{JDRAMA} Life

Plot

This drama is based on the real-life struggles of a 15-year-old girl named Aya who suffered from an incurable disease, but lived life to the fullest until her death at 25. The script is based on the diary Aya kept writing until she could no longer hold a pen. The book that later followed, entitled, One Litre of Tears has sold over 1.1 million copies in Japan alone.

Fifteen-year-old Ikeuchi Aya is an ordinary girl, soon to be high school student and daughter of a family who works at a shop that makes tofu. 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.


Cast

Erika Sawajiri - Aya Ikeuchi
Ryō Nishikido - Haruto Asō (Aya's later love interest)
Naohito Fujiki - Hiroshi Mizuno (Doctor)
Hiroko Yakushimaru - Ikeuchi Shioka
Takanori Jinnai - Ikeuchi Mizuo
Riko Narumi - Ikeuchi Ako
Yuma Sanada (ja) - Ikeuchi Hiroki
Ai Miyoshi (ja) - Ikeuchi Rika
Saori Koide (ja) - Mari Sugiura (One of Aya's best friends)
Kenichi Matsuyama - Yuji Kawamoto (Aya's first love interest)
Yuya Endo - Takeda Makoto (Yuji's friend in the Basketball club)
Kana Matsumoto (ja) - Saki Matsumura
Momosuke Mizutani (ja) - Kohei Onda
Ryo Hashidume (ja) - Keita Nakahara
Hiroshi Katsuno - Yoshifumi Asō (Haruto's father)
Asae Onishi (ja) - Asumi Oikawa (Aya's roommate when she was in disability school. She has the same disease as Aya)
Kazuko Katō (ja) - Kikue Oikawa (Asumi's mother)
Yuuki Sato - Keisuke Asō (Haruto's brother)
Maya Hamaoka (ja) - Madoka Fujimura
Toshihide Tonesaku (ja) - Kiichi Takano (One of the volunteers at the disability who later gets married to the head teacher of the disability school)
Shigeyuki Satō (ja) - Nishino (Home room teacher of Aya when she was still in the normal high school)
Aoi (ja) (Japanese actress and fashion model) - Tomita (High School Girl who likes Haruto & is jealous of Aya)
Anri Okamoto - Nagashima Mizuki a 14-year-old, a protagonist character in special episodes.