Saturday, March 17, 2007

One Litre of Tears (Ichi Rittoru no Namida)




"Just being alive is such a lovely and wonderful thing."
One Litre of Tears is based off of the real-life story of Aya Ikeuchi, a young girl who contracted Spinocerebellar Degeneration Disease, an incurable illness that impairs one's physical movements to the point where they can no longer walk, speak, hold objects, or eat without assistance. In spite of this, Aya held an optimistic view on life up until her death at the age of 25.

This series is very popular amongst the j-drama circle. In fact, a couple classmates of mine first recommended it to me about a year ago, but I avoided it mainly because of its absurdly emo-sounding title. Though I'm glad that I finally did check it out, as its certainly one of the better j-dramas I've seen. (And it came after I had watched a string of mediocre ones.)



As you can probably guess through the summary alone, this series aims to be a tear-jerker right from the get-go. Some have criticized it for being emotionally manipulative, but honestly, what disability/fatal disease show isn't? Point is, if you're not the type to let yourself be affected by these types of shows, you shouldn't start watching it in the first place.

What keeps the series from being overwhelmingly depressing is primarily the support Aya gets from her family and boyfriend. The most absorbing character of the family is Aya's preteen sister, who at the start of the series, is very aware of the fact that her parents favor Aya over her. She spends the first chunk of the series complaining and snapping at everyone, but when she realizes that there's something very wrong with her sister, she starts to grow up a little.

Then there's Aya's boyfriend, who is a complete and utter dream, as unlikely as it seems at the beginning. For those of you who are familiar with Princess Tutu, he's very much a Fakir-esque character, and thus I was completely sold on him from the very start. <3



And then there's Aya herself, who is appropriately cheery, endearing, and teary-eyed when she needs to be. She could have easily become one of those annoying leads who cry and whine too much, but she didn't. She's likable. And in a series this gloomy, it makes the show that much more watchable.

So I suppose my final verdict is, if you think you can stand it, then by all means, give the series a shot. Just have some Kleenex ready.

On a much less serious note, the eye candy:

- Matsuyama Kenichi, the dude who plays L in the Death Note movies, plays Aya's initial love interest. He has a buzz cut here, though. *facepalm*

- Sawajiri Erika is ADORABLE. I can totally understand why guys fanboy over her.

- Ryo-kun plays Asou Haruto, Aya's boyfriend. I think that's all that needs to be said. :3

Lastly, of the many vids I looked through on Youtube, I think this one represents the series the best:


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