JDrama Overview: 1 Litre of Tears

I watched JDrama 1 Litre of Tears after watching a fanmade MV which used clips from the drama. I have to say that the drama is truly inspiring and moving. Like many other dramas, most notably Korean ones, 1 Litre of Tears explores the difficulties of someone living with a (usually incurable) disease. You may have noticed many dramas with this same element (Stairway to Heaven, Snow Queen, etc) and about 99% of the time, this comes off as a major cliché. But in 1 Litre of Tears, the drama follows a different path, focusing more on the obstacles of being disabled and tied down with an incurable disease, than of love relationships. Aya is a normal schoolgirl who has just been accepted into a prestigious school. Her father runs a tofu shop and she lives comfortable in a family of three other siblings and her parents. Everything seems normal until Aya experiences instances where she cannot control her movements and her vision is sometimes impaired. One time, while walking to school, Aya trips and falls, but fails to stop her fall and lands on her chin. During her stay at the hospital, her mother urges her to get a checkup, worried about Aya's well being. It is then that her mother discovers the true cause of all Aya's mishaps: her daughter has spinocerebella degeneration, a disease in which the patient slowly loses control of their limbs. When Aya learns of her disease, she is devastated, but tries to live life as normally as possible. Her classmate, Haruto slowly becomes drawn to her, noticing her strength through the time in which she suffers through her weakness. When Aya is forced to use a wheelchair to get around, she realizes her dream of being a normal schoolgirl is far from becoming possible, and with many tears, she leaves her school and enrolls in a school designated for handicaps. And while Aya goes on living her life however painful, her family, notably her siblings, grows to accept her disease and unconditionally continue to support her. Knowing she will not life long, Aya distances herself from Haruto. During the final last years of her life, Aya's movement becomes more restricted until finally she succumbs to her relentless disease. However, before her death, Aya asks her mother to publish her diaries, wanting everyone to understand of her disease and to not give up in life.

1 Litre of Tears takes tearjerkers to a whole new level, exposing the horrifying effects of spinocerebella degeneration. Erika Sawajiri's portrayal of Aya was thoroughly believable. Her tears evoked the pain of Aya to the point where viewers found themselves reaching for tissues. When you see her crying scenes, the expression is filled with so much pain and sorrow that it's really quite unbelievable that such a young actress could portray a character with such strong emotions. On the other hand, when Erika flashes her smile at the audience, it's so bright and happy that it's hard to believe she can cry with true emotion. I like to think that she has a smile similar to Kim Jung Hoon's because his completely lights up a whole room. Ryō Nishikido plays Haruto, the quiet brooding teenager whose brother dies from an accident. His character evolves into a more pleasant person, someone who smiles more and is able to joke about things. His dream has never been the same as his brother's, but at the end of the drama, he is set on becoming doctor because of Aya's disease. He learns to break away from the confines of his life after his brother's death and becomes a more open-minded and active person.