Miniseries · Netflix
First Love
Who's in it
Cast
The principal ensemble across the run of the series.
Hikari Mitsushima
Yae Noguchi
9 eps
Takeru Satoh
Harumichi Namiki
9 eps
Rikako Yagi
Young Yae Noguchi
9 eps
Taisei Kido
Young Harumichi Namiki
9 eps
Kaho
Tsunemi Arikawa
9 eps
Minami
Yū Namiki
9 eps
Akiyoshi Nakao
Bonji Kawano
9 eps
Towa Araki
Tsuzuru Kosaka
9 eps
Aoi Yamada
Uta Komori
9 eps
Gaku Hamada
Ōtaro Urabe
9 eps
Osamu Mukai
Yukihito Kosaka
9 eps
Kyoko Koizumi
Kihako Noguchi
9 eps
Arata Iura
Tsushima Akihiko
2 eps
BJ Fox
English Professor
1 eps
Motoki Nakazawa
4 eps
Kenshin Endo
Iwashimizu Shohei
3 eps
The Nutevio profile
TV DNA
How First Love actually feels to watch, measured on the traits our editors track across every series.
Signature profile
First Love reads strongest on Character Depth, Bingeability and Serialized.
How fully written and psychologically layered the ensemble is.
How hard it is to stop after one episode.
How much each hour depends on the one before it.
How much the series is designed to affect you.
How often an episode ends on a hook you can't ignore.
The sustained pressure the series keeps you under.
Visual ambition — scale, craft and set-piece filmmaking.
The scale, internal logic and texture of the world.
How often the series is genuinely funny, by design.
The story
What it's about
Young, free and madly in love. As teenagers, the world was their oyster—but, as adults, their lives seem dimmer, like a very important piece is missing.
Where the series peaks
Best Episodes
The hours that define the show, ranked by audience response and editorial signal.
S01E01
When the Lilacs Bloom
Yae drives through the streets of Sapporo as a taxi driver. Back in her rural hometown, her younger self dreams of becoming a flight attendant.
- Directed by Yuri Kanchiku
Behind the series
Created by
Showrunners, creators, executive producers and the writers who set the voice of the series.
The craft
Key Crew
Directing, writing, production, camera, music and editing.
Executive production
- Kaata SakamotoExecutive Producer
- Kasumi YaoProducer
Direction
- Yuri KanchikuDirector
Where to watch
Streaming
Availability verified against regional listings.
- NetflixStreaming
- Netflix Standard with AdsStreaming
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Where to go from here
Watch Next
Our editors' suggestion for the show you should start tonight — and why.
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Another masterpiece of long-form storytelling, chosen to follow this one.
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If the world-building is what held you, this is the next map to walk.
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Never stop watching
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