AnimeBlog

I am on episode 10 of “One Litre Of Tears” (Ichi Rittoru No Namida). And yes, my eyes are swollen right now because of crying so hard during the episode. I said I’ll try not to cry. I failed. Again.

Aya Ikeuchi had turned 18. It was three years after the family was hit by the news that Aya had Spinocerebellar Degeneration. She had transferred to disability school after coping with hardships at her former school, and on this episode, she finally graduated from disability school.

She wrote lovely poems while in disability school. The poems gave courage to the others, as well as the teachers in the school. In fact, to me, every word that Aya wrote in her diary are the words of courage, as well as the words of pains.

“As I think about the past,
the tears will come out.
Reality is too cruel, too brutal.
I don’t even have the right to dream.
As I think about the future,
the tears will come out again.”

The book with the same title, “1 Rittoru No Namida” (1 Litre Of Tears), which was published after Aya’s death.

See more quotes from One Litre Of Tears, the real Aya’s diary.

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DRAMA: One Litre Of Tears (Ichi Rittoru No Namida)
TYPE: Japanese drama
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I just started watching this Japanese drama last Saturday when I accidentally watched it on TV.

At first when I saw the school uniform, I thought it would be the usual school kids’ love triangle or something. And for a note, I’m not really into this kind of storyline. Yeah, like Winter Sonata (it’s a Korean drama though) which gained a huge success across Asia a few years back.

But I was wrong about the story. It was a story about Aya Ikeuchi, a 15 year old Japanese girl who lived a fairly normal life like other 15 year-olds, had a very caring and fun family, but at the age of 15 she suddenly had to cope with what is termed as spinocerebellar degeneration.

Spinocerebellar degeneration, is a disease in which the person will experience lost of movements and coordination, in results of the spinal cord and the cerebellum degeneration. Okay, in plain English, the person will slowly experience unsteadiness when walking, often stumble, could not measure the distance, could not write well, could not speak properly, until he or she loses the ability to do all of these altogether (correct me if I’m wrong at any part here, I’m not a doctor).

One Litre Of Tears, the title of the drama, tells the story of Aya Ikeuchi’s struggles (as well as her family’s), and her wish to live her life to the fullest after knowing about the disease.

I really, really recommend this drama for you to watch (that, if you haven’t done so already). It could make us appreciate life more than we’ve already had. If we were born with fortune, doesn’t mean it couldn’t be taken away from us in a second (why does that hotel heiress come to my mind suddenly? lol).

But be warned! Your gonna need lots of tissues everytime you watch each episode. I’ve tried to hold back the tears because crying so much would make my head ache. But I failed each time. In my case, I should also prepare a painkiller alongside tissue. You could be crying like hell that I suggest take a break from every episode before watching the next one if you are watching the drama online.

Anyway, I will keep on posting as I proceed with the episodes.

These are amongst the quotes from what were written in her diary she was keeping until she no longer could hold a pen to write;

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Episode 3 : Why did the disease choose me? I cannot carry it, if it’s just for the word “fate”.

Episode 4 : I want to build a time machine and revisit the past. If it weren’t for this disease, I might even be in love. I want to cling to someone’s arm so badly.

Episode 5 : Regret. Pitiful. It’s okay if I’m in pain by myself. But I’m also bringing trouble to the people around me.

Episode 5 : I really don’t want to say things such as “I want to go back as how things were before” . I recognize how I am right now, and I will continue to live on.
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See more quotes from Aya’s diary.

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MANGA: D-ASH
GENRE: Romance, Seinen
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The other day when I was on the look for manga which haven’t been made into anime, I came across this manga, D-ASH.

It’s about a young boy named Tsukasa, who formed a Perverted Boy’s Club (Hentai ShonenDai) with his two other male friends, Katsu and Tajima, at the tender age of 11. Later, a girl named Sae, who had to walk with stick after she was involved in an accident (which also killed her mother) joined the club with the other three boys.

And the activities of the club? All the perverted-related activities. Their minds were always full of all the perverted things. And then the girl, Sae, had to move to Osaka secretly, because her father wanted her to be close to their relatives (since Sae had lost her mother from the accident). Tsukasa, who secretly liked Sae, was disappointed and decided to skip class to catch Sae leaving to Osaka at train station. Right before Sae left, Tsukasa said to Sae that if they meet again as adults, they should go out together.

The story then followed the life of Tsukasa three years after that, from being a perverted 11 year old boy to a 100 meter dash sprinter who created a very good record in track field, and was featured in track field magazine around Japan. Tsukasa’s aim was one; he wanted to run as fast as he could. And that was the only thing that could make him happy.

Oh, and an older woman named Rin. Rin was a worker at a salon Tsukasa always visiting. He had a crush on Rin since Jr. High, after Sae was gone. And he was slowly drawn into rather a physical affair with her after he turned 18. He was still sprinting 100m dash, and he still thought of Sae. But the relationship that he had with Rin at times hold him back from his passions for track, and dreams to run at Olympics.

He chose a woman over a 100 meter sprint that once made him happy.

Tsukasa thought of completely leaving 100m sprint, and since he had to be excel in track in order to continue in Rikunan University after high school, he thought his life was over, and thought of not going to college at all. And suddenly he thought of how he boasted at Sae years ago, that he was going to compete in Olympics for sure. He thought how pathetic he was, in front of Sae, a girl who could never run again, he boasted about how great he was at running.

The thought of Sae made him wanted to meet Sae so bad. When Tajima (who went to a school in Osaka) said he saw someone who looked like Sae at a train station in Osaka, Tsukasa hurried to borrow Rin’s car to drive all the way to Osaka alone. He did not meet Sae in Osaka though (though he accidentally had a glimpse of her). And he found himself back in Tokyo again, in Rin’s house, after breaking the car.

Tsukasa apologized about the car, but Rin surprised him by saying that she’d just give the car to him –under one condition though; that Tsukasa had to go back to sprinting. Tsukasa declined, but after he beat the current Inter-High champion at a school practice, and felt a good feeling he had not been feeling for a long time, he finally set his goal to get back to 100m sprint.

I have just read until this part of the manga, around Chapter 16. I actually don’t usually read other than Shonen, and far from a Seinen type. But this one is quite rich, and I am comparing it to something like Ichigo100% or xxxHolic (yes, I’d like to hear from you if your a fan of those two manga, no offense).

The BASIC RULES of Death Note

Basic rules

* Human whose name is written on death note shall die.
* Unless the writer has the face of the person whom the name is to be written on the death note in their mind, there will be no effect.
* In relation, the human of the same name, or with alias name will not be affected.
* After the name is written, the cause of death must be written within 40 seconds.
* If the cause of death is not written, the cause of death will all be “heart attack”.
* Once the cause of death is started to be written, it all should be written within the next 6 minutes and 40 seconds.
* When the same name is written on more than one death note, the note which was first filled in will take precedence, regardless of the time of death.
* The effect of death note is the same even with the page or fragment cut off from death note.
* Regardless of death note ownership, anyone who touches a death note will then be able to see and talk to the Death God (Shinigami) who previously owned the death note.
* A person who does not have an ownership of the death note can obtain the equal effect to the owner if he writes a name on the death note, or fragment of the death note.
* It is not possible to cancel the death of the person whom the name has been written on death note, even with whatever method there is.
* A person cannot be killed if his face is only known by a drawn/painted picture. But by a clear photograph, he can.
* Pages of a death note will never run out.
* Any language can be used on death note, as long as you can recognize the substance which is written on it as letters (that can form names and words).
* Human who used death note cannot go to heaven or hell when they die.

Desu Noto, DEATH NOTE : Who, what.

Yagami Raito is a brilliant, but bored, high school student who resents the crime and corruption in the world. His life undergoes a drastic change when he discovers a mysterious notebook, known as the “Death Note”, lying on the ground. The Death Note’s instructions claim that if a human’s name is written within it that person shall die. Raito is initially skeptical of the Death Note’s authenticity, believing it is just a prank. However, after experimenting with it and killing two criminals, Raito is forced to admit that the Death Note is real. After meeting with the previous owner of the Death Note, a Shinigami (Death God) named Ryuku, Raito seeks to become “the God of the new world” by passing his judgment on criminals, and to seek… “justice”.

(mostly excerpt from Wikipedia)