First Love
9 / 10occultangle · 2012
This drama gets a lot of hate that I feel it doesn't deserve. I do admit that Wakui Emi's character is rather shocking, but to me that seems to be only because she has always played such innocent roles before. I can't see though how having such a villainous character in a television drama is in any way strange or unexpected, let alone bad. Nor do I feel she should have been seen as un-redeemable.
Watabe Atsuro's character is indeed exceedingly goofy, and it's hard to imagine girls falling in love with him, especially to this extent, but it's the type of role he usually gets cast in, and this drama succeeded in using him to his fullest extent, specifically it was very interesting to see him as a teacher of classical Japanese, his recitations of poems and his cheesy yet profound dialog really made it somewhat believable that a young girl would develop a crush on him.
Fukuda Kyoko's character is out of this world adorable, her facial expressions range from a deer caught in headlights to a pouty child, and every word that comes out of her is whiny and worried and makes you want to cuddle and spoil her like said pouty child. Of course that's not to say it's particularly believable, but her and the rest of the characters make for a sort of caricature of very real feelings that people have, and in the world of TV drama I feel a very strong ability to relate to them and in turn they become surprisingly real and believable people.
The most stand out part of this series however has to be just the overall style. There is a beautiful mix of modern day chic with traditional Japanese esthetics. And I think the one point where almost every one can agree on is that the theme song by Utada Hikaru is wonderful and really helps set the mood and deliver emotional impact at the end of every episode when they play it. Without this song the series wouldn't be half as good.
I will concede that there is one major flaw in this show however, and that is that it falls apart in the last few episodes. I think Wakui Emi's issues should have been resolved after her suicide attempt rather than dragging them all the way to the altar. It definitely does feel like they have yanked the audience around one time to many, and leaves the entire series with a sense of unnecessary meandering. I think it would have been so much better if this series had been several episodes shorter, but that's actually true of most dramas. And at least here they only go too far in the end, where so many other dramas just flip flop the whole way through for no good reason other than one comment by one person, and I don't usually here people complain about it to this extent. At least here there is good reason for the characters to waver in their decisions.
So, I am somewhat disappointed in a sense, but if it weren't for the last few episodes I would be screaming that this was one of the best dramas ever, so I can at least contend that it is too harshly criticized.