First love, or hatsukoi, is a big topic in Japanese teen films, as well as almost everywhere else in popular culture. It's attractive because of its innocence and purity, as well as the almost inevitable fleetingness of the relationship — if indeed, it is one; someone is often far more besotted than the other.
The term "puppy love," which conjures up images of youthful crushes that briefly bloom and inconsequentially fade, is not quite equivalent, since hatsukoi can leave a deep, lasting mark.
That is certainly the case with Noboru Aihara (Osamu Mukai), the hero of Saiji Yakumo's "Momose, Kocchi wo Muite (My Pretend Girlfriend)," a 30-year-old author who has returned to his hometown to promote his first novel.