First Note of Love Review – The Notes Needed More Effort
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This seemed really interesting at the start, almost as if it was Taiwan’s answer to the hit Japanese manga/anime series “Given”, which explores love and loss through the lens of music. But while “Given” was about two high-school students falling in love, while one of them is still coping with the loss of a deceased boyfriend, “First Note of Love” features older protagonists, both musicians, one of them in college, the other a famous professional idol who is grieving his brother’s death.
Directed by Shiue Bin Jian, “First Note of Love” stars Charles Tu and Michael Chang as lead protagonists Neil and Hsiao Hai AKA ‘Sea’, respectively. Sea is a young budding artist, who is offered to work with famous musician Neil, who Sea is a big fan of. However, the two get off on the wrong foot, so, Sea isn’t interested in working with Neil, despite being an admirer. Besides, Neil hasn’t been able to get on stage ever since he lost his brother. How the two end up making music together, and in the process learn to heal their own wounds, forms the crux of the tale.
Wow, that does sound like a pretty good music-themed romance right? Except that the most crucial ingredient of “First Note of Love” is the most forgettable one – the songs are outstandingly mediocre. The music in the series should’ve been at the heart of it. We mean, even Thai horror series “Dead Friend Forever” had a great music score, even though it didn’t need to, and nobody in its big cast of characters was a professional musician. Why compare a Thai series to a Taiwanese one? Because “First Note of Love” has a major character who is a Thai singer and the character seemed to be there only to pander to Thai BL fans (IYKYK – If you know, you know).
As far as the story and romantic progression is concerned, the first few episodes are interesting, but the show gets increasingly formulaic and lack-luster from there on. Charles Tu and Michael Chang are cute as an onscreen couple, but there’s little ‘first love’ magic between the two. The secondary sub-plot involving Neil’s manager Reese (Liu Min Ting) and Thai artist Orca (Jame Kasama Kranjanawattana) felt completely forced into the show. Instead of dragging the story for 12 long episodes, everything could’ve and should’ve been wrapped up in eight.
Overall, ‘First Note of Love’ is a basic, low-budget gay romance, which may or may not hit a chord with the viewers.
You can stream the series on Viki or LineTV.
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