Based upon the manga ‘My Love Mix-Up!’ (消えた初恋) and adapted onto the small screen by screenwriter Kuroiwa Tsutomu and directors Kusano Shogo and Horai Tadaaki, ‘ Kieta Hatsukoi’ will likely put off a lot of mainstream drama watchers by its bizarre setup and seeming cataclysmic conglomeration of outdated cliches and tropes.

The premise revolved around high schooler and main male lead Aoki Sota ( Michieda Shunsuke) ‘s initial crush on supporting character and female lead Hashimoto Mio ( Fukumoto Rio). Mio gives him her rubber during an exam and Aoki is left to believe that Hashimoto has a crush on popular classmate Ida Kousuke ( Meguro Ren). When Sota drops the rubber by accident Kousuke picks it up and misunderstands that Aoki has a crush on him instead . Aoki decides to protect Hashimoto’s feelings by pretending that the rubber was his, yet rather than Kousuke deriding Aoki after rejecting him ( as Aoki expected), he finds himself in a sticky situation when Kousuke wants to “ get to know” Aoki more personally. However Aoki soon finds himself developing real feelings for Kousuke as they begin to spend more together.

Against the fear of the drama being a parody of itself ‘ Kieta Hatsukoi’ surprisingly does not reimburse the typical tropes and writing cliches in predictable ways. Diverged screenwriting takes on classic tropes will likely surprise viewers by sudden “ predictable screenwriting decisions” being changed by the decisions of characters and the route towards the developed relationships onscreen.

From an acting perspective ‘ Kieta Hatsukoi’ is fairly solid. There are admittedly some line deliverances throughout the drama which felt a little enforced or poorly delivered, but overall our main cast did help to present a charisma for their onscreen personas.

Michieda Shunsuke helped to present a sense of awkward charm as his onscreen persona Aoki Sota; a laidback high schooler, who finds himself involved in an awkward position. As a main character Sota has his strengths and weaknesses; authentically he’s your typical “ awkward teen”- misunderstanding scenarios and hates getting into awkward social situations whilst having only one truly close friend through “ Akkun” ( Suzuki Jin). On the other hand one of the biggest problems at times with Sota’s character drive was that whilst we were supposed to understand his “ conflicting” feelings for Kousuke, there never really felt like they were moments where we were able to see thus transcend gradually onscreen.

To explain this further and without major spoilers one of the greatest character-drives for Aoki surrounds his initial feelings for Hashimoto before seemingly falling for Kousuke despite their “misunderstandings”. Whilst it isn’t out of the question for individuals to be ineffably attracted to someone, it seemed odd that as viewers, we never truly reached a more emotive epiphany in the series for Aoki’s feelings for Kousuke being explored in more depth. Additionally there’s the issue surrounding Aoki truly feeling like an actual “ teenager” in the series aside from sometimes being shoehorned into the cliche of the “ whiny teen”; we rarely get to understand more about Sota’s background and family and whilst we are presented with a little indication into his fairly casual-bickering relationship with his mother in episode 2 ( the voice belonging to actress Mitsuishi Kotono) , we didn’t have a lot of opportunities to explore or understand more about Sota’s family dynamic.

Of course this isn’t to critique Aoki’s character entirely. Whilst some of his flaws felt more enforced than others ( not least of all often being the root-cause of conflict between his potential chemistry with Kousuke), Aoki coming to terms with his feelings for his classmate was surprisingly sweet as well as his friendship with his former-crush Hashimoto. Upon the former character mentioned Hashimoto and Aoki’s friendship surprisingly did not play on overt stereotypes or cliches- Hashimoto did not hold “ contempt” for Aoki , just as the male lead did not hold a grudge against his former-crush either. Admittedly whilst it’s understandable that the series didn’t want to draw-out Aoki’s initial “ feelings” for Hashimoto, it often felt as though the topic was swept under the carpet for a major proportion of the seriesm rather than being used as a plot-drive to present a greater growth between the friendship of Aoki and Hashimoto.


This naturally brings us onto the main love interest of the series and main lead Ida Kousuke. Played with a stern yet laidback charm by Meguro Ren, Ida Kousuke is the archetypical “ all-round-ace ” student. He’s a popular classmate, academically smart and sporty. Initially this leads Aoki to believing that he is Hashimoto’s crush and seemingly his “rival in love”. Kousuke is admittedly shoehorned for a major proportion of the series as the “ polar opposite” of Aoki; rarely flustered, sociable and suave. Aside from Aoki’s seeming initial misconceptions of Kousuke being slightly aloof, Kousuke proves himself to be a genuinely good person both within his brief yet insightful relationship with his mother ( Matsushita Yuki) in episode 3, as well as his childhood friend Todoya Shun ( Mochizuki Ayumu).

However admittedly where Kousuke often felt as though he could’ve been explored in more depth revolved around his seeming “ hero’s complex”. It’s revealed that Kousuke’s initial inability to say “ no” to others made him struggle with turning down Aoki’s feelings. However consequently Kousuke often struggled with elements of understanding Aoki’s anxiety or stress in different scenarios which naturally could put a rut in their onscreen relationship. Whilst this personality trait was briefly explored near the ending of the series it felt as though it could’ve allowed more opportunities to see symbiotic and mutual growth for both main leads; Aoki struggling to grasp his feelings for Kousuke, and Kousuke finding himself attracted by Aoki’s kindhearted actions. The relationship between both characters admittedly is drawn upon “ misunderstandings” and “ plot tension”, but the ending helped to present a heartwarming outcome for both our main leads.

The main side characters of the series are Hashimoto and Akkun; both of whom provide themselves to be good friends in need to Aoki. Whilst no major spoilers will be given towards the direction taken with both characters their arcs and development time admittedly did give way to some underdevelopment by the ending of the series, whilst whilst sweet, lacked a satiable build.

As a consequence of the diverged attention between only two plot lines in particular ; our main characters and then the subplot, the series would often fall into a staid and cyclical pattern of rarely diverging in episode formula; a new “ obstacle / climactic conflict” to “ get in the way of the main leads”, and then suddenly a “ quickly thrown-in solution ” to “ resolve” matters. Admittedly it isn’t entirely uncommon for dramas to fall into a status quo episode structure the series rarely used opportunities to explore a more dynamic buildup. This led to some episodes’ pacing ( especially by the latter-half of the series) often feeling anticlimactic and lacking sound-resolve.

The cinematography of the series is admittedly basic at best- whilst minimalistic shots did arguably help to capture the simplicity of Aoki and Kousuke’s overt onscreen relationship against warmer palettes and shades adding a romantic tone, it felt as though the series could’ve facilitated camera angles more towards conveying the characters’ emotions openly or invoke pathos through the captured scenery of the series. Certain tracks of the OST were admittedly a little generic in between scenes but during more emotive scenes the lack of lyrics and emphasis on instruments, did help to convey the characters’ feelings during certain some of these moments onscreen.

Overall ‘ Kieta Hatsukoi’ was a heartwarming and sweet drama. The second-half up until the finale was admittedly on a slight downwards slope in comparison to the first-half with certain writing elements and characters failing to meet dynamic buildup. However it’s undeniable that decent acting by our main cast as well as an intriguing main couple helped to present a charismatic charm towards our main leads which for those looking for a fairly sweet and heartwarming romance storyline, then ‘ Kieta Hatsukoi’ is perfect for lighting up your mood.