Gem shines so bright
This is a gem.One of the most memorable drama I watch growing up. Almost true to its source, we are brought into Aya's world where she experience growing up in a most challenging and hardest trial of her life.
Brace yourself for the most beautiful tear-jerker story of family, friendship, love, sacrifice, gratitude and letting go.
Story
It's a pretty straightdforward story about a girl struggling with her incurable illness. What separates it from others is how her sudden struggle affected her surrounding and how she regain strength from her family and friends. It also show the family and her friends struggle and hardship to support Aya to continue to live her life. How the pressure from society can be discouraging. How can you change your perception/ reaction from receiving help from others; Being grateful and say "Thank you" rather than being apologetic and say "I'm sorry" all the time. It teaches you to be grateful for what we have without saying the obvious.
Aya's journey is maybe short, but it was meaningful and full of love. The journey she shared with us was neverending and it continued beyond time. It's a timeless journey.
Cast
I love them all. The overall cast are amazing in their own characters.
Aya is amazingly portrayed as this positive, cheerful and strong yet vulnerable soul. She is relateable as a normal teenager who has dreams and goal in life. We can feel her pain as she bravely accepted her illness and strongly powered herself to keep on her struggle to live her life as best as she could.
Nishikido Ryo as Asou really breaks my heart. He is indifferent at the beginning, but his growth in the end speaks volume. How Aya really affect him as a human, friend and lover.
Aya's mom really amazing in this drama. She is the pillar that hold Aya to be as strong as she can. Her portrayal really touches your heart. She is my idol.
Music
I love the soundtrack of this drama. Konayuki is one of my most favourite japanese song of all time. Whenever I hear the song, I will be reminded of the story of Aya as well. It's beautiful.
As always; Would I watch it again in the future? YES.
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Everyone's made the comment, so I won't repeat it but just add my buckets-worth to the collective ocean we've all cried over this series and add another review to the pile (in case you needed one more positive review to persuade you that you really should start watching this).
Let's start off with what makes this series so special; what you get from 1 Litre of Tears is so much more than a mere tear-jerker. It's such a genuine and down-to-earth series that you often completely forget that this is just a drama. I cry all the time... even at series that are supposed "comedies" (much to my embarrassment at the cinema) so the fact I cried doesn't mean much... However the fact that one evening, after my I finished watching my episode-a-day, I got up to go to the toilet to blow my nose and was just struck by how thankful I was I could do that by myself... really says it all.
Some people had a fair amount to say about the quality and I concede- if you're going to line her up against the flashy K-Dramas and C-Dramas that we've been getting over the past few years- she's not the prettiest of the lot. She's a 2005 J-Drama after all. But you'll soon realise after starting that it really doesn't need the high production value or fancy effects. The story feels real, it looks real and that means it will hit you all the harder. I honestly wouldn't swap it for something "prettier", it would just detract from the drama at this rate.
So we've established this is not a drama about the looks but about the people and story- which brings us nicely onto our cast:
This is the kind of quality that gets a standing ovation from all audiences. The acting is incredible. Sawajiri Erika (Aya Ikeuchi, lead role) honestly couldn't have pulled the role off any better. She brought all the subtleties, emotions and frustrations to such a difficult role and treated the character with so much respect. I often had to remind myself that she was actually an ordinary person in reality, she nailed the role that well. What's more is this drama does not simply focus on Aya Ikeuchi and her roles dealing with her illness, but how everyone around her deals with it, and for this Sawajiri Erika is surrounded by an amazing supporting cast. I'm going to call out Jinnai Takanori (Aya's father) and Yakushimaru Hiroko (Aya's mother) as managed to wring just as many tears from me as the leads did. It's not over-the-top, sappy nonsense- it can be subtle, it can be big reactions- but most of all it is acting that you can relate to. They show you the anger, the frustration, the hopelessness of the situation but more importantly- they also show the perseverance, loyalty and kindness that they have.
And if after all this, you're sat there wondering whether you can even make it through the drama. Then let me just tell you- I made it. I bawled my eyes out and spent a small fortune on tissue boxes but it was worth it. You won't just feel bad for Aya Ikeuchi- which is the beauty of the series (and what makes you cry more when the sad scenes). You will support her through all her small successes, cheer her on as she fights for a normal life, you'll even curse the idiots who caused her troubles with her family- I guarantee you will be invested in everything and this drama does touch you. For which, even if you are soft-hearted, I still think it's an important drama to watch!
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Even when Aya was faced with life-threatening disease, she was always positive. It breaks my heart to watch her everyday struggles. And yet I can not ever give up watching it and still got myself hooked up to it because I was rooting for her.
And I have watched this drama a lot of times already but still I am crying after finishing it. Even as I am writing this review, I feel like crying remembering every scenes that touched me.
I love Aya's family too, specially her parents because they are really strong, and supportive and never really have shown weakness in front of Aya.
Each actors did their part really great. I think the role was really meant for them.
Erika Sawajiri did a terrific job as the role of Aya. And even the actor who played the role of parents and the siblings really convinces me.
This is the first drama also I have watched Nishikido Ryo and I love how his role and his acting here and began really searching for all his other dramas.
The music is great too. It really fits each scene and the story.
I give this a perfect 10 for everything. Even for the rewatch value, it is a 10 for me because I really loved the way the story was delivered even if its sad, because I will watch this once again if I want to be inspired or at least to make myself realize that I am still having a good life.
A bonus: Each episode gives us a very inspiring quotes from Aya's book.
As a jdrama fanatic, I really recommend this drama, this is really a must-watch.
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This review may contain spoilers
Don't be foolled by title... "1 litre of tears" fsss yeah right... more like fuckin bucket! Seriously you will cry every episode from very first one to the last one. So prepare tons of tissues.
But it's not just "ohh I feel so bad for her type of drama" it makes you think about life and it lets understand atleast a bit what some people going through.
"WHY ME?" I bet many people who got this dissease asks themselve this question.
I will not give you an answer. But I definetly got a theory after seing Aya's family and how relations between them were changing in every episode.
Is it enough to justify suffering of innocent girl? I don't think so. But I'm sure she was rewarded in afterlife for her goodnes and hope she gave to so many people she didn't even know.
Very sad but great story. I definetley reccomend it to everyone.
PS: I will not spoiler you anything but one scene in hospital when she reached out her hand... I really was expecting something else to happen there.. oh well maybe it's just me ^^ Let me know if you were dissapointed in that scene too.
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A comforting tearjerker
"Comforting tearjerker" might sound like an oxymoron but that's exactly what this is. I loved the relationships we saw in this drama — between family members, between friends, between classmates, etc. and the little hint of romance was so adorable and heart-warming. I loved how subtle the character development is, and the lines are so profound and thought-provoking.There's really not much more to say and I don't really. have any criticisms about this show. The only thing is that I maybe wish it was a little longer as there were some little time jumps that took me by surprise at first and I would've loved to see even more day-to-day scenes. But maybe that's just me being greedy and not getting enough of this entire cast and how beautiful this drama was.
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This review may contain spoilers
That 1 Litre of Tears...it'll be yours when you watch this
My rating of this drama is entirely objective; based on the story's overwhelming impact on me. It was all the more heartbreaking to think that this is drama is based on a real story and is really the story of millions of persons who live boldly with disabilities, I say boldly because how else can you describe a person gripped with fear and pain and who nonetheless chooses to face an uncertain future head-on.This drama really made me reflect on my own life and ask a couple of difficult questions: I couldn't imagine living the life that Ikeuchi Aya lived for 10 years as a victim of spinocerebellar degeneration disease...knowing that she would lose her ability to walk, move, speak and eventually die. But does this mean, I live life only to walk, talk, write, move, etc. I think it didn't matter that she never got the answer to the question: "why did this disease choose me?" None of us chose our life. I think this was a groundshaking reminder that strength, purpose, faith, courage...these things are far more precious than we imagine and they look so different from what we have been taught to believe. They probably lie dormant in all of us and could probably take form in the face of our deepest and greatest suffering.
If you have the courage to watch this, you'll probably be crying (ugly face...get a box of tissues crying btw) throughout but there's a gem of an inspiring story to learn from. It will be worth it.
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The only time I was this moved by anything besides my own life was the manga “Watashitachi no Shiawase na Jikan“; but unlike the manga, this was a replica of someone actual life. I was so emotional during the final episode I got a headache from crying o much. The tears and the realisation of the evitable ending of Aya, I just wanted to skip it all.
ACTING: I just found myself not caring at the acting of the actors due to the captivating story so all I can say the actors were neither bad nor good.
MUSIC: The usage of the one theme song was perfectly timed and played that I found myself you tubing the whole song.
LIKED: The usage of actual pictures and diary entries of the real Aya provides a surreal moment and insight of her struggles; a nice sentimental touch that helps relate and remind the messages and awareness of the disease and courage she had. Additional to the doctor’s story about the little boy (episode 3)
DISLIKED: I struggle to pinpoint something I disliked, but if I had to pick something that would have made this drama even more spectacular, it would be scripting in more well-known actors to provide more acknowledgement of the this life lesson portrayal.
CONCLUSION:
You should watch this drama if you enjoy genres such as family – slice of life – love – great plot – friendship – school – illness – nonfiction – marriage – hospitalisation – drama – tragedy – A MUST WATCH – history – depression – hope – crying – melodrama…
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In the field of acting, all of actors really dive In their roles very well. The musics of this show is so good.
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A life changing story everyone should watch at least once in their life time
I’m a very emotional person I tend to avoid even open endings, let alone sad endings, but I knew I just had to watch this drama somehow. So after months of putting it on hold one day I decided to pick it up.For starters, yes you will most likely be crying in every single episode from the second episode onwards, but we should be aware of the difficulties such people go through everyday to live and do most things we do easily,and this drama will teach us to be grateful for the basic things we’re given.
I remember crying to myself saying my life is worthless take me instead of her, I can suffer instead of her let her live,
It’s a valid feeling, since aya, the main character isn’t a fictional character but based of a true story. Which makes it more heart wrenching and painful.
This drama will teach you very important life lessons, so I ask you to at least watch it once, you might not be able to rewatch it if your an emotional person like me, but at least once you should watch it.
It’s worth all your tears.
I watch dramas very fast, I binge watch them until I finish it, so a 11 episode drama would barely take me two days to finish, but this one took me three weeks, I had to get ready for each episode, I’m glad I finally completed it. This is a drama I won’t be forgetting for a long time.
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Following Aya through her journey of the sickness was such a heartbreaking thing to be watching. But it was so well done that I would recommend just watching it just once at least. It made me so grateful for what I have now and really think about life that I'm living.
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Aya's story has left me incredibly grateful of the fact that I can speak, read, write and walk without trouble as she suffered through the loss of the life she knew.
I started watching this show in the evening and couldn't stop watching. This resulted in me finishing the series in a night. I'll give you a warning- don't watch this if you have important events the next day. Puffy eyes never look good.
All in all the series have stayed loyal to the book quite well apart from some things which have been added to make it more dramatic.
It has been said before by another reviewer, but I agreed with this person immensely. I gave all tens except for the rewatch value. This is because, despite it being utterly beautiful and amazing, it is too heartbreaking for me to watch again.
After watching this series I immediately went googling on where I could order the book. I was so happy that I had learned Japanese and ordered one in Aya's very own language because I always feel like translations leave out so much that it wouldn't be right to read a translation. It was a great idea. I love and cherish the book with all my heart, I reccomend doing the same.
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