I Give My First Love To You is a story
of a boy named Takuma (Okasa Masaki) who meets his one true love when
he's just a kid, the same time that he learns he has a heart
condition. Takuma's first love, Mayu (Inoue Mao), is determined to
marry him and sticks to him at all times. But just like what Takuma
says, their love has a time limit.
I enjoyed the movie from start to
finish. I know where the story is heading but I watch it all the
same. For some reason, this movie gives me the same feel as the other
Japanese movies of the same genre that I've watched. It starts cute,
but somehow leads to its tragic ending. I'm saying it from here on
because I'm pretty sure that based on the synopsis alone, it's not
much of a spoiler.
Takuma knows early on that he doesn't
have much longer to live but with every year that passes, he just
keeps on wanting to live more. Mayu has been on his side since
they're kids and he understands how much pain she suffers because of
him. Wanting to stop her from living her life around him, he decides
to break up with her. He decides to go to a high school for highly
intelligent students, and Mayu knows that it's almost impossible for
her to get in that school. But it's not the end of the line for the
two because Mayu makes sure that she gets in that school, even hiring
ten tutors!
I usually don't like love stories where
it's evident that the lives of the leads revolve around each other.
But I'm willing to make an exception for this two. They know that
their time is short, so what are they supposed to do? Sure, they can
live their lives without the other, but they'd rather not. And I see
why they do it and I'd probably do the same. Mayu is such a
strong-willed character that she just wouldn't accept Takuma's noble
idiocy. They are smart people and they may be emotional at times but
I like how they both move the story forward. I believe their
character arcs have been developed quite well, too.
What I love the best about this movie
is Takuma and Mayu's obvious chemistry! Argh. They're just incredibly
cute together! Their bickering and every other interaction seem to
flow naturally. Inoue Mao is amazing as Mayu. She's clingy but she
makes that clinginess adorable. I may be biased in saying this. I'm
not sure how I'd react if it's some other actress.
I'm only bothered with how the story
ends. I know that they didn't really show much after Takuma dies but
Mayu seems to handle it quite well. Too well? Everything she does, she does it
with Takuma in mind. It's just quite amazing that she doesn't fall
apart when he died. I don't know. Maybe the denial and anger and pretty much
everything else that comes with handling someone's death happened
off-screen. I hope she manages well. It's not like she wasn't
prepared. But they have this few minutes of hope, that Takuma might
actually survive! And to have that taken away is probably much harder
to accept than not having the littlest of hope.
It's worth a try, especially when you
love movies like Koizora. This one, at least, isn't annoying and has an
incredibly strong heroine.
