1 Litre of Tears

Sometimes I feel like my body doesn't belong to me. What's happening to me?

This dorama is about a girl who was diagnosed with a disease called “Spinocerebellar Degeneration” when she was 15 years old, and was able to continue her life until her death at the age of 25 years old.

The plot is based on the true story of a Japanese girl named Kito Aya, who had the same disease. She kept writing in her diary to remember her experiences until she could no longer hold a pen. Aya simply wished to live until the end of her life, and the purpose of writing in the diary was to remind herself to not give up. She shed tears many times, at the same time encompassed by the rich love and support from her family, friends, and boyfriend. Her diary “1 Litre of Tears” was published after her death, because of its inspiring and courageous message of

“Just being alive is such a lovely and wonderful thing.”

So far, over 18,000,000 copies of her diary have been sold.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

The Review

Haruto and Aya

This dorama features Sawajiri Erika, Nishikido Ryou, Narumi Riko, Yakushimaru Hiroko, Jinnai Takanori and Fujiki Naohito. Sawajiri Erika has powerfully brought out the character of Aya, and people who watch this dorama will feel compassion for her while she suffers from the illness. My tears flowed after almost every episode as I questioned myself, “What would I do if I were Aya?” This is a dorama where you can see a 15 year old young girl who was able to face her disease bravely, and tried her best to treasure the time she spent with her friends, family and boyfriend everyday she could.

To me, this was one of the best doramas of 2005, mainly because the reality of this story has enlightened me. I realized that my life is not that tough compared to those who are suffering from an incurable disease. “1 Litre of Tears” stood out for a reason: it is not because Aya was upset because of her disease, she was touched by the love and patience she received from her friends and family. I was amazed by the braveness with which she chose to live her life, as a strong girl who was only 15 years old, yet managed to face her cruel fate with a positive outlook, and tried her best to do whatever she could by herself.

Kito Aya's diary

For those dorama fans who loved “Beautiful Life” that starred Takuya Kimura & Tokiwa Takako, I’d bet you guys will appreciate this story too. I can feel the power of the love from her family and friends in this story, and encouraged me to be positive in my life even though there may be many difficulties and problems. I hope there will be somebody who is willing to translate the original diary by Kito Aya sold in Japan because she has a lot of meaningful words in her diary. This story contains both sadness and love, and I hope you guys will love this dorama as much as I did.

Episode 1 synopsis

This dorama starts right before Aya is confronted with the illness, Spinocerebellar Degeneration, in which the nerve cells of areas necessary for the human body to move and balance–including the cerebellum, brain stem, and spinal cord–transform and eventually disappear.

Ikeuchi Aya (Sawajiri Erika), a 15 year old girl, is the eldest daughter in a normal Japanese family. She lives with her reliable mother, Shioka, who works as a nutritionist, her father, Mizuo, the wacky owner of a tofu shop, her quiet younger brother, Hiroki, and two younger sisters, the sarcastic Ako and innocent Rika. On the day of her high school entrance exam, she left the house full of energy, but she missed her stop to get off the bus and walk to her high school because she fell asleep. She quickly got off and ran from the bus in the rain when she discovered she was late. She slipped, fell down and injured her knee. At that time, she met Haruto Aso, who was trying to skip the exam. He gave her a ride to school, the administrators allowed them to take the exam (despite the fact that Haruto was uninterested in taking it), which they both later passed.

The new semester began, Aya and Haruto were in the same class, and both were elected as the representative of their class. Aya also joined the basketball team, and was reunited with the boy who she was fond of from the male basketball team. Just as she was beginning to enjoy her high school days, Aya starts to experience some physical difficulties. She always dropped food from her chopsticks, could not estimate the distance of the objects in front of her, could not pour water into a cup without spilling it, and occasionally wobbled while walking. Her mother, Shioka, who was the only one to notice the physical changes in Aya, started to worry about what was going on.

One day, Aya’s life started to change after she tripped and fell. She couldn’t protect herself with her hands while falling and she hurt her face. After this, her illness is slowly revealed and her tragedy begins…

Purchase: “1 Litre of Tears” DVD Box
Purchase: “1 Litre of Tears” diary (in Japanese)
Purchase: “1 Litre of Tears” diary (in English)
Purchase: “1 Litre of Tears” Original Soundtrack
 
Torrent: Fansub by Kioku Konseki
Torrent: Original Soundtrack
Insert song: Konayuki by Remioromen
 
Translation: by Kiwi and Pye (ongoing)
Translation: by Ayafan (ongoing)