1 Litre of Tears

Cast:
Erika Sawajiri - Aya Ikeuchi
Hiroko Yakushimaru - Shioka Ikeuchi (Aya's mother)
Ryō Nishikido - Haruto Asō (Aya's later love interest and her lover)
Takanori Jinnai - Mizuo Ikeuchi (Aya's father)
Riko Narumi - Ako Ikeuchi (Aya's little sister)
Naohito Fujiki - Hiroshi Mizuno (Doctor)

Based on the best-selling diary, this 11-episode series literally succeeded in making me shed, err, a liter (or more) of tears.

From being active in entertainment forum, I knew that in this drama, a lead cast would die. I just don’t know who and how. And that is why, when I realized it’s a story about a 15-year old student who lives a happy life, always sports her most cheerful smile especially when she got accepted at a school of her choice and even excelled in her basketball team, got appointed as class president, it is instant murder to say that she has SCD (Spinocerebellar Degeneration), an incurable disease that will slowly kill her peripheral nerves. Meaning, she gradually won’t be able to walk, talk and even eat. What’s worse is her mental activities will be normal. That’s crueler compared to being mentally retarded. Imagine you are aware that you will become helpless and useless in the future.




A lot of factors amazed me while watching the drama.

1. Focus on medical research
Mizuno is the doctor of Ikeuchi Aya. What struck me the most about his character was his greediness for information to actually help his patients. It is a harsh reality that most of the doctors and medical people fail to save lives because of their focus on saving themselves. We know for a fact that the medical world is very competitive. Doctors in our country go to other countries to gather selfish knowledge and fame and save themselves from shame. But Mizuno is very different. He confessed to Asou Haruto at the end of the drama, “Aya-san is very strong, I get courage from her everyday.” He emphasized that every time a new patient sits on the chair in his room to hear from him lies as he tells them ‘Don’t give up, there is still hope’, he feels sorry for his coward self. But meeting Aya is different. Why would a doctor give up when the patient has not? I also like the progress about medical research. A life taken away is a chance to progress. It doesn’t mean a failure. It is indeed, a chance to do better and to continue searching for the answer.

2. The Ikeuchi Family

I fell in love with Aya’s family— from her dirty/talkative father, her good-natured and patient mother, understanding sister (Ako), supportive brother (Hiroki) and another cute sister (Rika). My favorite scene with her family was when they celebrated Christmas with Aya even if it is not yet Christmas.




3. Reality bites

It is not a fairy-tale ending after all. I am used to having happy endings because of Philippine drama. Being based from an original/real-life story, this drama had showed the cruel world we all live in: being disabled/handicapped meant being ostracized in the society. There was this scene when even young kids make fun of those people who can’t walk. Aya’s admirer left her when he knew about her sickness. People in the neighborhood passed one gossip to another about the family’s situation. The ending, was the best for it did not anymore show what happened to Haruto after Aya’s death.

It’s not the first time to have a drama about people in wheelchairs eventually dying. But it is the first time to have a person who is close to paralysis to inspire people through writing. I marveled at the idea of Aya “being useful to other people” even though she looks helpless and useless. I broke down into buckets of tears in the scene wherein Aya tried to make a phone call to her mother because she is scared of closing her eyes. She cannot sleep because she fears that the next day will take something away from her. All of the things she can do before gradually lessen. Her mother out of maternal instinct rushed to the hospital and found her beside the telephone booth. She told her mother that she tried to dial the number many times but her illness failed her to do so. Her mother pushed her back into the room and told her what it is that she can do that no one else can. And the answer is her diaries. Despite having difficulty to move her hands and fingers, she had gathered up the strength to write everyday.

The drama is about treasuring the present. My favorite line would be Aya talking to Haruto about walking. She has accepted that in the future she won’t be able to walk anymore. So no matter how difficult it is, she tries her best in doing rehabilitation. No matter how long it will take her, she prefers to walk like a turtle instead of relying too much on wheelchair. The scene was in the university where Haruto studies. She took a look around the area and saw people walking and running. And then she said, “I wonder if human beings are aware that they are walking now for their future?”