I was wondering what drama to recommend you for Valentine’s Day and I think that the right choice will be a relatively new Japanese drama available on Netflix FIRST LOVE: Hatsukoi. This drama from the beginning of the broadcast aroused very positive reactions from viewers and has remained very high in the ratings to this day. I had to find out for myself what all the fuss was about.
What is this drama about:
In the late 1990s, Yae and Harumichi attend the same high school. Over time, they fall in love and become a couple. Yae dreams of traveling far as a flight attendant, so after school she goes to a university in Tokyo. Harumichi had no plans for the future at first, but when he saw Yae’s passion for watching the planes in the sky, he decided to become a pilot in the Air Defense Forces. A long separation and numerous school duties make it difficult for them to maintain a close relationship. After their first argument, Yae suffers an accident that causes her to lose all her memories of high school. She forgets about Harumichi too. 20 years pass and the two unexpectedly meet again. Each with a new life and experiences.
When I started watching this drama, I had to wait the first two episodes to get into its vibe. At first, everything seems chaotic, because the past and the present intertwine in a very unpredictable way. At times, I had no idea what space-time I was in. Drama is cut up, just as fragments of human memory are cut up. We remember short episodes from our lives, specific stories. It was hard to stop watching after the first two episodes.
“First Love: Hatsukoi” is a beautiful, peaceful story about the first true love and the destiny in which the main character believed so strongly. It’s not an original love story, but the way it’s presented and acted makes it hard to put down. It has an amazing atmosphere, so peaceful and nostalgic. It is beautifully shot.
All the actors performed brilliantly. The younger version of lovers was innocent, crazy and hopeful. The older ones were already experienced by fate, deprived of hope for a better tomorrow. Showing how the life of the main characters was arranged over the last 20 years, the drama raised several important issues, such as the unfair division into social classes, the difficult financial situation of single mothers, manipulating the fate of a child for its apparent good or following dreams against the opinions of others.
The end of the story is perfect, so if you want a beautiful love story, I recommend “First Love:Hatsukoi.
