1 Litre of Tears

1 Litre of Tears – [i]This disease… why did it choose me?[/i]

[b]==CONTAINS SPOILERS==[/b]
The Introduction:
1 Litre of Tears (ichi rittoru no namida) is a Japanese Drama named after a Diary of a girl named Aya Kito (also known as Kifuji in PB subs.... which may possibly be a mistranslation) who suffered from an incurable disease called Spinocellular Degeneration which causes her brain and the cerebellum to slowly deteriorate until the victim can hardly walk, talk, write and eat. Aya had wrote a diary about her disease and how she could cope with it and stopped when she couldn’t hold a pen. At 25 she passed away and her parents had published her diary which has now sold 1.1 million copies in Japan alone.

[b]The cast[/b]

Erika Sawajiri as Aya Ikeuchi
Erika Sawajiri had played Aya Ikeuchi in the drama and I couldn’t believe how well she played Aya. She made the drama seem real because she cries like nearly every episode and her actions seemed so real such as when she walked stiffly like a penguin. She looked cute and young also she actually did look 15 even though she was 19.

Ryo Nakishido as Haruto Asou
Even though this was a fictional character in the drama Ryo also made the character look real. At first I thought Haruto was a really boring character with no personality but when the drama went on I saw an interesting side of him and reading off Youtube saying that he’s hot says it all.

Hiroko Yakushimaru as Shioka Ikeuchi
Hiroko is a very amazing actress showing every single aspect of a caring and beautiful mother and according to the special preview she had cried when she met Aya Kito’s mother and couldn’t believe that she had met who she’s playing. Her character is a mother who tries to help Aya to be strong even when she had the disease and not give up like one of her quotes “Aya…it’s sad but stay strong. It’ll be fine, because I have enough strength in me,”

Takanori Jinnai as Mizuo Ikeuchi
In one word HILARIOUS!!! Takanori’s facial reactions are funny and he brings in all of the humour of the drama. He plays a father who is stubborn and really outgoing he dislikes his girls (mainly Aya) to go out with men at such as young age for example Aya riding a bike with Haruto because she was injured and also when Aya invited Haruto to her house and also Takanori’s crying ROCKS!

Riko Narumi as Ako Ikeuchi
Riko is one of the not so main to main characters. The first time I saw Riko in the drama I thought she was an average selfish tom-boy with no care in the world and she did become sort of what I have imagined but when the drama progressed she turned into a caring loving sister who would help people achieve their goals by doing them herself. Watching episode 6 was really unbelievable because she showed her true acting skills.

Fujiki Naohito as Hiroshi Mizuno
Great acting and I love the doctor (not in a gay way) and I wonder why girls love him even when he’s married and has a kid. I like his acting throughout the whole series especially at episode 1 where he tells Shioka to come to the hospital to get the results…. It was scary when I first heard it….

Oonishi Asae as Asumi Oikawa
Just watching her in the drama made me want to watch the movie which stars as Asae as Aya Kito. Asae’s acting made her stand out more than Erika in some cases such as speaking slowly and also watering the garden. At first I thought Asae was a real patient with the disease because of the way she acted and she’s very pretty as well. Why do beautiful people (at heart) get diseases?

[b]Favourite Scenes (using Character names):[/b]

In no particular order

Mizuo Ikeuchi’s first face-to-face meeting with Haruto
Description: Ako walks in the living/dinner room and tells her father that Aya brought a boy into the house. Mizuo does his alarmed facial recation and goes to the Tofu room. Aya and Asou enter and greet, Ako thought that Asou is Aya’s boyfriend and then Mizuo says “Asou…. I’m Aya’s father,” in some sort of haunted/darth vader voice and that Asou whispers to Aya saying that he’s scary. Aya then tells her father that Haruto was the guy who helped her on the exam and then Mizuo does the facial impressions again making it sound that Asou had done something wrong.
Review: Funny, my niece right beside me started laughing when she saw this scene so yea!

Ako and Hiroki: One of my favourite scenes
Description: when the guys from the football team mock Aya’s walking Ako pushes one of the boys over (as he went to far by imitating how Aya walks) and says He’s not qualified to play soccer because of the lack of sportsmanship Ako turns to Hiroki and asks why isn’t he standing up for her and Hiroki yells out that he doesn’t have a choice. Ako is furious and pulls Hiroki back home. Ako then admits that Aya is amazing, Aya overhears while Shioka and Mizuo surround Ako and Hiroki. Ako then says if she had Aya’s disease she wouldn’t leave the house because she’s not brave enough. Ako rushes upstairs to get a football top with Hiro (or Hiroki) sewn on the top in Red. She shows it to Hiro and then says that Aya had used her own bed time to sew this for Hiroki. Hiroki feels the pain that Ako and Aya both feel and starts to cry.
Review: This scene is one of my favourite scenes, not only we see Ako turning over a new leaf but we also see Ako’s actress really acting in her biggest scene. Hiroki’s actor……*shrugs* his crying is hilarious though!!!! ^_^

Haruto and Aya in the rain…. At the zoo:
Description: Aya stands in the rain really cold and shivering some one knocks Aya over (accidentally) and Aya drops her gift (to the senpai) she gets it and stands up. Haruto then enters the scene and puts the umbrella over her. Aya looks and sees Haruto she is surprised and Haruto says that the Senpai is not coming. Aya smiles and then says that she knew that he wasn’t coming and later in the conversation Aya cries asking to make a time machine so she’ll return to the past and she cries…
Review: Love it! It shows the relationship is growing and it makes a very important entry in Aya’s diary!

The phone scene
Description: Aya’s father is worried about Aya at the disability school and waits for Aya to call him then Ako suggests that he should call Aya. (Lack of commonsense there Mizuo-san… LMAO). Mizuo then picks up the receiver and says “I will be the first person to call Aya,” he dials and back at the disability hospital Aya picks up her cell phone while Asumi watches her. And who was calling her? HARUTO! After a little conversation Haruto then talks about Aya’s father. Back at the Ikeuchi home, Mizuo is confused and asks who would call her in a time like this. Ako then says that it might be Haruto. Mizuo screams out “WHAT!” then he turns to Shioka and suggested that she shouldn’t have bought Aya a cell phone. Shioka then makes an excuse to go to the shower. (LMAO)
Review: …………….. LMAO!!! That scene was so funny I couldn’t stop laughing!
[b]==SPOILERS END==[/b]

[b]Recommendations:[/b]

I super ultra highly recommend this drama to anyone who loves heavy dramas, life stories, life, girls, love or basically drama because you will absolutely vote for this as one of your favourite dramas ever. There’s a possibility that you WILL cry and there is a possibility that you won’t cry but cry at heart when you watch the drama. Oh and also buy the Diary if you can read Japanese or you can simply read the English here

www.xanga.com/onelitre
http://diaryofaya.blogspot.com/

My rating: A 5/5! The best Autumn drama of 2005 and the best work by Erika Sawajiri!!