" Every moment is a unique piece of the jigsaw puzzle of our lives, but what if we end up losing an important piece of it "

I started this out of 'blue' during my holidays just for the pretty cinematography but god, I'm so thankful I did. The drama follows the lives of adult Yae Noguchi and Harumichi Namiki, the main subjects of the first love story, in parallel with their younger selves, and depicts how certain circumstances in their lives lead them to who they are now. Along with their heart-wrenching love story, other elements (for the lack of better words) such as family warmth, friendship and nostalgia are crafted beautifully in this series.

Inspired by Hikaru Utada's First Love, the use of music has a great impact on the overall storytelling. It makes the series more special than what it could have been without it. Editing overall is well done, the switch from older to current times is done naturally and each moment of it doesn't feel draggy or rushed at all. As for the acting, I really enjoyed Hikari's portrayal of Yae, you definitely see a glimpse of her younger self even when she was *SPOILER* ( please watch the show to figure it out). Satoh Takeru's also pretty charismatic and was able to deliver his role smoothly. The younger ones, Rikako and Taisei definitely deserve a praise! They truly capture the innocence of first love with their amazing chemistry. The supporting actors also did a pretty great job.

Last but not least, I saw some comments online that they're turned off by cliches (well everyone is free to have their opinions), but i disagree. They are implemented so well compared to other romance dramas actually. They somehow still manage *shake* your heart, even when you kind of already guess what is likely gonna happen, for me that's a good use of cliche. And come on! what are romance dramas if without cliches here and there!

Overall, a good show for those who want to dive start trying j-dramas, or those who just want to watch romance dramas just to feel something.