I’m anticipating that the lot of you people have already heard of this particular TV series, especially if you’re an avid screener of Japanese Dramas off Youtube. For the record, there are two other forms of media adaption focusing on this same storyline; namely an actual film and the novel-diary itself (you’ll understand this considering if you know the story or not). Anyways, no matter which adaption captured your attention. I seriously doubt anyone who’s seen it could possibly not have shed a litre of tears themselves; I know I did. And that is another ‘defying gravity’ moment for me if I do say so myself – the story is ‘that’ touching.

After already having said that much, my reasons for dedicating an entire post to this series should be beyond evident.

To those who are ignorant: So what is ‘1 Litre of Tears’ really about?

Well for starters, it is based on a real life story. The drama (as well as the film and – obviously – the novel) chronicles the life-struggle of a teenage girl, Aya Ikeuchi (sir name Kito in reality), who was diagnosed with a terminal disease known as ‘Spinocerebellar Ataxia’ (a disease that causes one to eventually lose physical control of one’s body) at the tender age of 15. The illness is said to be genetic and degenerative, growing worse as time passes by. What is worse is the fact that there is no known cure for it, even till today. To cope with the progression of her disease, Aya keeps a diary, recording the challenges she faces and hardships she must endure. She ceased her writing a full decade later when she could no longer wield a pen, finally succumbing to the disease at the age of 25.

Yes, it is a sad story. But just watching the way she lived her life gave a lot of people hope – me being one of those people. It's been a good whole year since I first watched this series and I'm starting to feel as if my life's slowly taking a turn for the better.

So if you haven’t watched it yet, do yourself a favor and search for it over on Youtube; that includes those of you who aren’t Japanese Drama fans. You’ll find every episode there (11 in total) with English subtitles.

And so, this blog post is my little tribute to the girl who told everyone to “live on forever.”



Pass her beliefs on.