Another Litre of Tears

When we complain for having to walk around without a car, She was striving to make her legs strong and walk to classes though she’s so slow, by the time she reaches, the class ended already.
When we complain about having too much assignments, boring lectures, She was fighting to be in the school when other students’ parents said she should go somewhere else, somewhere with students like her.

When we complain about the food, being tasteless, not properly cooked, not hot/cold enough, all She wanted to do was to swallow it, not to get choked by it.

I’m not talking about someone I know in person, in fact she passed away even before I was born but her story was such an eye-opener. It’s a drama now, called ‘One Litre of Tears’. The story of Aya is like this. She’s like any normal 15 year old in Japan, trying very hard to get into a local prestigious high school, and she got in. She even made it into the basketball team and became a regular though she was in her first year. Nothing was different about her except that she falls a lot. At first they thought she was just plain clumsy but her mother, a health consultant and former nurse noticed she was slightly different. When she fell, she didn’t hurt her palms, but she fell right on her chin.

She went for a check up and discovered she had this rare, incurable disease. I forgot whats the scientific name but its got something to do with a particular cell in the brain breaking up for unknown reasons. She will have difficulties in estimating distances and controlling her body, hence won’t be able to talk, walk, eat, or even breathe normally. Her internal organs become very weak, too. If she catches a cold, she might get pneumonia.

So, the drama is about how she coped with life after getting that disease. The drama was very realistic in the sense that not all, in fact many didn’t want to help her despite being really close when she was healthy. Her senior, whom she liked since first grade and got together shortly before she was diagnosed dumped her as he was afraid of the responsibilities. Her good friend complained that it was too tiring to help her carry her wheelchair up the stairs. Her classmates said she was slowing them down in class.

Then again, there was her ever encouraging family, her mother especially, being her pillar of strength, helping her up whenever she fell and telling her she’ll carry her if she can no longer walk. Her doctor, who continuously worked on the researches in spite of negative results all the time. Her best friend since junior high was there to help her copy notes when she couldn’t keep up cause she was having difficulties in writing. And my favourite character, her boyfriend, who was earlier her classmate, who was coping with his brother’s death and told her if she wants to talk, he’ll listen no matter how long it takes for her to utter a syllable, he’ll walk with her no matter how slow the pace is. But she told him she didn’t want to see him anymore in the end as she was getting more ill, even wet her pants in front of him cause she couldn’t make it to the toilet in time.

I cried from the second episode until the last. Though there were only 11 episodes, my eyes were so swollen, it hurts when I blink(I’m not exaggerating, really damn pain!!). It was a really good drama. I was really angry at the one who introduced me this show, for making me cry so badly (the last time I cried like this was when my grandma passed away) but grateful at the same time for reminding me to be thankful to be able to talk and laugh the way I want and not fret over being not pretty or thin enough. That there’s always a bright side in everything.

`At the shades of sadness, it is said to always have a smile’ quoted from One Litre Of Tears

p/s: Anyone wants to watch can get it from me! I got the DVD! =)