First Love: Hatsukoi (2022)

A very intriguing romance that involve mysteries about their past

Following the hot wave when it gets released, I also watched the big hit J drama series Hatsukoi. And the reasons why it is so popular are self-explanatory.

Hatsukoi is not the usual romance drama we see, but rather it takes quite an interesting twist to the genre. Every drama lovers love mysteries. Something that makes us curious about what will happen next, as we want to know the answers. So, why not combine the two together, a mix of romance and mystery? That's what makes Hatukoi so special.

Hatsukoi first starts off with a brief introduction to the two main characters, showing their recent life that is quite contradicting pictures to the occasional flashbacks of their past. While they were young, they were full of aspiration and is positive about their life. But now they are facing the brutality of life, living as the low-earning groups of society and not having a life that they can be proud of.

Most importantly, they were one of the most loving couples on earth, and now they are separate from each other as if one has not existed in their life at all. What happened in between that caused a dramatic change in their life, and relationship is what makes Hatsukoi such an intriguing series to be watched.

I love the presentation of the story, that at one scene it is showing the present time, and then the next scene will be about the past. The interchanging play of past and present events is adding a lot of perspectives and dimension to this story, explaining a little bit about the questions we keep asking about the two, while also revealing some more mystery that makes us wonder: what really happened?

The first episode is rather straightforward. Just a briefing of the background story of the main characters, showing the past of how they met and developed their relationship, while also giving us a glimpse of their present self, one being apartment security staff while the other one, being a taxi driver. The vast difference in their attitude towards life as well as their situations, is already ringing an alarm bell inside us that something definitely has happened.

But the real deal comes in the second episode of the series, when Yae's ( main female lead) son, Tsuzuru, introduced her to a friend he had met on a past occasion, and that friend was Yae's first love, Harumichi ( main male lead). It's not the two meetings each other the biggest issue here, but it's Yae's reaction when she saw Harumichi.

She did not know him. As if she never met him before. And it is obvious that she was not acting, she literally did not know him.

This scene is iconic, at least for me, because of the level of mystery that it takes the series up. How come Yae was not recognizing someone, who perhaps was one of the most important figures for her? I was completely immersed into the story at this point because I just wanted to know: what happened between the two.

That is just one occasion, but there are more scenes that are epic plot twists later on.

I think those who have watched the show like me, will agree with me that: Hatsukoi's romance is great, it is good, but the mystery surrounding it is what makes it even more beautiful. The excellent use of past and present interchanging scenes, one answering the questions raised by one and then raising another one. It really is one of the shows that you can not stop watching, and you just have to continue on it.

Hatsukoi is good at grabbing you onto the seat, for sure.

If one thing that is stopping it from reaching a 10, it will probably be how rushed and cliche the ending is. The ending, to be fair, feels a bit forced and illogical. It's a happy ending of course, but I feel like it kinda ruins the vibe and pacing being set in earlier episodes.

Overall a very solid series. Never a 10 or 9, but deserve an 8.5 in my book. If the ending is written better it could have been a 9. Genuinely a very well written, and refreshing romance drama. Good job Hatsukoi.

And yeah, First Love by Utada Hikaru is just legendary.

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A classic first love story

A story that inspired from the infamous Utada Hikaru's song "First Love", where the two main lead are each other first love who met during their high school day but seperarted because of unexpected event. They met again 20 years later where the female lead already a single mother and the male lead engaged to someone. Actually what's so painful from their seperation is the "amnesia trope" where the female lead couldn't remember the male lead at all. It's breaking my heart. Their journey to find each other again is so long, but worth waiting. For someone who love Hikaru and Takeru, I think their screentime are too short compared to their younger counterpart. But, I really enjoyed this drama. And Hikki's song really hit differents after watching this drama!!

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You can end up with mixed feelings like me!

I have mixed feelings about this drama. Honestly I cried from beginning to end, not because it's all sad but because it's a beautifully told love story, we get emotional while they were findind and missing each other over the course of their life. The comedy was subtle and the romance was breathtaking. My mixed feelings started in episode 7 and 8 where I could know and understand more of the grief over (the plot wich I won't write here). First Love reminded me that life, that sometimes can be so painful, can be much more than we can see now, that we can be happy even after living years side by side with grief. There's a song from the OST, it's called Bridges Burn by Paul Otten, I can´t remember the exact moment this song is played in the drama but now, a week since I finished the drama I can still feel everything I felt when watching the drama and I love it, I really loved this drama!

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The cliché of amnesia as plot device

The good thing for me in this drama was the music, as someone that has listened to Hikaru Utada for decades. That's where it ends.

The cinematography (landscapes, mood, light, colours) was good and I enjoyed some of the scenes purely because of it but it's not enough to recommend this drama to anyone.
The story is based on the very cliché amnesia trope, I was hoping I wouldn't have to see that plot device used again ever but here I am. Everything else is pretty much destroyed for me because of that, everything becomes absurd and ridiculous and very easily solvable but they keep hammering their heads against a wall in veeeery slow motion, because the show is quite slow (and I say this as someone that enjoys slow shows/movies when they're done with grace and purpose). This show could have been a film, would have been better.
I get they're trying to appeal to the nostalgia of that type of shows, amnesia trope was so overused in late 90s and early 00s in everything so I had my fair dose of it and got very tired.
Something that also irked me was the zero resemblance of the main character with her younger self, I could kind of see it or imagine it with him, but her younger self was just complete opposites and made no sense.
I liked more the little story they showed of the son with the dancer.

Overall I regret wasting the time watching it, but it also brought me down memory lane with the music. That being said, I still would have preferred to spend my time listening to the music alone than watching it (because it's not like they used all her music for the show either so it did get a bit repetitive in that aspect as well). So, unless you like amnesia as a plot device I can't recommend.

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Hīkari hits another homer

This was my first Asian Drama after a break of a year or so, and what a winner! I watched it for the beautiful and talented Mitsushima Hikari, and she did not disappoint. Her performance was superb, especially the complex, nuances of the relationship between her character and her character's son. The growth and healing of THAT relationship was almost the "second couple" of the story, a love story in its own right.

Of course, it was the reconnection with the eponymous First Love that made the Drama the sweet and beautiful experience that it was, and rather than try to dissect or analyse it, I will just say, "watch it - right to the VERY end', as other reviewers have noted.

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The first j-drama that gets a 10

What a beautiful romantic drama. Great music, lovely story, very visually appealing cinematography.
The star was of course the young protagonist ??. He brought the story alive with his youthful grin, mischief, and love at first sight. This drama totally blew me away only because of his happy chirpy face!,
Every other performer was also wonderful.
Also great to see a happy family after a long time. Most Asian dramas have their stars from orphanages or have nagging mothers who want them to get married or rich parents who are mean to their kids. This was soooooo refreshing to see kind loving parents.

Great job here, the full team!! Nicely done ????

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The Perfect Japanese Love Story

In three words: Do Not Miss. You Won't Regret. No plot spoilers: rest assured you may well be mesmerised by the impact of this masterpiece. Beautifully arranged with parallel timelines, necessary realism (sex scenes) in a few places, gentle emotive score and soundtrack, and 'less is more' editing, direction and acting across every aspect of this film. Allow yourself to be swept up across the storyline, and prepare to give your heart to the young lovers and their older counterparts. The thinking person's sex symbol, Mister Micro Expressions himself, Takeru Satoh, delivers a compelling role of profound masculine sensitivity and restrained passion that will define acting craftsmanship for years to come. Do real men cry? Yes, they do. If you are not familiar with Takeru and his body of acting work, do yourself a favour. Viewers may well hold their breath until most of the way into the last hour.

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry said: 'Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.' The same applies to this emotional masterpiece. It is the perfect length, story, acting and direction that will in time, define modern Japanese drama. You Will Love.

Personally, very few shows or films deserve near perfect ratings. This one kept your reviewer wondering until the very last 20 minutes, and provides deep thought for the remainder of the day.

All of us live with the question of 'what if...?" and this series explores what we do when the heart and mind open together.
Feel free to explore my other reviews to discover more exceptional Asian dramas. Thank you. ~Fumiyawagi

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Hikaru Utada's sensational songs gave us a gem

I will refer to Harumichi as Haru in this review. When I started watching this show I was in the mindset that they would give us a bittersweet ending. Infact if the story ended at episode 8 I wouldn't mind. It was bittersweet but felt much more realistic than the real ending. I loved the acting of the main leads and their younger selves in this show. Haru is a character who is a delinquent during his high school years. However he changes after his encounter with Yae. Both of them are each other's first love. They sprinkled the sweet and tender moments between them throughout the show. But then the tragedy strikes. Yae gets into an accident and loses her memories of few years especially the ones she spent with Haru. Yae's mother who keeps her daughter away from Haru (and justifiably so) results in their seperation. Yae gets married to a doctor and gets pregnant with a son, Tsuzuru. One of the things I really loved about the show is Haru's bond with his deaf sister Yu. Knowing Japan and it's obsession to incest I was surprised to see such a beautiful sibling relationship. But I guess it's much more prevalent in anime. Also speaking of Yu I loved her and Haru's best friend Bonji's short love story. The way he freaking proposed to Yu was really adorable. It was such a heartwarming moment. I also liked that they showed how Haru tried to get over Yae with Tsunemi, although it didn't work. I liked they dedicated an episode to her and how she met Haru. It was also nice to see that they didn't just put her there for a plot point. Tsunemi is nyctophobic and that made her a much deeper character. Haru's development from a delinquent to a man who will protect the country was wonderful to see. There are things that I did not like in the show. I didn't care about Tsuzuru's love story. That's not to say he himself was a bad character. But his love interest didn't feel anything special. I didn't care for their resolution. While I love episode 9 because it shows us the start of the main relationship of the show I can't help but wonder episode 8 was a better ending. Although episode 9 ties up all the loose ends of the show. It's nice to see a happy ending in a show full of heartbreaks. I am thankful to this show for introducing me to a wonderful song.

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LIFE IS FULL OF SPECIAL AND MEANINGFUL ENCOUNTERS !!!

It just left me speechless !!! I want to try to pour all my love for this show but I'm short of words ??

This story had been told manytimes ,it's not something new but the beauty lies in the execution of this drama . screenplay ,performances ,music and notably cinematography were ideal and perfect !

I was witnessing the story that was happening infront of me for real .


NOTE: It is very simple ,ordinary and so real but that's life . some might find it repetitive and boring but for me it's one of those well made dramas which make you cry ,smile and root for the people in it . I repeat it's so perfect in every sense


I want to pour my love and can write like essays about it but right now I'm just numb and still tearing up ? cuz i just finished this

I don't know it make sense or not but I wanted to kill the FL's mother for real ??? .She literally spoiled her daughter's life with her own hands .Though she did that with good deed but yeah .
I better stop it here ..... I just love love love the leads ? :(

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I watched this drama simply because it's inspired by Utada Hikaru's First Love. I love that song. I was hoping for a more melodramatic story with a happy ending, but I didn't get what I expected. The first two episodes show promise, but anything after that feels slow. The drama alternates between now and the past. The side character story is not interesting and boring to me. Sadly the drama fell flat for me. I guess I was expecting a more rollercoaster ride of emotion for this drama, but it failed to bring out any emotion (except for bore.. is that even an emotion? :)). I couldn't even connect the Utada Hikaru song with the two main characters, which is such a disappointment. But this is just my personal opinion.

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The Song - First Love - by Utada Hikaru Got Me!

I was drawn to this drama because of the song "First Love" by Utada Hikaru -- SO MANY MEMORIES...

I decided to watch this drama because of the song which I heard when the trailer flashed.

I would say that I actually kind of like this drama but it is a little too slow-moving for me... I think it could be one of those "healing" types of dramas (yet again). The acting is pretty good. I think the young version of the FL is very attractive. She has an X-factor of sorts but the young version of the ML seems a bit too dorky and he smokes too much for my liking. I have dropped this for now but, I may pick it up again. :) As it's just 9 episodes long, I think that I can, perhaps, find time for it? I'm not sure... I do prefer dramas with more of a Fun Element and more of a Dramatic Element though. :)

The OST for this drama should be good though. Going to listen to First Love by Utada Hikaru again and reminisce.

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