This film is not only an excellent addition to Asian crime or Yakuza cinema, but it is also a rip-roaring comedy with a big beating heart.

Full Review | Dec 28, 2022

Every time Miike could go completely off the rails, he reins himself in, pulling back where barging ahead would make this an even more memorable (if messier) experience.

Full Review | Original Score: 7/10 | May 13, 2022

Theres no question that First Love is a Miike film, but thats not to say that it feels tired or uninspired.

Full Review | Feb 13, 2022

Another scrappy, outside-the-box crime flick that radiates with [Miikes's] anarchic spirit.

Full Review | Nov 2, 2021

Kubota and Konishi (in her first lead role) balance each other, grounding their characters and the film when it's needed, by providing the emotional and softer aspect of the film, they create the heart of First Love.

Full Review | Original Score: 8/10 | Jul 30, 2021

There's a distinctive brand of Miike magic in the movie's blending of gleefully cartoonish mania with a poignant outsiders-against-the-world narrative, and in everything from its jazz-rock score to its immaculately executed hardware store showdown.

Full Review | May 30, 2021

An epitome of Takashi Miike's entertaining and violent film catalog, First Love combines a slapstick yakuza crime story with young romance. And I love it.

Full Review | Original Score: 4.5/5 | Feb 9, 2021

First Love is a great film in the way it is able to balance order with chaos. [Full Review in Spanish]

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Sep 7, 2020

...who said romance was dead?

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Sep 3, 2020

By contrasting the funny violence of our criminals with Leo's realistic boxing, Miike shows that the only kind of violence worthy of humanity is a violence born out of love.

Full Review | Aug 11, 2020

First Love is a grand guignol of sparring, slashing, stabbing and shooting interrupted by muted stretches of character development.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5 | Jul 24, 2020

What has happened I've already seen it before, but Miike helps me forget it because, with that plethora of characters motivated by the most murky ethics, it evokes the visual style of his yakuza film classics. [Full review in Spanish]

Full Review | Original Score: 7/10 | Jun 27, 2020

"First Love" is a rom-com striking a gangster pose. Boisterous surface trappings belie an underlying kindness and sincere emotional depth.

Full Review | Original Score: A | Jun 26, 2020

[T]he twisty, hyper violent First Love is a big winner.

Full Review | Mar 17, 2020

Expect twists, turns, surprises, violence, love and Miike's wry, knowing wit.

Full Review | Original Score: 16/20 | Mar 16, 2020

An unclassified fusion between the romantic youth thriller, the black comedy, the yakuza cinema, the martial arts cinema and the gore, which finds in the (punctual) gush of creative insolence its best ally. [Full Review in Spanish]

Full Review | Mar 14, 2020

First Love deserves to be in that noble zone of Miike's colossal filmography capable of leaving you cross-eyed in the cerebellum. [Full Review in Spanish]

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Mar 13, 2020

A grand guignol. [Full review in Spanish]

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Mar 10, 2020

Out on home video now is his 103rd film First Love, which utilizes the backdrop of a crime-filled Japanese city to explore how selfishness destroys and a pure heart extends your life.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Mar 10, 2020

Yes, it's preposterous and at times hyper-violent, but the tongue is always firmly in its cheek. Until it's cut out.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Mar 3, 2020