1 Litre no Namida (TV series)


1 Litre no Namida is a 2005 Japanese television drama for Fuji Television, based on a true story of a 15-year-old girl named Aya Kitō, who suffered from degenerative disease and died at the age of 25.
The script is based on Aya's diary that she kept writing until she could no longer hold a pen. The diary is later entitled, One Litre of Tears, which has sold over 1.1 million copies in Japan.

Plot

Fifteen-year-old Ikeuchi Aya is an ordinary girl, soon to be high school student and daughter of a family who works at a tofu shop. As time passes, unusual things start happening to Aya. She begins falling down often and walking strangely. Her mother Shioka, takes Aya to see the doctor, and he informs Shioka that Aya has spinocerebellar degeneration - a rare disease where the cerebellum of the brain gradually deteriorates to the point where the victim cannot walk, speak, write, or eat. A cruel disease, as it does not affect the mind. The story revolved around the time from when Aya was 14-20 before a big time skip. When she died at 25, her family carried her wishes for her body to be donated for medical research purposes.

Episodes

Special episode

On April 5, 2007, Fuji Television aired a three-hour special of the series set five years after Aya's death and focuses on Haruto Asō, who has now become a doctor at the same hospital Aya was treated in, and Ako Ikeuchi, Aya's younger sister who is a nurse in training. Rika, Aya's youngest sister, just started high school. Haruto is caring for a 14-year-old female patient, Mizuki, who was bullied in school because of her disease, the same one that Aya had. Because of the bullying at school, Mizuki-chan decides not to receive therapy of any sort that would make her better, because she has lost her will to live. Haruto remembers how Aya fought her illness and lived her life with her disease; therefore, he offers support to his patient. Aya reappears in the episode using a number of flashbacks from the series and in new scenes.

Casts

Main cast

Asae Onishi starred in the 2004 movie version of the same title as Aya.

Comparisons to source material

According to the final pictures of the drama:
Indonesian Production House SinemArt's drama, titled Buku Harian Nayla, plagiarizes 1 Litre of Tears. The series bears some striking resemblances, like the name "Aya" being replaced with "Nayla" and Moses in place of Asou. The series aired in RCTI as a special Christmas series. The comparison between the two series have been discussed by the show's audience. The scenario was written by Serena Luna.
Indonesian fans of 1 Litre no Namida have reported this admitted act of plagiarism to Fuji TV and the Indonesian mass media, but there has yet to be a response. What most upsets the fans is that RCTI failed to credit or acknowledge Fuji TV and 1 Litre of Tears, from which the story is presumed to have been adapted, and noted that "This story is fictitious: the similarities of names, characters, places, and times are purely coincidental."
Amrita TV is to dub 1 Litre no Namida and Chinese drama Tears of Happiness is based on this drama.
The Turkish remake of this drama aired on Kanal D, titled Bir Litre Gözyaşı in 2018.

Episode Ratings

Source:

Broadcasts

Japan

  1. littoru no namida -Main Theme-
  2. hurdle wo koete
  3. anata ga oshiete kure tamono -ai no Theme-
  4. yasashisa ni tsutsumarete
  5. anji
  6. kimi e no Long Pass
  7. rakujitsu
  8. shinobiyoru byouma
  9. furi aoge ba aoi sora
  10. namida no imi
  11. senkoku
  12. mou utae nai
  13. te wo nobase ba anata ga
  14. kunou no senritsu
  15. nagare yuku jikan
  16. sagashi te goran
  17. nigiyaka na danran
  18. toumei na sekai
  19. seimei aru kagiri -Sub Theme-
  20. Only Human
  21. konayuki
  22. Only Human
  23. K - Only Human
  24. Remioromen - Konayuki
  25. Remioromen - sangatsu kokonoka