Satoko Ôshima

The Story of the 1 Litre of Tears special takes place after the events in the main drama. The Special takes the view of Asou Haruto who is remembering life the way it used to be before the events of the last episode of the series.

"I thought I might be using a lifetime's happiness in a moment. I was that happy and she was that beautiful." A young boy stands on the red earth of Australia under its blue sky. It is 17-year-old Sakutaro Matsumoto. His time with the girl comes back to him. The colored sand runs through his hands and a tear appears on his cheek. He wakes up. It's 2004 and he is 34 years old and in Japan. He thinks "I have been in a world without her for 17 years." Returning home to see his old high school for the last time before it is demolished, Saku confronts anew the loss of the love of his life, Aki, to leukemia 17 years ago. Now a medical researcher at graduate school, he has been living as if half of him died with her since then.

An officer struggles to solve a murder case despite being at odds with his lieutenant. Officer Tetsubei discovers the body of a man whose face has been crushed and his fingerprints erased. Tetsubei describes the circumstances surrounding the discovery of the body, including his own theory, and is angered by Lieutenant Yukari. That night, Tetsubei visits the shop of Kanako, whom he has a secret crush on. There, Mizutani, Kanako's husband, who has been missing for seven years, appears.

Shoko and Mutsuki get married to satisfy their worried parents, but she is well past the age at which a 'good' Japanese woman should marry, and he is in love with a young male college student. The film is less a realistic exploration of gay life than a fairy tale of three young Japanese trying to construct an alternative to the sexual and familial roles given to them by a society turning increasingly emotionally barren.L.