First Love 2019

Leo, an up-and-coming boxer, works at a Chinese restaurant in Kabukichō, Tokyo. After taking a surprising punch and collapsing during a match, a doctor delivers a stark prognosis: he has an inoperable brain tumor and not much time left to live. This grim twist sets the tone for a story that threads through danger, despair, and an unexpected bond forged under pressure.

Meanwhile, a drug-addicted call girl named Yuri is trying to pay off her father’s debts. She finds herself trapped in a cramped apartment run by yakuza and their enforcer, Yasu, with his girlfriend Julie, a space that doubles as a chaotic drug hub. Yuri’s struggle with addiction and trauma anchors a parallel mission that rackets through the district’s underbelly, raising the stakes for everyone involved.

In the same seedy corner of Tokyo, Kase, a relentless yakuza member, teams up with corrupt cop Ōtomo to pull off a dangerous drug-smuggling scheme. Their plan hinges on stealing drugs from Yasu and Julie and then pinning the theft on Yuri, betting that her addiction will sway the yakuza’s judgment. The move reveals a web of deceit, where loyalty is bought and human lives are collateral in a brutal game of power.

Ōtomo orders Yuri’s services as a convenient pretext to clear her from the apartment, but Yuri’s sharp instincts collide with a moment of clarity—a hallucinatory vision of her father—and she bolts. In a fateful encounter on the street, she crosses paths with the despondent Leo, who, believing his life has a ticking clock, lashes out at Ōtomo and decides to stand with Yuri against a system built to grind people down. The pair form an uneasy alliance as they sprint through neon-lit alleys and crowded streets, with Leo providing the practical resolve Yuri has lacked and the courage to confront her trauma head-on.

As the drama spirals, Kase abducts Julie to clear the path for the theft, while Yasu is murdered in the ensuing chaos. Julie’s grief sparks a brutal backlash, pushing the yakuza to circle Yuri and chase the truth. The boss Gondō pushes the investigation outward, bringing the police into the crossfire as different factions converge with their own calculation of risk and reward. The chaos intensifies when Chinese triad operatives—led by Chiachi—also join the hunt for Yuri, convinced she killed one of their men.

Caught between multiple factions, Kase and Ōtomo capture Leo and Yuri after Leo fights off a yakuza assault, but the situation quickly deteriorates into a brutal stand-off. A desperate move in a hardware store leads to a chaotic clash where Leo learns a shocking truth: his brain MRI was misfiled, and he does not actually have a tumor. The revelation reframes Leo’s entire outlook—from a man living on borrowed time to a person who can fight for a future. With this new understanding, he commits to getting Yuri out alive, determined to prove his strength isn’t tied to a countdown.

As the gunfights and sword battles erupt around the store, Kase, Julie, and several others fall, while the police close in. Ōtomo makes a final, doomed attempt to brandish his badge, but is fatally stopped by Chiachi, who shoots him, and the police quickly render judgment on the clash of power players. Gondō, playing a crucial but costly role, helps Leo and Yuri break free by driving his car through the upstairs parking garage and ramming through the police blockade. In a tense, high-stakes pursuit, the two escape into the night with Gondō seemingly wounded but alive in spirit, allowing a glimmer of redemption for the characters who dared to act when there was little to gain.

In the aftermath, Gondō’s sacrifice buys Leo and Yuri time to slip away and regroup. The film moves toward a quieter, more hopeful note: Leo returns to the ring, rebuilding his boxing career with a new sense of purpose, while Yuri enters a rehabilitation program to truly overcome her addiction. The final chapter of their story is intimate and hopeful—two people who have learned to trust each other in the midst of chaos—walking into a snowy apartment together, ready to face a future that is no longer defined by a clock ticking down, but by the decision to keep moving forward.