It was honestly difficult to rate this drama. On the one hand acting performances were top tier and the cinematography was wonderful. On the other hand the script and plot devices were frustratingly poor and predictable. So, I'll start with recalling some of the positives about "First Love." I have to give credit to the amazing acting of the female lead actress Mitsushima Hikari. She plays the adult version of the character Yae and I thought her performance was very convincing and well done. She acted with her eyes and facial expressions without needing a word of dialogue to convey what her character was thinking and going through. A highlight is the scene where Yae gives her son away and is crying on the road. That scene broke me and felt so real. Another great acting performance was that of the young Harumichi played by Kido Taisei. I thought the actor stole every scene he was in. He was very charismatic and multifaceted. He brought a teen and young adult Harumichi to life. Another plus, was frankly how this drama was beautiful to look at. The way color, lighting, and scenic details were used made for a pleasing experience to the eyes.

Now on to the things that made me rate this drama a 6.5.
To start, I could understand that this drama is based on a ballad "First Love" from 1999 and is clearly inspired by the melodrama romances of that era including Majo no Jouken, which interestingly enough used the song First love as it's theme. Also, I see the Taiwanese drama Autumn's Concerto as a possible influence as well. That's all fine and good, except First love 2022 incorporates all the hair splitting frustrating cliches of that bygone time and combines it into a mess of inconsistencies and plot driven narratives. And like a lot of 90s-00s melodramas, First Love starts off with promise and leaves viewers hooked only to fall flat on its face midway through. Like some reviews already covered, the tired old amnesia cliche is used as a plot device to separate our main leads. We also have the villain parent(s) that purposely keeps the young lovebirds apart, ruining their lives in the process. Very annoying! Yae gets amnesia and conveniently doesn't remember Harumichi at all. Her friend visits and even mentions him to her yet Yae never looks him up or investigates further. Yae's mother sees how her daughter is suffering for years and never tells her the truth. There were several moments that the mom made me want to punch my fist in a wall. The perfect time for Yae's mom to tell her the truth was when Yae gave up her son to her divorced husband. At this point the marriage and rich lifestyle the mother wanted for her daughter had failed so why not confess to Yae about her lost first love? In fact why was anyone keeping Yae's past from her, including the adult Harumichi? All these poor writing choices found in the worst melodramas like this one is to keep the main couple apart for as long as possible and make unnecessary events come between them. It's supposed to make for a powerful epic reunion of the lovers, but often it just results in an anticlimactic ending where viewers like myself forget to care.

Some bonus nit picks and wtfs:
*5th episode sex scene. Graphic and ill fitting for a romantic love story. Ml has sex with a random, has another scene where he gets physical with a gf, and Yae gets no intimate scenes at all. Did she have an immaculate conception or what lol.
*Harumichi's sister randomly tells Yae that her brother breastfed until 3rd grade and was addicted to pornos spending a whopping amount on AV tapes. Later in the timeline, Harumichi offers some of these porno tapes to Yae's 14 yr old son, yikes!
*Episode 8 where Harumichi just up and leaves Yae permanently and moves out of the country. Yae confessed that she loved him and he had already broke up with his fiancee. So wtf. Again, the show threw sense out the window for an "epic" reunion.
*Adult Harumichi cheated with his fiancee by kissing and flirting with Yae. What a swell guy.
*The time line issue. The first past timeline is supposed to be in the late 90s but things don't add up, such as "First love" the album and song came out April 1999. The CD is seen on display at a music store at the end of the first episode as if it's just been released making the year 99. Yet, teen Yae and Harumichi go to the theater to watch Titanic, came out in 1997 or Armageddon, which came out in 1998. I doubt these movies were still playing in Japanese theaters in 1999. Also, the CD player and earbuds used in the show look like a later model than what existed in the late 90s. Several other time period inaccuracies are present if you notice them.