounce back and enjoy some late night frolicking with Niki.

5. Lauren Tsai / 1998 / Model & Artist

This was a difficult place because I have a love/hate thing going on with Lauren. At times her attitude kind of annoyed me, but as I kept watching and trying to understand her actions I realized she’s just so young, masked in sheer maturity as she makes her way through life. I could feel her genuine anxiety when she was trying to deal with things and issues in the house with other people even thought she wasn’t used to it at all, and I appreciated how she didn’t toy with Yusuke’s feelings and didn’t lead him on. She always maintained her stand and she’s someone who knows what she wants or doesn’t want and I liked that. She was also very family oriented which I appreciated.

4. Chikako Fukuyama / 1988 / Spa Receptionist

Chikako wasn’t an easy person to like for me. I had every right to get jealous of her. She’s my age, gorgeous, great effortless body, great hair, full of sex appeal and she didn’t even had to try. I appreciated how she guarded her heart without closing it, and got along fairly with the other members. It didn’t look like she she led Taishi on and I appreciate that she didn’t let him know she was truly interested until she was ready and closed all doors with her ex. One of my turning points in deciding my love for her was during the big Cheri altercation in the house when she didn’t buy into her shit at all and stood her ground which didn’t necessarily mean she was on Taishi’s side. Atta girl! I almost gave her a standing ovation for that. I hope this love is worth dying for her as well.

3. Niki Niwa / 1996 / College Student & Model

Loved Niki. She took no shit and genuinely enjoyed her stay in the house. Beautiful girl next door who didn’t seem like she was all caught up with anything. I loved her relationship with Guy from the beginning, how they were super comfortable with each other and how naturally things just went on from there. We still don’t know what their “status” really is but I hope they still hang out because they’re cute together and seem to just mindlessly get along. The date with Guy that didn’t turn out well was cute to watch as well, it was the first time I saw a different side of Niki and realizing what her aversions were.

2. Ryo Sekikawa / 1990 / Retail Marketing

Ryo for me is the best Aloha State member, if only we got to see more of him. He was my BGITC Martha, who I love and continue to love but sad that I never got to see more of. He had the greatest personality while in the house and I’m so glad he got to share that with us despite all the negativity he was brought into while in the house. He was like a cross between Hansan and Byrnes in the problem solving aspect, that you could get such great input from him as well as hard-hitting advice for self improvement. Don’t even get me started on his eyes, his gorgeous eyes, and his beautiful raspy voice that just melts me. I need to have more of him.

1. Avian Koo / 1990 / Sales Clerk & Entrepreneur

Avian is overall goals for me. A girl who’s got a good balance between her head and her heart. I’m glad she and Yuya got together because Yuya makes her happy and that she’s able to “tame” Yuya as well and lead him to maturity. She has a bangin’ body and is cute when she smiles. She was everyone’s friend and didn’t take bullshit from anyone and even though she was good friends with Lauren, she chose to be honest with her (this was during Naomi farewell scene) so that everything got solved. I obviously have very little to say about Avian because it’s been a while since I’ve watched her but I sincerely miss her and didn’t hate her one bit during her whole stay. She was always a joy to watch for me from her interactions, her work, her passion, her friendship with others, her relationship with Yuya, and even up to now on social media as she navigates into life.