Can't run away from the past, can I?
I finished watching the Japanese Netflix series, 'First Love' - despite not once having a full dedication to watching any J-drama/K-drama series due to the need to refer to the subtitle (I can't work if I need to read). But I was intrigued, how can I not? The series is inspired by Utada Hikaru's famous love songs in the 90s and 2018.
I'm more attached to the famous love songs of the 90s: 'First Love' and 'Automatic'. I can still remember the lyrics. My sister and I, both listened to Utada Hikaru when we were in school, in 1999. We listened to the album repeatedly on cassette, sampai lunyai kertas lirik tu. I was just entering my teenage years, and love was still alien to me during those time, but boy that song hits my young mind.
Saigo no kisu wa tabako no flavor ga shita / Nigakute setsunai kaori /The last kiss tasted like cigarette, a bitter and sad smell
Last kiss that tasted like a cigarette, right.
Definitely a young love romance.
My sister asked me whether I watched it last week, and I was waiting for the time (didn't really feel like sharing with her at first). It's funny to think that I thought no one would possibly know my past, forgetting that I shared most of my growing teenage years with my older sister and she taught me about life. She knows, of course, she knows.
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It is not entirely relatable because I don't hold on to my first love (*my first love experience is a bit too much painful to be considered beautiful, I was barely 18).
It just seems like a dedication to me & my past: the 90s Utada Hikaru songs, the location where half of the series is based was at Sapporo, Hokkaido - the place I was born at, the snow blizzards seemed familiar although I was too young to even remember, promo pictures taken by Hamada Hideaki (one of my fav photographer), well, in a nutshell, the J-drama experience itself, teenage years right to the core. Just a nice remembrance of my past (that apparently I'm sharing with my older sister - *eyes rolling).
There is this 'innocence' in J-drama that I'm not really into - the basic cringe-worthy innocence that is only acceptable in J-drama I guess; "girls are soft and pretty and naive", "Hallmark quotes", "holding on to the first love" trope, the naive innocence is just a bit too much for me.
But the series is visually beautiful and the songs are nice. Did you notice how many variations they used for the bokeh effect?
It touches upon the topic of teenage crushes, first love, sacrifices, surviving in the 20th century, failures in life, divorce, expectations, well, basic relatable life series.
Love the depiction of life in the 30s.
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