Hatsukoi (2022)

YOU MUST SEE IT ABSOLUTELY!

I watched it all at once until one o'clock in the morning.
I really liked the story, a love destined to exist and external forces are useless, in one way or another they always find each other. The thing that drives me crazy is the idea of ​​being able to fall in love again with someone you don't even remember. If this isn't destiny, then what is destiny?

The cast was exceptional, starting with the young actors of the past and ending with the protagonists of the present.
The soundtrack was gorgeous too! Very sweet and romantic, fits the whole concept.
I don't deny that I also got emotional at the end when I found out that he was in love with her even before she confessed her love to him. The way he changed his life for her, the way he waited for her and sought her in every look and every detail of the world around him.
One of the most emotional sentences was the one in which she says to him (without knowing yet that he was her first love):
"I live with the feeling of having lost something important!"
Here I understood that although she has lost her memory, there is something that goes beyond (I don't know whether to call it destiny or in another way), something great that has meant that she unknowingly hadn't forgotten about him.
Then the scene where she remembers everything was beautiful, the actress was very good and sincere in her acting.

I also wanted to open a parenthesis about main character's girlfriend. I felt sorry for her, loving someone who will never love you, being aware of it, but accepting it anyway. It's very difficult! I would never have the strength to accept all of this. I was sorry when he broke up with her because she was a good girl and she sincerely loved him, but it was the right choice for her. She deserved true love and he knew it so he let her go.

The fault is entirely of the protagonist's mother. She had to give her the opportunity to choose her path, instead she preferred to take her away from her first love to marry her to a doctor full of money. And then in the end? Her daughter got divorced, she had to give her son to her ex-husband because she didn't have the money to raise him and this thing destroyed her and then in the end anyway she came back with her first love because she was meant for that man! Her mother only wasted her precious time and took away her freedom of choice.

I really enjoyed the story, even though I found the past memories a little confusing sometimes. So for this reason, I didn't give 10.
Despite this I have no other faults to attribute to this drama.

However the ending was right! Honestly I was anxious until the end because I thought it would end badly, but luckily everything went well! Love, true love has triumphed!

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You're always gona be my love ....

It was really a great experience watching this.
I will highly recommend this one to those who like Romantic dramas mixed with slice of life elements. This a good blend of this genere.

This sure does have cliche tropes but I really loved it. Everything feels so refreshing that you'll not bother about the cliched elements of the show. The director needs a great appreciation for the stunning visuals and cinematography. It's so mesmerizing and eye pleasing

The OST's makes the drama more beautiful. The performance of the casts is really good too.

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I genuinely thought this drama will end tragically, judging by the title, playlist, and the beginning episodes. The summary didn't help either as we know that the FL was in a serious accident and many, many years passing. And this show indeed had a lot of sad moments; the only happy ones where in the past and in someone's memories, but I still end up watching the show anyway, because I am a sucker for tearjerkers.

I must say I loved two things about this drama: Satoh Takeru's acting and Utada Hikaru's songs. Those were enough to propel this drama into better than mediocre. There's very little chemistry between the adult FL/ML since they were mostly apart, but the younger versions of the couple more than make up for the lack of romance between Yae and Namiki. I'm not sure if I buy into the "fate" that they keep talking about in this show; there's too many coincidences that happened for me to consider them believable. Also the flashbacks were kind of confusing, but watching Satoh's pining away for his first love was worth it.

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Fate and destiny can only do so much for us most of the times... Sometimes we need to take the lead

First and foremost I was really excited the first time I saw the trailer for this series!!!! "First Love" by Utada Hikaru will always be one of my ultimate favorite love songs <3

Casting was superb from the young actors who played the leads to the adult casts. Hands down!!! Super great chemistry!!!! Satoh Takeru is such a fine man omg <3

Aspiring viewers beware this is not your typical fast paced love story but it has its own charm that will keep you hooked until the end. Personally, I have a soft spot for first love stories as this is something I really hold dear to me. So my review will be bias but that's alright.

At first, the story telling was kinda confusing for me as it has flash backs a lot throughout the episodes but once I tried to really focus on the show I got to understand and appreciate the plot more. As a viewer, it became more engaging for me and it made me appreciate more what is happening in the present time. I also loved how realistic the story telling was. I know fate played a big role in making things happen for the two leads but it's okay. It also happens to us every once in a while.

It was really nice to see them grow from high school students to responsible adults. When they were young and in love, they let fate and destiny take the lead for them. The universe gave them one more chance when they became adults (Thanks to Tsuzuru and Uta). Unfortunately, fate and destiny can only do so much. Which is why I think they got separated again. But luckily, this time, Yae took the lead and made things happen for them one last time and that's how they got their happy ending <3

The only reason I did not give this a perfect score was because of the ending. I was actually hoping that after all they've been through, the writer/director would have given them a bit more screen time together. Don't get me wrong I loved that they were able to fulfill their childhood dream together but I would really love to see more of them <3

PS: This show really makes me think of my first love during high school and how lucky I was with him <3 It was He really did love me the same way as the ML here loved the FL. Unconditionally. Like I was his last love. And that's what I became, his last love. "First Love" is the song I dedicate to him the most as I will always have a special place in my heart for him. He was the one who taught me how to love. I really miss him and how I wish he was still here.

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Charming high school days but not so much in the present

I'm not too sure what I was expecting when I started this drama, but I have to say I was pleasantly surprised by the portrayal of what pure young love is like. I kept bracing myself to cry buckets or for some horrible tragedy to strike (I guess I was thinking of 1 Litre of Tears haha), but I'm happy to report that you'll get many bittersweet moments instead and a happy ending.

Although I thoroughly enjoyed this drama, I have to say that were a few things that did bug me, which is why I didn't give it a full score.

1. I found myself looking forward to the high school flashbacks versus the present scenes:
This is one of the rare cases where I felt like the high school actors of the two protagonists out-performed their present-day counterparts. The young actor who played Harumichi, especially, was perfectly cast and their love story was so sweet. Granted, there are reasons why their adult character aren't as carefree and have been shaped by past unfortunate events, but the fulfilling past love story made me crave for more of that in the present. Despite this, I still think both adult actors gave really excellent performances and played their roles perfectly despite the weak plot in the present timeline.

2. A lot of unnecessary scenes that didn't contribute to the overall narrative of the story:
- That random sex scene between Harumichi and some girl he picked up at the bar (like, ok, so you're saying he's lived a full life after Yae?)
- The drawn-out scenes on the development between how Harumichi and Tsunemi started dating. Leading up to this, we already sense that Harumichi would inevitably break up with his fiance because of his deeply-seated feelings for Yae, so what's the point of showing us how he ran to her after an earthquake? We know there won't be any conclusion for them anyway and I was honestly quite bored with that arc and had to patiently wait for him to finally break up with her.
- The long karaoke scene between Yae and Uta was weird since they only met once briefly in the taxi.
- The awkward scenes that mentioned COVID-19 - I understand that it's part of the timeline but it wasn't necessary to mention imo since it doesn't affect or change their story in any way. It's like saying, oh yea, so this happened (for me, this took away the time we got to see the leads finally together in the last episode).

3. Inconsistencies:
There were a few but the one big one that left me confused was when Yu (Harumichi's younger sister) looked like she wasn't aware of Yae's memory loss in the hospital scene after Harumichi saved Yae from falling down the stairs.
BUT in episode 8, you see Yu secretly telling Tsunemi that Harumichi's first love has amnesia when she visited his family. That scene was clearly before the hospital scene because Yu's daughter was only 4 years old, versus 10 years old when she was visiting him at the hospital.

Towards the end, I feel like there's just something...missing...
I'm not sure if I'm going to be able to describe this accurately, but there were a few scenes that left me wanting MORE because they were supposed to be really climactic moments but we don't really get these emotional moments that should have come with the events.

For example, when Yae regains her memories - I wish they had a few more scenes to show how heartbroken she was to have forgotten about a person who was such a BIG part of her life. Yes, she cried, but it wasn't the heartbreaking kind that truly displayed all the loss she felt - I just wish it was elongated a little more and made her think about the chances that passed her by had she remembered. The moment when they reunited in Iceland was also quite anti-climactic and felt very rushed - there was not explanation as to WHY he chose to leave the country in the first place and we don't get any confessions from Yae's mom admitting what she did. Those small details were all glossed over and so many strings left untied.

I know it was supposed to be a satisfying ending, but my heart wasn't as filled as it could have been had the script been executed better or at least been fine-tuned a bit. I just feel like there was SO much potential for this drama to have been excellent but it ended up being just good.

Overall, I still really enjoyed this drama despite its flaws and I was completely enamored from episode 1. I really reallyyy loved how the timelines weren't sequential and were revealed slowly, almost like peeling back layers of an onion to form the whole story. I would still highly recommend this, especially if you're in the mood for a romance drama that will pull on your heartstrings. Just don't expect a completely ironed-out story and you'll enjoy this a lot.

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Hermosa historia y muy recomendable, es una lástima que caiga en tantos clichés.

¡Hola, gente bella! Mi reseña de esta semana está llegando un poco tarde por ✨cosas✨, pero lo importante es que tarde pero seguro.

En esta ocasión les voy a estar hablando de "First Love", un jdrama de Netflix muy bonito en el que seguimos el primer amor inolvidable de una pareja. Ellos se conocieron por primera vez en la década de 1990 y crecieron juntos en la década de 2000, pero la vida los terminó separando. Ahora, varios años después, se reencuentran por pura casualidad.

Esta serie, inspirada en dos canciones de Hikaru Utada, terminó siendo muy linda. La historia es sencilla, pero preciosa, y los actores, que son Takeru Sato (Harumichi) y Hikari Mitsushima (Yae), están impecables (sobre todo ella, que actúa increíble y encima su personaje es lo más dulce y hermoso que hay). Para colmo mechan todo el tiempo escenas del pasado, de cuando ellos eran adolescentes y estaban juntos, con escenas del presente, así podemos ir armando de a poco el rompecabezas de lo que realmente pasó entre ellos.

Hablando de las escenas del pasado, fueron mis favoritas por mucho. Si amé a la Yae adulta, el Harumichi joven tiene mi amor para siempre, porque es la cosita más cute que haya visto en mi vida (me saco el sombrero ante Taisei Kido, quien lo interpreta). Real que ver todo su romance desde que se conocen hasta que se separan fue extremadamente disfrutable, yo solo quería que fueran felices por siempre jamás.

Por si fuera poco el apartado técnico es muy bueno: visualmente es un jdrama re cuidado, las canciones están muy buenas, los vestuarios me gustaron un montón y un largo etcétera.

Creo que lo único que tengo para criticarle, que igual no es poco, es que caen en dos clichés enormes que ya me tienen un poco harta (uno está relacionado con el motivo de la separación y el otro con el final). ¿Estas cosas arruinaron la serie para mí? No, pero sí hicieron que no terminara de amarla a pesar de que todo lo demás está súper bien.

En fin, no es una dorama súper dinámico, pero al menos para mí no aburre en ningún momento y en general el concepto me pareció bastante bonito y original, así que yo lo recomiendo mucho a pesar de todo.

•IG DE RESEÑAS CORTAS: @altoplottwist

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Hatsukoi

First of all, the song is phenomenal. I have known this song for so many years now, more specifically the Tagalog version. (First Love Repablikan)
The Tagalog version is basically about loving someone fictionally. Like anime. It's crazy because when this drama first came out on Netflix I felt goosebumps and instantly felt emotional. I guess this song has a soft spot for me.
It took me a while to watch this because I didn't want to feel sad?. Just the title makes me emotional but I finally took the courage to watch it cuz I felt emo at that moment.
It's crazy. This drama is good!
The approach of their love story, the struggles, the life of being in their 20s and the pressure from their parents are well portrayed.
The twist…. I'm speechless.
That twist significantly impacted my decisions again in life. It's like choosing a path. Left or right. I don't know how to explain it but I cried numerous times. The romance between their youth life made me so emotional. The actor and actress, (Taisei & Rikako) definitely did an outstanding job. I like their chemistry more than the adults. Probably because being an adult is hard and going back into your youthful years seems freer.
Also, the adult main character stated that Taisei and Rikako did an excellent job portraying their characters and I agree. Every time they do flashbacks, I reminisce. I don't have experience at all with love but watching them just gives me chills.
Moreover, this drama was worth walking.
It hit on the spot.
Yae’s mom… ugh. Bat kci ??
Anyways. Goodbye.
12:22 pm
9/11/23

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Beautiful heartrending nostalgia

The pangs of first love is hard to forget...
The story is nothing new. In fact it's more cliche ridden and superbly tropey but one have to greatly appreciate how they were masterfully utilized to not only tell a tale of love but also of life.

- ACTING:
I was initially invested because of takeru satoh as I loved him as kenshin. The trailer with him giving that yearning look and hikaru utada's first love really sold me to watch this but I am simply blown away by the superb acting of the whole cast especially the younger versions of haruimichi and yae. Although they were playing each other's older and younger versions they managed to bring their own refreshing element in their acting which was brilliant.
-CINEMATOGRAPHY AND COLOR PALETTE
The director and ALSO the scriptwriter knows her shit for sure. Much of the story was elevated because of how impressive the cinematography, lighting and colors presented a beautiful backdrop on the story, the characters emotions, their journey, their trials and tribulations.
-OST
Last but not least, the ost. Since the whole story was inspired by a song it took the centre stage and accompanied the viewers as we glide with the characters in their journeys. The whole ost just stayed with me like an aftertaste. There were some English songs in there which in my opinion were unnecessary.

The CONS
-Rushed ending which I understand is because of 9 episode limit but I wanted it to be a little more. It was pleasant but convenient.
I felt there were some loose ends that were not tied properly as well, some plot holes that were not explored properly. I also wanted more angst and heartbreaking scenes between the adult haruimichi and yae as they start falling in love with each other all over again.

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first love nostalgia

This has been on my watchlist since I first saw the trailer in 2022 and love that they were inspired by Hikaru Utada's single from 1999. I've listened to the soundtrack before watching this series and it just fits the overall setting, situation, and theme so well. I thought this was so cinematically beautiful, the timeline progressed so well, the flashbacks between past and present-day yae and harumichi. Everything was so beautiful and nostaligic at the same time, my heart fluttered a LOT during the scenes in the past (the one scene at the rooftop of the school where they're both listening to the First Love record player)

In the end when Yae is listening to the CD player with Tsuzuru and her memories start flashing back...literally in tears. I had to replay that part multiple times. Can't imagine losing an entire piece of your youth storyline and forgetting about the most important person to you, starting new as if that part of your life never existed. It was a pretty chaotic ride but it was played out in the most calm and collected way possible. Such a great cinematic masterpiece and I hope to see more future films from this Yuri Kanchiku.

I'm giving this a 9.5/10 because I wish it wasn't this short and I wanted more scenes of them in the past.

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Pleasantly Surprised

I really enjoyed this beautiful love story of soul mates who fall in love as teenagers and lose track of each other into their adult years. It had me from the very first episode, very well-written and just a joy to watch the highly talented cast. When tragedy strikes, I was afraid the show would fall into a cliche plot, but it kept its dignity and sailed to a satisfactory end, despite the slow parts in the plot midway. I loved the slow burn of the first episode. There was an intimate sweetness portrayed so wonderfully by the young actors that they won me over completely.

There are a few things I would have liked fleshed out. Perhaps a tete-a-tete between mother and daughter after everything transpires. The talk on how her mother's over-proctective attitude basically changes the course of her life and affected her would have added some closure in that, at times, rocky relationship. The pace slows down a bit towards the middle but then picks up again. The ends wrap up much too nicely making her eventual healing a little implausible. I was still very pleased with this beautiful love story. I highly recommended it.

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