First Note of Love

A Strong Story Undercut by a Weak Central Romance

First Note of Love has a lot going for it: grief, music, friendship, career rebuilding, a genuinely lovable supporting cast, and a secondary romance that worked much better for me than the central one.

Neil’s story is easily the strongest part of the drama. His grief over losing his brother Matt gives the series real emotional weight, and the flashbacks between them are warm, believable, and often very moving. The final episodes handle that grief arc especially well and gave me some of the strongest emotional moments in the series.

Sea also has a nice journey as a young composer learning to trust his own artistic instincts rather than constantly defining himself through Neil. I liked the way the drama treated music as part of both identity and healing, rather than just as a backdrop.

Unfortunately, Neil and Sea never fully convinced me as a romantic couple. Their early dynamic felt more like affectionate older brother/younger admirer, and I never felt the show completely transformed that into romantic or sexual chemistry. Their first kiss came before I felt the tension was really there, and some later romantic developments felt more scripted than emotionally earned.

Ironically, Reese and Orca worked much better for me. Their attraction, affection, vulnerability, and emotional history felt natural, and their relationship had the chemistry I kept waiting to feel from the leads. Their final exchange—Orca speaking to Reese in Mandarin and Reese answering him in Thai—was especially lovely after spending most of the drama communicating in their separate languages.

The supporting cast was another highlight. Ting Fei remains relevant throughout the story instead of disappearing after her introduction, and I appreciated the multicultural element she adds as a Malaysian character. I also liked that the drama did not force a romance between her and Chen Han Liang simply because they were both available supporting characters. Not everyone needs to be paired off.

And Xiao Mei, the sassy Echo Music secretary, was consistently hilarious and became one of my favorite characters.

The multicultural mix of Taiwanese, Thai, and Malaysian characters, along with the use of Mandarin, Thai, and English, gives the drama a distinct personality. Some of the language choices between characters felt unusual to me, but I still enjoyed the international flavor.

The middle stretch frustrated me, particularly when the romance began to feel unnecessarily dragged out, but the final two episodes pulled the larger emotional and musical story together surprisingly well.

Overall: flawed but satisfying. The lack of convincing chemistry between the central pair is a significant weakness for a romance, but the grief story, music, secondary couple, supporting characters, and strong ending were enjoyable.

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2 people finding their way back to life through melodies they thought they had lost forever.

How do you review First Note of Love when your main memories are recording studios, unfinished songs, and Neil and Sea looking at each other like they were hearing music nobody else could?

This series really looked at the music romance genre and said, "What if we added grief, creative burnout, healing, and enough emotional damage to keep playlists employed for years?"

Neil used to live for music.

Then life happened.

Loss happened.

Silence happened.

And suddenly the thing that once made him feel alive became the very thing he couldn't bear to face.

Then came Sea.

A fan.

A dreamer.

A walking reminder of everything Neil thought he had lost.

And somehow, also the person who helped him find it again.

Charles Tu brought so much quiet sadness and vulnerability to Neil that watching him slowly reconnect with music — and with himself — felt incredibly moving.

And Michael Chang as Sea?

The king of optimism.

The emperor of emotional support.

The CEO of believing in someone long before they can believe in themselves.

Watching Sea patiently stand beside Neil while he learned how to create, grieve, and love again gave us one of the gentlest romances in recent Taiwanese BL.

Because this wasn't about saving someone.

It was about accompanying them.

There's a difference.

And First Note of Love understood it perfectly.

The supporting characters and music industry setting added so much texture to the world.

The rehearsals.

The recording sessions.

The pressure of expectations.

The fear of never being able to create something meaningful again.

Every part of it felt honest.

And can we talk about the people behind the camera?

Director Lien Chien Hung understood exactly what this story needed: space.

The emotional moments weren't rushed.

The silences were allowed to exist.

The music was allowed to speak when words couldn't.

The production team understood that songs in this story weren't simply background music.

They were memories.

Conversations.

Confessions.

Goodbyes.

The cinematography deserves special praise.

The stage lights.

The empty studios.

The city nights.

The moments where characters sat quietly with their thoughts while music carried the emotions they couldn't yet express.

And the soundtrack?

Honestly, calling it a soundtrack feels disrespectful.

It was another character.

Every song carried emotional weight.

Every lyric mattered.

Every melody told part of the story.

First Note of Love wasn't simply a romance.

It was a story about finding your voice after losing it.

About learning that grief and joy can exist together.

About understanding that moving forward doesn't mean leaving the past behind.

This wasn't celebrity × fan.

This wasn't sunshine × grumpy.

This was broken musician × person who reminded him that music was never truly gone.

10/10.

Would absolutely sit in that recording studio, cry over songs that don't exist outside this universe, and watch these two find their way back to music and to each other all over again.

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Enjoyed it, just a few things..

I quite like the series, it's adorable, VERY good music omg and the whole relationship is just super cute, bit disappointed they had to add an 8 year age gap.. especially in the beginning it kinda creeped me off. Another small thing I personally disliked is that it was quite boring. There were things that happened sure, but there wasn't something like an argument or VERY plot changing part. I personally don't really enjoy shows that don't really add any tension. Another thing I disliked is the ending, it was just a simple ending.

Aside from that ITS really green flagged and there's a very healthy relationship. Also the glow up because of Sea is incredible. I definitely recommend this series for people that like short romances and people that just started watching bl. The music is absolute fire and I def added some on Spotify to my favourites.

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Loss, Growth, & Finding Yourself

Loved this show so much! Losing a loved one and trying to find yourself afterward carries the plot. Not just for the brother main character, but the manager, and world wide star.

So happy both couples got to be together, love the supportive friendships, and the reinforcement that focusing on work doesn't mean saying goodbye to love.

Sea did amazing coming in as someone that prefers the shadows and loving what he does. Being comfortable enough to perform, create music HIS way, and fall for the man of his dreams was fantastic.

Love the emotion, power, and calm that this story created. It's not fast, rushed, or toxic - just cute and relatable.

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A Gem IMHO

My fav thing about watching any asian series stumbling on the little gems, like this. Thamepo led me here and I am glad it did!

The Storyline
I liked the pacing and the way it showcased the effect trauma has on an artist, The journey to letting go and starting was all around was good! the show had that emotional depth that made me go throughout the motions with the MLs!

NeilSea
Loved the dynamic. The heart vs the head with a sprinkle of age difference. The journey for thinking they didn't get along to them realizing they compliment each other! Each navigating their trauma in their own way which brought them closer!

ReeseOrca
This was also a good dynamic that posed a multitude of perceived barriers. I do love a good crossover collab! Kissing ....needed some TLC but chemistry otherwise was good for me.

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Holy mother of lazy writing and messy scripts

What ... Was that !!!???
I mean I was wondering why this drama isn't popular because I found it by pure chance... And now I know why!!!

Writers!? What happened? What's with that script??
It had a really good premise, the first couple of episodes were great and intriguing!! Then something went terribly wrong, not only that, they had to drag this drama to 12 episodes of weird sh!t.

I don't want to spoil anything so I'll just point out a few thing I liked and didn't like... And a few that just didn't make sense at all, however I'm going to be detailed about everything ~ proceed with caution 🤣

I didn't like:
1- obviously, the story: so we have this really traumatized idol who suddenly out of no where after 6 years decided to comeback only because a little kid told him he is long in the tooth and can't even sing anymore!!! Really?? That what got your heart pumping ??? That's a lame excuse for a story.

2- the romance, the two leads had about 5-6 episodes of nothingness, then bam!! They are in love? B!tch when did you even fall in love?? The ML falls in love with a kid he barely know, we call that 금사빠 🤣🤣🤣🤣 I mean you literally saw the guy 3 times and you are in love? oh, please! It was abrupt, unnecessary and the whole show could pass with them just colleagues Which would be better IMO ~~

3- how to piss me off 101! Have two people speak two different languages to each other and understand eachother perfectly!!
As a polyglot who speaks quite a few languages, I've never, and I mean NEVER speak a language to someone who doesn't understand it and expect such understanding like in this drama, and I have to exclude the parts where they chose the safe route and spoke in a third mediating language because that's what normal people would do, I don't care about the accent or the mispronunciation.
Man, I'd be damned if I sat here in my comfortable chair and judged someone working hard to speak a language that isn't his first! But the Thai-Mandarin mix is just pushing all my buttons!!!

Things that didn't make sense

1- Thai actors: I'm not by all means against the idea of collaborations between countries, or sharing actors, that has been there since ages and one of my top favourite BLs ever had KoreanXThai MC, (Bangkok boy in case anyone is curious)
But what did Mos and Bank do exactly??? Cameo that is completely unnecessary and odd, I didn't hate it but why???

2- the side characters that got marginalized, I loved the Boss and the senior, but while watching I saw less and less of them, where did they go?? And why showing them too much in the beginning if they are not that unnecessary!

3- too many questions unanswered! Like Sea's family??? What's with his mother calls, what happened to him when he was younger?? And how exactly does Neil imposing on a child and technically forcing him to listen to his song helpful? He is his saviour but from what?? We don't even know what he was dealing with?? Why was he alone? ... Just nothing

4- how can a sophomore deal with all that? Like part time, school, homework, composing songs, and training to perform?? Is he a magician!? No insomnia or sickness! I mean, I envy him, really!

What I liked:

1- acting is nice, not perfect but they were convincing in their roles, and I'm not talking about chemistry here at all, I mean each scene, they delivered their emotions well enough

2- Xiao Mei!!! My favourite thing about this whole sh!t show is Xiao Mei!! Oh my baby sunshine!! I have a crush on her! She was adorable, sexy,, oh those outfits slayed! And her sense of humour is spot on! Also how come she can be this adorable and funny at the same time!! Simply the best!!!

That's is!! Nothing else worth mentioning really!!
I would NOT recommend it at all, just watch something else of you got time.

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Love what exactly....

It was a nice calm series and I was truly disappointed.

Six skilled actors delivering the most placid performance I would say for 2024. A nice concept, poor writing, uneventful episodes with little to no engagement. These couples didn't fall in love, they both eased into it. Their grief overshadowed everything else and made the story so subdued that I was left wondering what happened. They're all very likeable with no real drama. The healing from loss and abandonment was dealt with by all but without the bang. Where is the passion for living? The storylines were tied up at the end but very very very peacefully.

Reese finally agreed to go to Thailand with Orca. Sea finally tells Neil about their meeting years ago and how it saved him and Neil confessing how Sea empowered him to be brave. All done very quietly. Standout was Mei, working anonymously in the background to bring them together. 1 point for the casting team for choosing the actresses for Mei and Sea's blonde classmate. They brought their characters to life and relieved the boredom.

Too many flashbacks of the same scene. Magnet's one song religiously played for 9-10 episodes. First Note of Love was more like a lullaby. Charles, Michael, Jame and Min Ting were nice to look at but was expecting more. They did act well but just too quietly. Jame, blonde 1980' mullet - why, was the most engaging of all.

Watch if you've had a hard day and just want to relax without too much brain activity. Rewatch - pass.

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First Note of Love But Flat Story

Conceptually, this series ‘sounds’ like a winner. A budding singing duo composed of two likeable brothers. Tragically, one of them dies on the way to a concert site. The other one becomes lost in his own malaise for 5 years. All of that sounds like a great connection story but the sequence of events for them were choppy and insufferably boring. Their relationship looked and felt creepy to me. Even though both were adults, it still felt off. Honestly, I never bought their relationship. Honestly, I was unmoved by this series. I felt little from it. A few good scenes to be sure but nothing sustainable. There was way too much reliance on flashbacks.

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Deja Tunes

I'm about 2/3 of the way through this drama. I like it. Good production value, good acting, and, as several reviews have noted, a really decent soundtrack. Wanna know why? JMO but every song was reminiscent of a chart topper. This was most clearly apparent in the strongest song that played during the episode 8 end credits. That's very similar to Closer by the Chainsmokers featuring Halsey. It's not plagiarism. But the chord progressions are way similar. If you've ever compared Slow Burn by Musgraves and Fire and Rain by James Taylor, it's the same dynamic. Or a descant situation similar to (imo) Thinking out Loud and Let's Get It On.
Again, I liked this drama. BLs have kept me from obsessing over the madness that is currently possessing my country. So, thanks for that. I just had a head jerk moment when I heard that last song. It took me out of the drama for a second. Okay, back to floating on my river of denial.

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An opportunity wasted

I expected so much more from this series. Having watched Jazz for Two, i thought this would turn out to be a Taiwanese version of that bc of the similarities in the plot. However, 5 episodes in and each one feels like I'm being forced to keep my eyes on the screen. I am disappointed. Poor storyline, too many flashbacks to one thing, no real chemistry between the ML and the music isn't even great. This was an opportunity to showcase how music can truly help one heal and how love finds you even in your darkest moments but it failed, abysmally. I have zero positive takeaways from this one and can only hope Taiwan does better.

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