I actually never like japanese dramas but this is just amazing. It easily became one of my favorites. It's a really good movie to get you to think about how great your life is, just being alive.

A MUST SEE!!!!! :D

of all western and asian dramas i have seen, this was the only one that made a big impact on my life...
very touching... the lead actress portrayed the role of aya perfectly...

thumbs up!!!

A short review cannot do justice to the magnificent achievement of this drama. It is profoundly satisfying in terms of acting, content, dialogue, subject treatment, and depth of feeling and presentation.

Most will be familiar with the profoundly sad, yet heartachingly courageous, story of the character's real-life counterpart: an ordinary girl, living an ordinary life, "chosen" by a cruel and extraordinary disease. Ikeuchi Aya is based on the real life diary "1 Litre of Tears", a painful chronicle of one girl's gradual deterioration and excrutiatingly slow death to a neurodegenerative disorder.

Translating this diary to the screen is fraught with potential problems: one must do serious justice to the pain and tragedy of the story. One must not be afraid to cry and dream with the real sentiments of the characters. One must accept that hope, even in the face of hopelessness, is the only real choice. One must acknowledge that life is precious, and that the heart speaks its own language, even when the mouth shuts and hands go still.

But the producers, actors, and everyone else involved in this project succeeded perfectly. This is an enormously powerful documentary, full of life and tragedy, that leads us through the words and struggles of Aya as, day by day, she loses pieces of her self.

Nothing is spared in the process: we see the range of responses to Aya's long, slow goodbye -- the initial courage, but later fatigue; the attempts at humour; the cold, clinical mood of doctors; the heartless glances of gossips; the general discrimination of society towards the disabled. But Aya, magnificently portrayed, brings a mixture of courage and fear to each and every day, trying to make the most of whatever abilities she has in the present moment.

Like all Japanese dramas, some stock characterization is evident: the angelic and sacrificial mother, the aloof and enigmatic boy-hero who proves to be truly loyal, and the jokester father. But where this drama succeeds so perfectly is the brilliant interpolation from the real Aya's diaries: the words, examples, and deeds are part the work of screenwriters, but mostly the true and authentic words of the sick Aya. The script moves magnificently between the various moods of tragic and heroic that a life-threatening illness bring out in both the one suffering, and those who suffer with her. It is impossible, or was for me, to get through an episode without shedding pure tears of awareness.

Aya's diary has sold over 18 million copies -- for someone who frequently hoped that, despite her severe handicap, she could help people -- she continues to help people.

This drama deserves the highest praise for its sensitive, and sentimental, touch in truly commemorating the life of Aya--her words which thrive on with such power. A faultless piece of true entertainment and enlightenment. This drama will change lives. It changed mine.

No amount of words I write would be able to do this drama justice, but here I go:

This drama is based on the diary of Aya Kitou who at the age of 15 was diagnosed with spinocerebellar degeneration, an incurable degenerative disease where the body slowly loses it's ability to physically function, whereas the it's mental capabilities are unharmed.

This drama depicts how her family and herself deals with the disease. The story itself isn't extremely original as far as dramas go, but the way it was executed that makes the drama so special. The desire to be strong for everyone else, the feeling of helplessness of a mother, even the little problems that her siblings had to deal with were portrayed in such a way that truly touches your heart.

It's a drama that really makes you rethink your own life. It makes you appreciate what you have while making you wonder if your own family would react and deal with the situation the same way if it were to occur.

LIVE ON FOREVER!

i will never forget this japanese drama. It's so fantastic. As well as the actors and actress who portray the role. the diary that she wrote is really great. i want her hopes! she never give up. and she stay strong. i love the way they made this drama. so thrilling. really heart whelming! YOU WILL CRY A LITRE OF TEARS :((

Since about a year now this is my favourite Drama.
At first i hesitated to start it, because i thought it will be really despressing. But it wasnt depressing at all! Sure its sad and i cried a lot of times, but its as beautiful as it is sad.
I appreciate my family and my health much more since i watched this drama and it changed my view on many things. Especially because of the quotes from ayas diary. This quotes really stuck in my head. For Example: Whats wrong with falling down? You can always stand up again. If you look up at the sky after falling down, even today, the blue sky stretches limilessly and smiles at you. I'm Alive"

The cast was great as well. Since i watched it I became a big fan of nishikido Ryo and Sawajiri Erika. they both acted so well. But they are not the only ones. The mother, the father, the sister Ako and all the other acted really outstanding.
In my opinion Nishikido Ryo is the actor who cries the best. It really seemed realistic and not so artificial like some other actors.

I thpught, since the ending was clear, i wouldnt want to watch it through till the end, but after every episode i wanted to watch more and more and it resulted in me finishing this drama in 2 days.

The Soundtrack was perfect and the pieces really fitted this drama. Especially the choir song Sangatsu kokonoka and Konayuki, both from Remioromen, suited the scenes. Everytime i hear Konayuki or the piano version of it, i think of Aya and Asou. I really liked their pairing, but i think it was the irght amount of romance in it. Since this drama focused on Kitou Ayas Life and not the relationship between Asou and Aya.

All in All its a really touching drama that will make you cry or at least feel sad. But on the other hand there will be very beautiful moments in the family and between Aya and Asou. Adn even though its a sad ending, i was satisfied with it.

I absolutely loved this drama! It was so inspirational and emotional at the same time.

The story, which is based on true events, is so relatable and follows the life of this strong girl. I felt that the storyline stayed interested throughout the entire drama.

Every actor did a terrific job! Sawajiri Erika did an amazing job with taking on the character of Aya, who began to experience problems walking and speaking. It was very convincing to me. Her parents (Yakushimaru Hiroko and Jinnai Takanori) acted so well, as they showed nothing but love and support for their daughter. And Nishikido Ryo played a wonderful character, who expressed tough and soft personalities.

The music matched perfectly and was very heart-warming!

What I especially loved about this drama, was that they incorporated quotes from Aya Kito's diary into each episode, along with a collage of personal photos. This added a special touch to the drama, which kept reminding me that these events actually happened.

To Sum Up! A must-watch drama, it will touch you in some way and remind you just how precious family, friends, and time really are.

One of the best Asian dramas I’ve seen by far, it actually beat my very first best drama on my list which was Loveholic.
1 Litre of Tears – wasn’t as what I expected, I had so many mixed reviews about it, some are exaggerated comments about it, so I had to see it myself. At the very beginning, I already shed tears considering Aya found out about her disease and having your parents not telling you anything about it.
The middle part of the drama was a bit dragged and long but this drama didn’t even let me fast forward not even one bit!! I was that focused I didn’t want to missed anything. (We all know this was based on a true story, I find true story movies are very interesting, but the rest of it my tears just won’t stop).
I really really love this drama, to me it’s not only it educated me about the Spinocerebellar ataxia it also tells me how important life is, normal, abnormal, straight, gay. We are all humans and we do feel the same pain whenever we are hurt. We feel grateful whenever we are love by the people that surrounds us.
Aya’s family is a great example for all the families out there. No matter what situation they get into they are always there for each other, they might have been a slightly misunderstanding to one another, they never quarrel instead they try to understand it and talk about it.
TOTALLY RECOMMENDED for everyone!! ?

Note for Erica – she did an awesome job here; it looks like she researched about the disease thoroughly.

Love the main theme song too!!!

Story - Aya's life is awesome. Her story is so inspiring and like i said, it's definitely life-changing. You will surely be moved by Aya's word and how she fought to live. I believe words cannot describe how I feel after I watched this drama.

Acting - Sugoii. I think all of the characters fit their role. Erika Sawajiri (aya) portrayed her role very well. As well as Ry? Nishikido and so on. Overall, everyone did well. Touched the audience well too.

Music - K's Only Human is the saddest song i heard so far. The rhythm and the lyrics are so meaningful. The othere OST's also fits the drama.

Satisfaction - very
very
very satisfied.

STORY - The story is about a 15 year old girl who was struck by an incurable disease (based on a true story) and shows how it slowly changed her life. It shows how her family and friends supported her, her love interest (which was fiction), and how she dealt with the disease.

At first this drama starts out slow, but it's understandable because this is a melodrama. Once you get to the middle and the end, you'll probably won't be able to read the subtitles because your eyes are all covered up with tears.

The title is just too perfect for this drama. Although I didn't cry a liter of tears (but touched me big time), I'm sure if someone was sensitive enough.. it could be possible. The fact that this was somewhat a true story gives it an even bigger "aww" factor.

After watching the first episode, I could careless about the drama and the characters, but I kept watching anyways because of all the good things I've heard about it. Fortunately I stuck to it because it turned out to be a very beautiful, moving drama.

CAST - The cast did a great job portraying their characters. The whole family, her love interest, and especially the lead actress (Erika Sawajiri) did a great job.

MUSIC - The music was perfect for this kind of melodrama, I personally liked Konayuki by Remioromen. Once you hear that song you'd automatically think about Aya and Asou.

Overall, this is by far the saddest drama I've ever sat through, and I meant that in a good way. I highly recommend this drama, which the majority who has seen it dubbed as a "life-altering" drama.