Stop reading this review and go watch it! Its cute, REALLY cute!
That's it, that's the review.

If you made it here, might as well read on.

Kieta Hatsukoi is your run-of-the-mill cute, fluffy, ball of sunshine type BL where its the high school first love trope. What set sets it apart from its contemporaries is that it knows exactly what it is, and doesn't stray from its lane. It doesn't try to be a multifaceted, edgy, layered, and overly complicated story that a lot of BLs seem to be trying to be lately. Kieta Hatsukoi knows that its cavity-inducing sweetness and plays that to-a-tee! And the the fact that the premise of it, and the whole story ACTUALLY is a layered story with a lot of moving pats and elements yet it surprisingly kept itself simple is amazing to me.

Also, I can easily say that for all the BLs I've watched (and there's been quite a few) this has the best laid out pilot episode.


In the first episode it showed me the setting and the theme. I was introduced to the major characters and it showed me who's point of view I'll be following. and by the end of the first episode it showed me the major conflict of the entire show without totally ruining it for me! It was such a well put together episode and incredibly satisfying to watch.

And for 10 episodes, (under 30 minutes each) the show kept me engaged as it shaped the characters so well and so simply that by the 0 finale, I can easily track where the key points in the story is while at the same time knowing these fairly well-fleshed out characters and their own journeys.

When it comes to the acting was also on point. The protagonists had enough experience behind them that they pulled this one off very well. There were scenes where the acting was a tad exaggerated or were too big but for me it fits the overall narrative and vibe of the show.

Also, there really is something to be said about Japanese BLs and their use of lighting to lend emotion to a scene. They play with shadows and colors really well and just adds so much more to a scene.

On sound what I often note with Thai, Filipino, and sometimes even Taiwanese BLs is that sound sometimes is really off-putting. It can either be due to the equipment(lapels being covered by wardrobe or boom mics capturing way too much ambient noise) the sound being overall muffled, some sort of post-production / editing issue (often it would be the editors trying to cancel background noise so much that it ruins the whole thing), etc. But with Japanese BLs I don't have any of those issues, especially not with Kieta Hatsukoi. It feels like there's a level of meticulousness that I've so far only seen in Japanese BLs that really stands out to me.

Speaking of sounds, the fact that both leads are members of boy groups and sang songs for the OST is just *papa kiss*. I mean even their OSTs just know what they want to be! And that's fluffy, cute, and just heart-squishing adorable! I've been listening to their OST while I'm writing this review!

To be honest all I have are praises for this show. Bonus points for the fact that it also tried its hand on talking about prejudice is really good. It didn't deviate too much from its cutie-base but also branched out enough to talk about it is something I really apricated.

All in all, #KietaHatsukoi is a feel good, simple show you can really enjoy.

Its an easy 9.5 out of 10, and that .5 is so negligible since the show is THAT good!