If you watch jdramas at all, you've probably heard about this one. Although it came out last year, 1 Litre of Tears, (Ichi Ritoru no Namida) it's generated a lot of noise. As the title may suggest, it is certainly not a comedy. The drama is based on a diary (A Diary of Tears) written by a young woman named Aya afflicted with the disease spinocerebellar degeneration.This disease affects one's muscle control (motor skills, speech etc) to the point of being comatose. The symptoms begin when moving at will becomes difficult. Balance and ones ability to walk is challenged, fine motor movements such as writing becomes extremely difficult and speech is gradually lost.

When I heard about this series, I was hesitant to watch in fear of just feeling depressed. Those who have seen it all say the same thing. It is a great story that is very sad. You will cry watching this series begining from the first episode. Well, after letting my cousin watch it, he said the series lives up to the hype. I then forced myself to watch with a little motivation from Ryo. I don't know if it is because I work around children with cancer, heart problems and degenerative diseases like cystic fibrosis, sickle cell anemia, but watching this series wasn't as sad as I had expected it to be. On the contrary it was pretty uplifting. I didn't cry as much as I would have wanted. Maybe I've become desensitized, or maybe it's because I know what real patients in pain are like. Her performance was good, but maybe not real enough. The actress was just too beautiful to be sick. I cried a lot at the end of the Notebook (much to my surprise and dismay) and a little when I saw A Walk to Remember. Otherwise I don't recall any other movie where I couldn't control my tears no matter how much I held back. I really hate to say it, but I guess Nicholas Sparks has a way with his novels turned chick flicks :P. I guess it takes a different thing to move me. Loss of love moves me more than loss of life. When I think about it, I can't possibly feel sorry for her, because she was supported and loved by a lot of people. What would have been ultimately sad for me was if she died alone without anyone knowing or caring about her. Now that is definitely something to cry about.