Second chance first love
There have been so many second chance first love stories and this is no different. To be honest, I was drawn in by the Utada Hikaru song First Love which I listened to extensively in the 90s and it has a special place in my heart.This drama definitely looks like it was stuck in the 90s - young girl and young boy meet, fall in love. Tragic circumstances cause them to be apart. They meet up again 20 years later. Typical plot from 1990s Korean drama.
The only part that this show does well yet also poorly is giving equal screen time to the 90s set of actors and story, and the-now set of actors and plot. It starts off a bit jarring where they can suddenly move from the 90s to now and back again without any transition. It helps a totally different set of actors are used rather than attempting to age or de-age actors or using different colors or dressing/makeup as as some other dramas have done. Once you get used to the lack of transitions and know which era's story is unfolding, it makes for interesting and light viewing. Things develop at a good pace because you're essentially watching two different stories unfold.
I like the drama because it's easy to watch and moves fast - thank goodness for only 9 episodes! I also like the themes - lost youth and unfulfilled dreams but now they have the chance to right the past but will they? The theme is also relived through their next generation (secondary leads) who are at important junctures in their lives - will they take the same missteps?
Watch out for the mid credit and end credit scenes in the last episode! Don't miss them!
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If its fated, then they will be back in each other's arms again.
"That day, you gave me a reason to live, and taught me the path I need to follow. My dream is to make you happy" - Harumichi to Yae (March 11, 2001)What a poignant, full of reminiscing, full of firsts, pure, bittersweet and sweet first love. The song "First Love" by Utada Hikaru has been a part of my younger days, even now I age, it still gives me that haunting, sweet and will make me cry for a moment feel.
The casts gave a stellar performance, with Takeru Satoh as a given fact and as a huge fan, I enjoyed watching him wearing uniforms. It really suits him. Anyway, back to the casts, they were wonderful, especially the younger version of Harumichi and Yae. They showed how it is to be young and to be in love, how to tackle issues in life and how to deal with it.
Story may sound cliché, as well there's a lot of holes in it, but still, it was done properly. Cinematography is great, the OST is super nice: with Utada Hikaru's and the songs that Tsuzuru wrote were also great.
I also love, how they come in pairs, I mean whenever a couple or Yae and Tsuzuru appears on screen, they wore clothes/dress of the same color, especially the color blue, which is nice to look at.
I felt a lot of emotions while watching the entire 9 episodes, but it was totally worth it. I hope Takeru Satoh and Hikari Mitsushima work again.
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Fateful love is the best love
a very beautiful story brought to life by amazing actors.I rarely watch japanese dramas but watched this within 2 days.
The story felt so real and I was on the edge of my seat so many times.
Their story was very convincing eventho it was melodramatic. Some people’s lives are like that. So painful yet they get to experience true love.
There were 3 things why I didn’t rate it a 10/10 but other than that it was very beautiful, emotional and I‘d say a sad romance with a redeeming ending. But you can’t make up for lost time and that made me cry.
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A vivid portrayal of the flow and interwovenness of Time and the interdependence of fate and effort
The story was amazing, plot lines connected so well, very nice pacing, really sweet/wholesome scenes sprinkled in, and some pleasant comedic relief to top it off. And I liked every character in the story, as throughout the story you begin to slowly understand how we got to this place and what their motivations/backgrounds are.I will 100% NEED to rewatch this sometime later. This is my 3rd J-Drama and my favorite one so far. I had tears fill my eyes during two or three scenes and that usually doesn't happen. The OST was also really good and fit the scenes well, adding to the emotional impact of them. I'm seriously blown away by how good this was. It pulled at the heartstrings so much (in a good way). This was also a drama very grounded in reality: the retrograde amnesia symptoms were accurately portrayed and there were accurate, down-to-Earth portrayals of real-life events (i.e. the pandemic, etc.), so it was something I could kind of relate to as well and/or look up the events to learn what they are.
Overall, if you enjoy stories that have beautiful use of literary/directorial elements (such as foreshadowing, imagery, cinematography), have a realistic setting, and a really sweet romance story with great acting and chemistry, then I highly recommend this drama.
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BEST Japanese romance drama
There were few hiccups so it isn’t 5 stars but this drama is the BEST Japanese romance I’ve watched. You need box of tissues, so be prepared!*mature love story
*well written screenplay, but time to time some hiccups but easy to understand
*focused on one main CP story so easy to follow their emotions and feelings
*OST are wonderful
*entire actings were well done
*sceneries are beautiful
*length is perfect, 9 episodes
After I’ve been watching too many twisted dramas with betrayal, lies, bullies and sadness, this drama was refreshing to watch.
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Fate might be exist, after all
Why I like the drama?- The cinematography, music, and acting are amazing!! It really drove me to feel the moods, especially Utada's voice! She never fails to deliver emotions. I cried a lot on the last two episodes.
- It's really realistic, especially with historical events that they put into the story. It creates a connection between the drama and its audience. Another thing about this aspect is that we can actually meet a lot of Harumichis in our daily life-- a man who couldn't move on from his past. I've seen people who got hurt because this kind of man and the story somehow made me able to emphasize with him (I still don't like him though, but let me explain in the dislike part).
- The young actors' chemistries are insane! I fell in love with their parts over and over again.
- The dialogues are pretty like poetry and uplifting. I get lot of moral lessons from this :)
When you're young, you imagine your future will be beautiful, that you'll make a difference. But, as time goes on, you realize your life is shitty. In fact, to be able to pay rents is a pretty amazing achievement. But, no worries, dear friends. Time will tell as long as you never give up on your dreams.
Why I dislike the drama?
- Yae's mother. How dare she hide the truth from her daughter? Because of her bad judgement, Yae and Harumichi's lives turned upside down. She said she didn't want Yae's life to be like her, but she actually threw her daughter under the bus. AND I hate her so much when Yae told her she's gonna get divorced, she didn't ever the whole story, but immediately said: "Can you just go apologize?" What the hell, Ma'am?
- Cliché trope: amnesia.
I have no idea that they would do this trope, I wanted to punch a wall because of this.
- Cheating!!! NEVER GO INTO A RELATIONSHIP WITH A MAN WITH UNFINISHED BUSINESS. Harumichi... I know you're happy to be able to meet Yae, but please, don't cheat on your girlfriend. You made her wait long enough, and when she pushed to the next stage, you told her she's not the one for you. Goddamnit. You just wasted her precious times X__X
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Slow, quiet show that makes you think about "fate"
Though I had a couple of problems with this drama (not going to spoil anything, but some of their behaviors/decisions as adults were highly questionable), it was a beautiful watch. I would suggest watching it in a dark room, because the filming is kind of dark. Lovely cinematography. If you are patient and enjoy watching something for the sake of watching, this is right up your alley. Often, it seemed to me, there wasn't much going on, and being the hopeless romantic that I am, I ached for all their years apart.The acting by the main characters was top-notch. Satoh Takeru had the perfect look for this drama. His face has hard edges that really fit right into this show. I have to say that the actors that played the teens were excellent. I actually felt more invested in them, because we saw more of them than the adults. When the teenage male writes to the female for a time capsule, oh my gosh, it was so beautiful - the way it was filmed, our look into when he first saw her, her reaction to reading his thoughts...all the feels.
The music was beautiful as well.
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A Fairytale Story
It's a very cute story about two people that really love each other. With some romantic soap opera elements... there for, a fairytale at the end. But they made it cute, so I recommend it ^_^The song is one I used to hear a lot when Hikaru Utada released it, so for me the experience, had a plus.
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This show gutted me..
I find myself still thinking about this show weeks after binging it in one day..Although this 20+ years long storyline could sound like a trope, it was beautifully executed in so many ways, that it avoided becoming a cliche..
The entire cast’s performances and chemistry of the leads were spot on, the cinematography of various parts of Japan and Iceland was breathtaking, the story was beautifully interwoven with realistic, and sometimes painful highs and lows, and the OST was a dream.
I wouldn’t change a thing.. this show will stay with you long after you watch it..
2 thumbs way, way up!
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Memory loss and a splendid love song
This show is lovely. Two people separated due to memory loss and guilt are brought back together because of fate and a love song. We are first introduced to how they fell in love and separated then follow them falling in love all over again as adults. It makes you wonder about the what ifs with your first love. It's nostalgic as heck.What I really liked about the show was how well it is molded around the song it is based off of, "First Love." Harumichi is a also a smoker. Yae also talks about the taste when they first kiss. Though they go their own separate paths, they learned love from each other and they'll always be the one for each other. Then the build up to her regaining her memories. You know it's gonna come and when it does, you'll tear up due to happiness. Yes, happiness, not sadness. You just know they'll find each other. That's because the show made you cheer them on from the beginning.
Honestly, I do think this show would've been better with just Yagi and Kido, the actor and actress for the young version of Harumichi and Yae. The chemistry between the 2 are so much better than Satoh and Mitsushima. Almost felt like that had more screen time as well.The personality between the younger and older are vastly different that they seem like different people to me. But I guess that's what life does people. People change but love will never do.
COWABUNGA stamp certified!
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Deep love story that keeps me coming back to watch
I loved this drama. I will go back and watch it again next month because there were so many twists and turns. The lead actors were amazing. They had excellent chemistry. The younger and older leads were all excellent. I love Satoh Takeru. He is a subtle actor that doesn't have to do much for you to get his point. His eyes are amazing. I have loved all the dramas and movies that I have seen of his. His costar, Mitsushima Hikari, was a joy to watch. You felt she was beautiful inside and out. Definitely recommend this is one to be watched.Was this review helpful to you?
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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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