1 Litre of Tears - Episode 1
02 June 2006
These are the words the episodes starts with. Roughly translated it means, "This is nothing special, it's just a record of a girl chosen by a special disease". We then cut to the inside of a school gym where there is a girls basketball match going on. Lots of people are cheering as the red team score in the last few seconds to win the match. It then changes scenes to an MRI scan lit up in a doctor's office. The male doctor, Mizuno, is talking to the mother about her daughter's disease; how it will affect her ability to walk, judge distances, and eventually talk. The atmosphere is very heavy at this point and the only sounds are the whiring of computer equipment in the background. This is a very dramatic start to the series and acts as a base from which Aya's story will be told.
March 2005, it is still dark outside as Aya opens the shutters on the family's Tofu shop. The whole family is up helping prepare the Tofu, all except Ako, who is still asleep upstairs. It is revealed that Aya has an entrance exam to Higashikou school on that day and her father, Mizuo, is fussing over her. Aya's mother, Shioka, asks Aya to pass her some Tofu. As Aya tries to place a piece of Tofu into a bowl she misses and the Tofu ends up on the floor. The whole family laughs it off but we as the viewer can't help but feel this is the beginning of the terrible time ahead.
Aya, her 2 sisters, Ako and Rika, and her brother, Hiroki are preparing to leave for school when Mizuo insists that they take a photo outside of the shop. Reluctantly they agree and a picture is taken. Everyone departs after and Aya is shown running down the street, leaping into the air as the scene freezes. The short title sequence is now shown of an unfolding piece of notepaper, teardrops revealing the words, "1 Rittoru no Namida".
We see Aya on the bus on her way to the entrance exam. She falls asleep due to staying up very late the night before and ends up missing her stop. We also see Asou at the entrance to the school as he turns away and leaves. He doesn't seem to have any intention of taking the exam. Aya wakes up to find she's going to be late. She gets off at the next stop and starts to run, panicking at the prospect of being late. A few steps into the run she trips and falls, spilling the contents of her bag onto the pavement. Quickly picking them up she sets off running again. We see Asou again, unlocking his bike which is parked upon a bridge next to countless others. We hear a crash as Aya once again stumbles and falls, pushing most of the bikes over. This time the fall is more serious and there appears to be a bad cut on her knee. As Aya gathers up her belongings it begins to rain quite heavily. She starts to hobble along when Asou pulls up alongside and tells her to get on. They make it to the school and Aya gets her knee patched up in the nurse's office. Asou gets up to leave but it stopped by the teacher coming in to inform them that the two can still take the exam, much to Asou's dismay. I liked the sequence as it shows Asou is a caring person, despite his cold exterior.
It turns to results day and we see that Aya and her friend, Mari, have passed. Aya's basketball senpai, Kawamoto, comes over to congratulate her and we hear that Aya has had a crush on him since 11. Cut to Asou's house and we learn that he has also passed. His parents congratulate him but he seems very distant. There appears to be some conflict in the family but it isn't revealed why yet.
On the first day of Higashikou we find out that Asou and Aya have been chosen to be class presidents, and as a result need to pick out a song for the choir competition coming up. They try to discuss this within the lass but they all seem to be uninterested. You really feel like slapping the lot of them at this point. The next day we see Aya running once again from her home on the way to school. This time, however, she trips and falls badly onto her chin. Her parents rush over and Shioka ends up taking Aya to hospital. While they are there Aya runs into Asou. There then follows a cute scene between them where Asou tells a few lies about him having an incurable disease and dating the nurses. Aya notices that quite a few doctors seem to know Asou and enquires why. He tells her that his father is a senior doctor there, which Aya takes to be another lie even though it's actually true.
Later on that day Aya is taken in to see Dr Mizuno where they conduct a few co-ordination tests. It seems that she has some troubles with them so they take her for an MRI scan of the brain. Shioka is informed that Aya has 'Spinocerebellar Degeneration Disease' for which there isn't a cure. Here Dr Mizuno tells Shioka about the details of the disease in a similar scene to the opening sequence. This heartbreaking moment is shown between scenes of Aya giving a very uplifting speech to the class in an attempt to get them to choose a song. This creates a very bittersweet ending to the episode. The heartwrenching moment occurs when we hear Aya saying that they've got lots of time and that taking the long route isn't a problem, while we as the viewer know this is simply not true. It almost seems cruel.
As a first episode it isn't drastically sad but it makes you want to keep watching to see how Aya, her family and her friends deal with the terrible disease. The cast do a great job of making you warm to them, even in just the one episode. Sawajiri Erika does a great job as Aya and you instantly feel close to her as a character. Her energetic demeanour and happy smile are very infectious and you have see that she affects all those around here.
Sorry for the very long synopsis but I wanted to get across the important moments. The next few should be shorter and more about my feelings about the events rather than just pure reporting.
Posted byHocchan at 10:15 pm
