Kotomi Aoki
is a Japanese manga artist residing in Matsuyama, Ehime, Japan. She received the 2008 Shogakukan Manga Award for shōjo manga, ''shōjo'' manga for ''Boku no Hatsukoi o Kimi ni Sasagu''. Kotomi took her 2013 Manga, "The Liar and His Lover" and ...
, and it was released on 24 October 2009 in Japanese cinemas. The story revolves around Takuma Kakinouchi, a boy who is told he will die before he is 20, and Mayu Taneda, a girl who is in love with him.
The film is directed by director Takehiko Shinjo, and stars newcomer actor
Masaki Okada
is a Japanese actor. He is best known for his roles as Sekime Kyogo in the drama ''Hanazakari no Kimitachi e'' and as Takuma Kakinouchi in the 2009 film '' I Give My First Love to You''.
Filmography
Films
* ''The Foreign Duck, the Native Duck ...
and actress
Mao Inoue
Mao Inoue (born January 9, 1987) is a Japanese actress. She debuted as an actress when she was five years old. She is best known to Japanese television drama audiences as in , as Makino Tsukushi in the popular ''Hana Yori Dango'' series, and ...
, who played the role of Makino Tsukushi in the television drama and film adaptation of ''
Hana Yori Dango
, is a Japanese ''shōjo'' manga series written and illustrated by Yoko Kamio and set in Tokyo, Japan, and the fictional "Eitoku Academy" (an elite school for children from rich families). It tells the story of Tsukushi Makino, a girl fr ...
''. The film's theme song was sung by Japanese singer
Ken Hirai
is a Japanese R&B and pop singer. Since his debut, Hirai has worked as a model, actor, composer, lyricist, singer, and brand ambassador.
During his career, Hirai has released 45 singles and nine studio albums as of January 2019.
Plot
The film begins when Mayu and Takuma were children. They were friends since they were 8 years old. Takuma has a heart disease and he is treated by a cardiologist who happens to be Mayu's father. One day, Takuma and Mayu overhear that Takuma will not live past the age of 20 due to his condition. However, their friendship grows and Takuma becomes Mayu's first love. When they are out playing in the fields, Takuma promises to marry Mayu when they turn 20.
Time passes, and Mayu and Takuma have grown up and are attending junior high school, but their love for each other remains unchanged. However, Takuma, who knows his days are numbered, wanted to push away his feelings for Mayu and distance himself from Mayu, because he cannot stand to see her cry or hurt her more than he already has. He promised to himself that after his last day in junior high, he will leave Mayu. He decided to attend an elite high school, which Takuma thinks that Mayu cannot go into.
To Takuma's surprise, Mayu managed to go into that school and had actually done well enough in the school's entrance examination that she became the 1st year student body representative. She scolded Takuma in front of everyone in the school hall, when she should be making her welcome speech. She told Takuma that even if he wanted to abandon her, it will not happen in a 100,000 years. Therefore, they became known to the school as lovers.
Mayu then meets Kou, who likes her and asked her to be his girlfriend. However, Mayu refuses. On the other hand, Takuma meets Teru, another patient with the same heart condition as his whom he had met in the past, and Mayu gets jealous when he spent a lot of time visiting her. Kou asked Takuma to give Mayu to him, as Takuma should spare Mayu from the pain when Takuma dies. Mayu and Takuma broke up briefly because Takuma granted Teru her wish of experiencing a kiss before she died. When Takuma visited Teru the next day, he found out that she had died.
Takuma then issued Kou a challenge- they would run a 100-meter race, with the loser backing off from Mayu. Kou accepted the challenge but Takuma wins, and went to find Mayu for a date. That day, Kou went out of the school at the same time as Mayu and Takuma, and was knocked down by an oncoming train. Then, Takuma was informed that he had a suitable heart donor. Later, Mayu found out that the donor was the now
brain-dead
Brain death is the permanent, irreversible, and complete loss of brain activity, brain function which may include cessation of involuntary activity necessary to sustain life. It differs from persistent vegetative state, in which the person is al ...
Kou, and tried to hide the fact from Takuma. However, Takuma eventually found out and refused the donation. At the same time, Kou's family saw that Kou had shed tears, and decided that there might be a miracle, and refused the donation as well. Mayu begged them many times, but they still refused to budge, although Kou had registered as a heart donor.
Later, Takuma suffered a heart attack. He was rushed to hospital, and the doctor did not give him much chance of living. In his sleep, Takuma prayed that he could have just a short time more to live, and he got a miraculous recovery, and surprised Mayu. He brought Mayu on their "honeymoon", visiting many places. Finally, at the field where they first kissed, Takuma told Mayu that he was very lucky and was happy with his life, handing over his lucky-charm 'will' to her that he had written when he was eight years old..
Upon their arrival back to the hospital, Takuma suffered another heart attack and despite the best efforts of the doctor, he passed away. Mayu went to the roof and opened his letter, which told everyone to be happy when he was gone. The film ends with Mayu borrowing the urn containing Takuma's ashes, and went to a church to have a "wedding", thus fulfilling their promise when they were young.
The ending scene is a flashback of the first time the 2 met at the hospital when they were 8 years old.
Cast
*
Mao Inoue
Mao Inoue (born January 9, 1987) is a Japanese actress. She debuted as an actress when she was five years old. She is best known to Japanese television drama audiences as in , as Makino Tsukushi in the popular ''Hana Yori Dango'' series, and ...
played Mayu Taneda, the daughter of Takuma's doctor, Dr. Takahito Taneda
*
Masaki Okada
is a Japanese actor. He is best known for his roles as Sekime Kyogo in the drama ''Hanazakari no Kimitachi e'' and as Takuma Kakinouchi in the 2009 film '' I Give My First Love to You''.
Filmography
Films
* ''The Foreign Duck, the Native Duck ...
as Takuma Kakunouchi, who is suffering from heart disease
*
Tetta Sugimoto
is a Japanese actor.
Career
Sugimoto was first a member of a rock band before he debuted as an actor in 1983 in the film ''Hakujasho''. For that film, he won a Japan Academy Prize best newcomer award. In addition to his work in film, he has als ...
as Minoru Kakinouchi, Takuma's father
*
Yoko Moriguchi
is a Japanese actress. She made her film debut with '' Tora-san Goes Religious?'' in 1983.
Filmography
Film
* '' Tora-san Goes Religious?'' (1983)
* ''Final Take'' (1986)
* ''Chichi'' (1988)
* ''Kacho Shima Kosaku'' (1992)
* '' Unloved'' (2001 ...
as Ryoko Kakinouchi, Takuma's mother
*
Natsuki Harada
is a Japanese actress. She played the lead female role in NHK's 2004 TV Asadora
, colloquially known as , is a serialized, 15 minutes per episode, Japanese television drama program series broadcast in the mornings by Japanese public broadcast ...
as Teru Uehara, a fellow patient with the same disease as Takuma; she became friends with the 2 kids during one of Takuma's stays in the hospital
* Yoshihiko Hosoda as Kou Suzuya
* Keiko Horiuchi as Yoshimi Suzuya, Kou's mother
* Yuki Terada as Yoko Tamura, Sae's roommate and friend in high school
*
Masataka Kubota
is a Japanese actor.
Filmography
Films
* ''Boku no Hatsukoi o Kimi ni Sasagu'' (2009)
* ''Kyōretsu! Mōretsu!! Kodai Shōjo Doguchan Matsuri Special Movie Edition'' (2010), Makoto Sugihara
* ''Gachiban Series'' (2010–2014), Yūto Kuronaga
* ...
as Ritsu Sugiyama, Takama's roommate in high school
* Gaku Yamamoto as Ryujo Suzuya, Kou's grandfather
* Toru Nakamura as Dr. Takahito Taneda, Mayu's father and Takuma's doctor
* Sea Kumada as the young Mayu Taneda
* Kaito Kobayashi as the young Takuma Kakunouchi.
Production
Development
The live-action film adaptation of the
manga
Manga (Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is u ...
was first announced on 1 December 2008. The film was directed by the director Shinjo Takehiko, the director of '' Tada, Kimi o Aishiteru''.
Pre-production
Mao Inoue
Mao Inoue (born January 9, 1987) is a Japanese actress. She debuted as an actress when she was five years old. She is best known to Japanese television drama audiences as in , as Makino Tsukushi in the popular ''Hana Yori Dango'' series, and ...
, who previously played the lead Makino Tsukushi in ''
Hana Yori Dango
, is a Japanese ''shōjo'' manga series written and illustrated by Yoko Kamio and set in Tokyo, Japan, and the fictional "Eitoku Academy" (an elite school for children from rich families). It tells the story of Tsukushi Makino, a girl fr ...
'', was chosen to play Mayu in this film, starring alongside actor Okada Masaki.
Filming
The filming of the film started in March 2009, once lead actress Mao Inoue had graduated from
Meiji University
, abbreviated as Meiji (明治) or Meidai (明大'')'', is a private research university located in Chiyoda City, the heart of Tokyo, Japan. Established in 1881 as Meiji Law School (明治法律学校, ''Meiji Hōritsu Gakkō'') by three Meiji-er ...
.
Post-production
The film's 90 second trailer was first posted on the film's official website on 1 September 2009.
Theme song
The theme song for this film is . It was sung by Japanese pop singer
Ken Hirai
is a Japanese R&B and pop singer. Since his debut, Hirai has worked as a model, actor, composer, lyricist, singer, and brand ambassador.
During his career, Hirai has released 45 singles and nine studio albums as of January 2019.DefStar Records.
Release
Cinema
''I Give My First Love to You'' was first released in Japan on 24 October 2009. It was then released in Taiwan under the name of () on 10 April 2010, and in South Korea on 5 August 2010 (as ko, 내 첫사랑을 너에게 바친다) Within
South-East Asia
Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical south-eastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of mainland ...
, the film was released in Thailand on 24 December 2009 as ( th, เพราะหัวใจบอกรักได้ครั้งเดียว) and in Singapore on 20 October 2010.
Home video
The home video for ''I Give My First Love to You'' was released on 21 April 2010 in
Blu-ray
The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of sto ...
and
DVD
The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...
Region 2 formats.
Reception
Critical reception
Pick 'n' Mix Flix describes the film as "a good old-fashioned tear-jerker that may appeal more to twenty-somethings but still was powerful enough to bring some moisture to my old eyes." and gave it a rating of 7 out of 10.
Box office
In Japan, this film debuted on 302 screens and earned $3.07 million, making it the highest grossing film in Japan and 20th highest internationally that week. According to the Motion Picture Producers Association of Japan, ''I Give My First Love to You'' was the 17th highest grossing Japanese film of 2009 with a total gross of 2.15 billion yen.
Accolades
Masaki Okada won the award of the Newcomer of the Year at the 2010 Japanese Academy Awards for his role in ''I Give My First Love to You'', ''Honokaa Boy'', and ''A Pierrot''. He was also the "Best Newcomer" at the 22nd Nikkan Sports Film Awards.