Netflix’s most addictive show is ‘Old Enough’, about cute Japanese kids doing chores

The hottest new series on Netflix right now isn’t a true rogue crime drama with an exorbitant musical budget, nor is it a trash dating show featuring some of the worst people. appeared on television. It wasn’t even a nerve-wracking and ripping meditation on Regency-era London.

No, the most watched show on Netflix right now is just a Japanese reality series about unsupervised toddlers running complicated multi-step errands for their parents. It is called Old enough!and it’s even healthier than it sounds.

Old enough! first caught my (and internet’s) attention last week when journalist Kathryn VanAreendonk tweeted about watching it after it was given to her by the streaming platform’s algorithm. VanArendonk writes, “Me: the Netflix algorithm doesn’t know me at all. Netflix: This is a Japanese reality show about very young children being sent to do ambitious solo jobs. ”

The screenshots she shares depict a little girl in braids sternly reminding herself to keep up the task and, after successfully completing the errand, congratulate herself. by exclaiming, “You are brilliant! I’m a genius!” Naturally, I immediately opened Netflix in a new tab and continued to watch seven episodes in one weekend.

As a regular 25-year-old and sparingly paying UberEats delivery fees to order lunch from Popeyes not 400 feet from my apartment, I initially viewed the title of the series as a personal attack. Surely, if two-year-old Hiroki could walk along a major highway to buy spicy curry sauce from the grocery store alone, technically I was “old enough” to choose my own fried chicken sandwiches. But the narrator describes Hiroki as a “trivial genius” and I am not a genius at anything, at least among all errands. Plus, it’s drizzling outside. Continue.

With super-short episodes averaging 10 to 15 minutes in length, losing track of how long you’ve watched is almost alarming. Each episode more or less follows the same format. The narrator introduces the child by stating his name, age, and challenge of the episode. Then, often one of the parents will explain the errands to the child, equipping the child with supplies such as a backpack to take home any groceries and a colorful flag to help the child with the ice. Cross the road safely before taking your child.

Sometimes, two children will cooperate and solve tasks together. The hard work ranges from catching a flounder from the hatchery attached to the family’s seafood restaurant (although Hana is defensive, the hatchery is intimidating, and she’s two) to navigating the seas. busy road and walk a few blocks to shop at the bustling fish market.

A group of cameramen followed at a close distance, trying for most of the time to hide the subject of the episode. One of the job requirements to join the production team has to be a heart of steel, because they’re clearly not allowed to help at all — even if, for example, sweet Hinako spends half an hour to pluck a giant cabbage plant from her aunt. gardening, a job the narrator points out often requires the use of a sickle. It’s both heartbreaking, funny, and endearing to watch Hinako worry that her mother will go crazy because she’s late coming home in the dark, dragging a cabbage plant — roots and all — roughly the size of a baby. her four-year-old child.

Old enough! New to American audiences, only recently landed on Netflix, but has been a popular series in Japan for over 30 years. There are currently 20 episodes from different seasons available to stream in the US.