Primeiro Amor (2022)

Don't miss the scenes during and after the ending credits in the last episode!

Rating - 8.25

I remember back when Hikaru Utada’s song “First Love'' came out in 1999, many were obsessed with it, and I was one of them. I played this song many, many times. So when I heard a drama is coming out based on this song and starring the amazing Satoh Takeru, I have to watch it. The expectations were high and did the drama meet them? I am afraid not quite.

“First Love:Hatsukoi” is a beautifully made drama. Most of the drama was set in snowy Hokkaido and the cinematography was great. Even when it switches to Tokyo, the color palette fits the tone of the drama, especially when telling the story of our hard-working female lead. Because the drama was based on two songs, I was initially concerned that those songs would be overplayed. I am glad that wasn’t the case. It didn’t make me hate “First Love” (the song) but made me love it again. There are quite a few English songs in the drama, which I have hoped are Japanese instead. Maybe Netflix has something to do with it. It does give some sort of American feel to a supposedly very Japanese drama.

Acting is top notch. I am already a big fan of Satoh Takeru and his micro-expressions are no joke. It’s so nice to see him play a regular guy going through tough times. It’s fun to see him displaying a fun side when he’s a security guard joking with his co-worker. It’s a nice change from seeing him as a hotshot doctor, an over-the-top baker or a cold-blooded swordsman. I am glad to be introduced to Mitsushima Hikari. When she was first introduced in the drama, she was a hard-working but tired-looking taxi driver. But throughout the drama, you see different sides of Noguchi Yae, and Mitsushima Hikari does a beautiful job in portraying a young and naive wife, a young mother, a downtrodden divorcee and then a supportive mother to her teenage son. As amazing as these veteran actors are, the two young leads might have stolen their thunder a little bit. Yagi Rikako playing the younger Yae, and Kido Taisei as the younger Harumichi light up the screen. Their infectious smiles and bright sunny personalities make the drama so much fun to watch. Their story is more enjoyable and makes a bigger impression on me than the adult leads.

Not that the adult version of the love story is not memorable, it just lacks a certain gut punching feel. I was hoping for more angst, more heartbreaking moments between the adult Yae and Harumichi. I wanted more scenes between the two, more longing looks from Harumichi and more touching moments. I think the side story between Tsuzuru and Uta might have taken too much time from the main storyline. I don’t find this young romance too interesting, though the purpose of their romance is to remind the adults to pursue their dreams and loved ones. The pacing of the story is quite slow and I can certainly feel it when I am binge-watching this in a day.

I also have conflicting feelings in the use of flashbacks in the storytelling. I like how the different timelines are interwoven together, and how one timeline picks up the story of another timeline. But it did take me a quick second to get used to the transition. Viewers do need to pay close attention especially in the first episode to get used to the switches, especially when young Harumichi and Tsuzuru have very similar build and hairstyle. I think my biggest issue is how short these flashbacks could be, thus making the back-and-forth switches very abrupt.


Other Random Observations:
1. I love the wedding and the speech with sign language. I also love the blue color theme.
2. I remember those Titanic moments and it’s fun to see the young lovers re-enacting the famous scene.
3. I wonder how Harumichi becomes a security guard. Did I miss the explanation?
4. I like the bonding between Harumichi and Tsuzuru.
5. Don’t miss out on the scenes during and after the ending credits in the last episode!


Completed: 11/26/2022

Leia Mais

A solid Japanese drama

It's about first love (obviously if you see the title lol) and how no matter what happens in life, one never really forgets even two decades later. The drama moves at a good pace and has interesting supporting characters. It has beautiful cinematography as well. The interaction and chemistry between the two are excellent. Both Satoh Takumi and Hikari Mitsushima display complex emotions throughout. Each scene of their meetings was natural and there are many memorable lines in the script as well as emotional silent scenes that do not need words but are left to the virtuoso of the actor such as Satoh Takumi.

The "teenage" actors did an excellent job as well demonstrating the zest, excitement, and energy of a first crush, a first love. The drama does a great job of balancing the past and present in a non-confusing way.

The music (two songs) is from the ever-popular Utada Hikaru and this drama was inspired by those songs. Because of that, I read that this drama was top 10 in several countries and during the time it was streaming, it was number one in Japan. It was a success. I loved it, and I admit that I usually do not have the patience to watch slice-of-life or romance dramas but this is one to watch and share with those you care about.

Leia Mais

A love that I hope to have one day...

First Love is a really beautiful drama. The cinematography is perfect, the transitions of the scenes from the past to the present are very clever (although I wish they would put the year because at times it can be confusing). and most importantly: the actors' chemistry is phenomenal. I'm a fan of Satoh Takeru so I knew he would please me easily but Kido Taisei stole the series for me on several occasions. Of course, Takeru is still Takeru, an excellent actor and his chemistry with Hikari was perfect (I also love Hikari, she was amazing as always here), but we really need to praise the younger actors here. Mainly because most of the romantic scenes came from them and if they didn't convince us, it would be difficult to buy the couple further on and the overwhelming love they have for each other, something that not even years apart could destroy. They may have fallen in love with other people but as Harumichi says, it was fate for them to be together. And a love like this is really rare, that's why it's so beautiful to see. So yeah, besides Takeru and Hikari`s amazing chemistry and acting, kudos to Kido Taisei and Yagi Rakiko.

I have nothing to complain about the personality of the main leads as well. it's very easy to love both, in the past and present time, because besides being cute and fun, I felt that they were characters very close to reality. It's easy to root for their happiness. The OST was very well selected too but of course we have to highlight First Love and Hatsukoi, which are very beautiful and emotional songs, even if you have never heard these songs before. The power of both songs is so high that no matter how many times it is played in the serie, it manages to thrill us every time.

In addition to the main couple, the secondary characters were very interesting. Yae's relationship with her mother was a beautiful thing, and later her relationship with her son too. Another thing I liked was his involvement with that female dancer. I found their scenes very beautiful and inspiring.

My only "negative comment" for the drama is that I wanted more scenes of the main leads together in the present time. They basically only stay together in the last few minutes, which makes us wanting more, because the drama has shown us several times how cute they were together in adolescence.

Anyway, in general it was a very captivating and beautiful drama to watch. I believe that even those who don't like Jdramas will be enchanted here. and I hope that with that, more people will be interested in Jdramas because there are several amazing ones and I feel that few are acclaimed.

PS: I'm looking forward to seeing Kido Taisei in future works, I completely fell in love with the actor here.

Leia Mais

There are different paths one can take to reach their destination.

I have such conflicting and mixed feelings about this show. There were 2 or 3 episodes that seemed too perfect to be true, but at the same time, I weirdly felt a lot of emptiness as I watched. The drama kept building up the nostalgia, the longing, fear of missed opportunities, forgotten past and unsure future, but it never reached the climax - at some point it completely emotionally plateaued and stayed this way till the end.

The non-linear storytelling of First Love bothered me at first, but I grew to appreciate it even if it just fueled the depressing vibes the drama presented. There was a lot of low-key relatable sadness and the lack of positivity in the characters, the emptiness of their lives just slowly crept in and kept me up at night wondering if I am not on the similar path of loneliness. And I’m not sure if it’s a good or bad aspect of the drama though...

I cannot say it was all sad. One of my favorite things about First Love was Noguchi Yae’s relationship with her son. A great portrayal of love and sacrifice, but also support and trust. Watching their little family dates was just calming and heartwarming. What’s more, I loved the support system Noguchi Yea had around her, even if she was not fully aware of its existence. She was so used to keeping to the sidelines so she did not notice how many people liked and appreciated her.

On the other hand, some plotlines and relationships did not get enough of the closure I wished for. Some past encounters, decisions that were made - lacked the resolution, conversation and… ending.

Luckily you can forget it all and truly get immersed into the story thanks to the great performance of the whole cast, but especially our leading couple both in the past and present: Mitsushima Hikari and Satoh Takeru, and Yagi Rikako and Kido Taisei. Some of the best casting for younger versions of the characters I have ever seen. The actors matched each other's dynamics, presentation, interpretation of the characters perfectly! There were a lot of moments where strong emotions had to be presented in a subtle way, and they delivered it and much more.

As for the production, I’m just glad that even though it’s a Netflix production, it has that unique melancholic styling Japanese dramas perfected throughout the years, while adding the high production value a big company like Netflix can achieve.

Overall, it was for sure enjoyable and surprisingly good for binge watching. Chances are that if I watched it at a different time, when my mood was more in the “looking for nostalgic feelings” state, I'd have enjoyed it a lot more.

Leia Mais

Beautifully crafted but ultimately lacking the magic ingredient to make it really great

There is so much to praise about this production. In particular the cinematography and soundtrack are outstanding. The acting is good, the characters are appealing but the requisite sparkle, which can only spring from a really great script with insightful dialogue, was lacking. It’s not that it was bad, rather that it was ordinary and it wouldn’t have been so noticeable if the rest of the production hadn’t really shone.

The beginning in particular requires patience. If you need to be instantly captivated, forget this one. At the start it was pretty fragmented with nothing much to grab the attention. When you start writing a novel you can usually just dump the first two chapters because they are about writing yourself into the story and the first couple of episodes have that sort of feel. But persistence at this point will pay off in the end.

For the first third, many of the scenes are very short and there isn’t really enough personal interaction to pull you into the depth of the characters or reveal their uniqueness. The dialogue is sometimes quite fanciful and self-consciously poetic and is not always in keeping with the character speaking it. Time and effort is spent with the soundtrack and cinematography which would be better heaped on the relationship interactions. Imo, you need to engage the viewer with your characters from the get-go, then there will be time later for more emphasis on production values. There is not much to hold onto at the start and as a viewer I had to do a lot of work to generate the emotional connections. But later on it pays dividends as the actors slowly reveal the inner world of their characters.

I was not always convinced of the connection between the younger and older versions of the characters and it didn’t help that the actors playing the young versions, didn’t really resemble the actors playing the older ones. And neither did their character traits feel properly aligned. This is the fault of the director (who also wrote the script) as presumably the casts from different time periods didn’t meet each other on set.

Ok having said all that, let’s get into what was great about this drama.

Once used to it, I loved the interweaving of the past and present. The past shed light on the present and vice-versa and it was cleverly done by the author. At the start I was a little confused but soon settled into the structure of it. Memory loss again… which this time was put to good use and if it wasn’t such a hackneyed and clichéd trope I would have enjoyed the role it played here more. It was less of a plot device and more of an emotional device to create an unfolding of intimacy.

The soundtrack is something special, very thoughtful and inventive. There are so many different songs, many of them in English and the use of Bach’s theme from the Goldberg Variations is so poignant.

Beautiful cinematography. With a rich, deep, saturated colour palette in sombre blues and greys. Blue is the signature colour that runs throughout particularly in the clothes and the lighting. Replete with a liberal sprinkling of exquisite compositional set shots using carefully selected colour, form and space. There was also a clever use of aerial and space imagery and an absolutely stunning dance sequence.

The best performances came from Mitsushima Hikari and Satoh Takeru who added a depth of poignancy to the interactions that produced some beautifully moving moments. Overall, this is well worth watching and will leave you with a sweet taste in your mouth.

What my rating means: 8+ A great drama with interesting content and good writing, direction, acting, OST, cinematography. But didn’t quite have the requisite sparkle to bump it into my all-time fave list. Worth watching.

Leia Mais

A contemporary take on 90s melodramas that doesn't quite capture what made the classics great

Before someone complains to me that I should be judging the drama on it’s own merits rather than comparing it to 90s melodramas … it’s clear that this drama was attempting to be a 90s-style melodrama; an updated version of course, but the fact that it was inspired by Utada Hikaru’s “First Love” is enough to indicate what the main influence was, even without all the other elements adapted from the genre (major plot lines, emphasis on the idea of fate, etc.). This is also why I think it's misguided to criticize this drama for having a cliché story; that's literally the point. Personally, I feel it was only partially successful in making a contemporary version of the classic genre.

I have to say that I was hoping this would feel a bit more like 90s melodrama than it did. It does have the plot of a 90s or early 00s melodrama (you have to wait until the end of episode 3 for the melodrama to kick in), but the tone and atmosphere of the drama was a more contemporary take on the classic melancholy that was a bit too mellow for my taste. I have really enjoyed some dramas with very mellow atmospheres, but a melodrama really ought to have more painful angst. It was also strangely lacking in dramatic scenes … and I don’t mean that I needed hair-pulling or anything like that, but everyone just seemed so calm all the time. I think they were probably trying to update the genre by giving it more understated stylings … I’m not sure it entirely succeeded. I definitely believe it’s possible to convey a rollercoaster of emotions with subtlety, but in this drama I sometimes felt that I was on a kiddiecoaster instead.

The one aspect of the drama that 100% worked for me was the storyline portrayed by the younger versions of the leads. The youthful romance was so cute and charming, and I really enjoyed the dynamic between the younger actors (Yagi Rikako, Kido Taisei). Those parts were also set in the late 90s and early 00s, which means they had the most classic feel. But this is not to say that I think the contemporary setting was the biggest problem with the storyline of the adult characters; the more recent storylines seemed slightly bland or a little lacking in depth at times. I don’t think this was the fault of the actors (Mitsushima Hikari and Satoh Takeru were good) as much as the writing (Kanchiku Yuri). We probably needed more interactions and relationship development between the older versions of the leads, because there’s only so much you can rely on a backstory played by different actors, especially when that backstory happened 20 years ago and the people concerned have changed drastically in that time. Although there were a few scenes that did really work for me, more often than not I felt the 2018 storyline had little impact (the last couple episodes in particular were pretty underwhelming; rather than a heart-wrenching climax, it was just … meh). The amount of focus the story placed on the son’s romance with the dancer girl didn't help either. Although I think this drama had quite even pacing, there were times when it felt slow (and this was always in parts with the older actors), because I wasn’t equally invested in all aspects.

I’ve seen a few complaints about how the flashbacks were done, but personally I think the nonlinear storytelling was executed quite well. It managed to reveal the past gradually over the course of the nine episodes without leaving the viewer feeling as if they’re missing necessary background information that had not yet been provided at any point. It also managed to draw some parallels between the past and present, so the flashbacks often seemed to have purpose beyond just dumping information on the viewer. Although they used more than two timelines, I never found it confusing.

Though this may be somewhat a matter of personal taste, I wish the soundtrack (Iwasaki Taisei) had used more classic ballads, either from the 90s and 00s or new songs written in that style. I think perhaps they avoided this so that Utada Hikaru’s “First Love” would stand out, but old dramas typically relied a lot on their music for their atmosphere, so using a soundtrack of predominantly more contemporary music took away from the classic feeling. This is not to say the music was bad, but I think there’s not much that can replace a poignant ballad if you’re looking for emotional impact, and emotional impact was often just the thing this drama was lacking. The way the music was edited into the drama was done very well, though.

The cinematography (Shinde Kazuma, Nakamura Junichi) was beautiful; almost certainly the most gorgeous cinematography I’ve seen in a J-drama.

Overall, this drama was well-made, and although I would have liked to see it bring out the classic atmosphere more, others might be happy that it leaned more towards the contemporary style. Emotional poignancy is the aspect that I really found to be missing. It was there at times, but not throughout. Unfortunately, some aspects of the story were rather lackluster, so despite certain moments that I loved, it didn't leave as lasting an impression as I think I think it had the potential to.

Content warning: There was a really random, out-of-nowhere sex scene (I think in episode 5?), and there was zero reason it needed to be as explicit as it was.

Leia Mais

Captivating story that made me feel stuff...

This is the type of drama that will both keep you on your toes, and make you fell stuff... a lot of stuff... As we follow several people in several timelines giving us just enough to not be too confused but not enough to figure out the whole story letting bit by bit unravel as we go along. What we do know is that the two main characters were each others first love and that they somehow drifted, got torn, splitt, ended... All spiking my own curiosity.

The leads both young and less young are lovely, fun, relatable, human basically the type you want to get to know better and can not really get enough of. Their chemistry is great, their interactions both playful and deep Very well preformed as they managed to convey a whole lot of different emotions.

The kids in this drama ara adorable and so are most of the family bonds seen here and there, with the exception of a mother or two who I would gladly have shoved off a cliff. I truly loved the rest of the characters and wished them all happiness. Though I got to see mostly pain, and a bunch of life does not always turn out the way you want it kind of deal. I found myself rather relating to them and did not find myself overwhelmed by it but rather found it real in a way or as real as it can get, it is still a drama based on a song. The story is told in such a way that all the characters come off as real humans, with real fears, emotions, inner conflicts... and so on and so on...

One of the supporting characters has a hearing disability, she is there to move the story along, show us glimpses of the past and be part of the build up for the main characters she also gets to be portrayed as a caring sister, a mother and a lover giving us some deaf representation done right.

I love the OST in this and am fascinated by the idea of adapting a song to a drama, I do not think I have seen anything quite like that before.

To sum it up this is for the romance lovers out there who enjoy a mystery, and can take a bunch of pain, slice of life realism... And not a story for those in need of joy and fluff, so if you are just looking for fluff step away and look for something else. And though I did not fully cry I did get the lump and a tear so if you are sensitive you may just want to have some tissues nearby.

Leia Mais

"First Love" its a fantasy, isn't it?

Takeru Satho really needs to move on from committing to merlodrama scripts that involve his character's love interest suffering from amenesia (like his movie 8 Year Engagement had this same thing)
Cinematography becomes that one standout mark of this show that I cannot help but continously sing praises of (it was preety much evident from the trailers that they will excel in this department)
The plot sure is slow but its steady, could have been easily compressed into an 7 ep show rather than 9, the first 2 episodes are hard to sit through cause the story is building it's plotline causing it to feel slow but don’t quit because everything gets better from ep 3
Has few "cliché" tropes but that isn't underwhelming because "clichés" are called "clichés" because they work like a charm. The show is at it's strongest in the final 3 episodes.
The actor who played Young Harumichi is by far the strong link of this show, like his acting outshined Takeru Satoh's in some scenes and that is an achievement if you ask me (as if his acting wasn't an help already, he had to looks cute as well).
Takeru and the female lead actress both being veteran actors really benifit the acting department, there are few moments that come out to be sooo impactfull, solely because the actors gave it their all in making it look as if it happened in their own lives.
One final thing, they should raise bar of the age rating from 15 to 17+ (you'll know why I suggest this once anyone who decides to watch this is almost midway into the show)

Leia Mais

You can never really forget your first love

I loved the series. This is the first time I am actually writing a review for anything on this site. But when I finished watching this, it filled me with so much joy that I had to write one.

Story
It is about first love, which is kind of obvious from the title. But there are multiple plotlines covering this theme. It is about the young Yae and Himarumichi falling in love but also in recent times about Tsuzuru and Uta. I loved that the name of every episode ties in with the general theme of that episode and they show it visually. The cinematography, story and soundtrack are a great blend. There are nostalgic times and there are also moments about youth finding their path. It is not the most original story out there and is full of cliches. But I really enjoyed watching it and it made me smile.

Acting
I was originally interested in this series because of Satoh Takeru. I love watching him and I think he generally has good taste in choosing scripts. This one didn't disappoint either. I loved the whole cast. The main couple was utterly fabulous but their younger versions were the surprise factor for me. They were really good as well. The actor playing Tsuzru did an amazing job of balancing the young broodiness without turning out to be a jerk.

Soundtrack
The series is based on two songs which they used pretty well throughout as well. They have made me fall in love with the 'First love' song. I am definitely going to be listening to it on loop for sometime now. The other songs and background score were also pretty seamless and fit the scenes well.

Overall
Loved it and will definitely rewatch at a later date.

Leia Mais

The Best Rendition of Love I've Ever Seen

I've rated nearly 300 shows/movies on this website throughout the last few years but I've never felt more compelled to write a review. This show is incredible. It's not the most fast paced and exciting and I can understand if somebody doesn't like this sort of thing, but if you're looking for a story about love, this is it.

The story centers around two people; in present day as well as how they first fell in love in the past. Each episode revealing layers like an onion to show how things came to be. Great acting by all of the main cast, particularly the present day female lead. It doesn't feel like a show, but rather a real snapshot of a love story and how it unfolds.

If that's what you want to see in a show, it's simple really. This show is it for that kind of thing. I teared up quite a bit. Not sure if I would watch a 2nd time, but just phenomenal the first time.

Leia Mais

CLASSIC

A classic love story that will never be boring no matter how many times you watched it.
I love how they mix between the past and present to not boring us and gives us explanation on each moment that we’re wanting to know.

Takeru Satoh never disappoints us in any of his project choices. He did deliver the emotions really well.

Thought that we will be getting a tear-jerking classic love story from the start until the end, yet it’s a perfect combination of both sad and happiness in a drama.

The OST is really suited the drama well (well it based on the song afterall) BUT i really like the OST so much.

WOULD REALLY RECOMMEND EVERYONE TO WATCH THIS EVEN ONCE.

Leia Mais

Comfortably sad

You know when you look at some old photos and you just feel sad? That's what First Love:Hatsukoi made me feel from the very first episode to the last.

Even though there were funny moments, happy moments, this series always has this feeling of comfortable sadness all the time.

To be honest, this drama doesn't really offer much story-wise. It uses a clichéd plot device, but for me, they managed to make it work. The cast did a phenomenal job; they really made the characters feel alive.

The cinematography was absolutely beautiful. Love the use of the color blue, its adds to the ever-present feeling of sadness.

Anyways, this drama is great. Highly recommended.

Leia Mais