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Summary
Yuichi Ezaki is a 17 year old hospitalized due to hepatitis A. While at the hospital he sneaks over to meet Rika Akiba a fellow 17 year old suffering from a weakened heart valve the very condition that also affected her father and killed him. Unfortunately Rika's condition doesn't give her much longer to live. Yuichi can be a somewhat trouble maker but has befriended a nurse Akiko Tanizaki who acts much like an elder sister to him. Goro Natsume is a docter in charge of Rika's care and acts much like a father to her. He acts cold towards Yuichi but it is revealed his wife suffered from a similar condition and he didn't want Yuichi to experience the same thing. Yuichi and Rika fall in love and develop a strong relationship. With Rika's condition she will die if she does not recieve surgury but the chance of a successful surgury isn't very high! It's essentially Russian Roulette. Rika recieves surgury and lives but Goro forbids him from seeing her and tells him that it is not guarenteed that she'll live. Akiko and Goro have a conversation about Goro's wife and how she died. Akiko says that Rika's personality and happiness has changed for the better since she met Yuichi and that it would be better for her to stay this way than go back to what she was before. Yuichi sneaks into Rika's room and promises that he'll stay with her forever. In the last scene Yuichi and Rika share a kiss and the credits even show a picture of them getting married.
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| This is how an anime should end! |
How it Could be Better
Although it was a happy ending, my question is what are Rika's chances of survival? Did this make her healthier and cure her from the illness? I'm no medical expert but if you know about this condition feel free to answer in the comments. Two characters in particular that I dislike are Rika's mother and Akiko's friend, Misako. At one point Misako tries to seduce Yuichi in which they are caught and Akiko disciplines them both and makes Yuichi promise not to tell Rika. It seems Yuichi has either brushed it off or forgotten the whole incident. Rika's mother shows coldness and ignores Yuichi. I mean bond with the boy, he loves your daughter so he's essentially your family. She needs to understand Yuichi and Rika are special to each other. It seemed though that after she saw Yuichi and Rika talk to each other she understood and accepted Yuichi.
What I went through recently, was my 86 year old grandfather on the last few life of his alzheimers. He died with his family including all 4 of his children by his side. The difference is that Rika is just 17 and may have a chance to live with surgury whereas my grandfather was 86 and was going to die anyway. I feel the overall theme was to cherish life, no matter how little it may be. Personally, I go by that it's not how long you live but how you live. Overall, I liked this anime and this is kind of my idea of a good happy ending (kind of!).
My Conclusion
I'd give this anime 4/5 stars or a 8/10 score. I feel it gives you many difference emotions and feelings in just 6 episodes. I feel a kiss and a wedding is one of the best ways to end an anime and this one had both. Though there unanswered questions is where i draw the line. I do really wonder if Rika's chances of survival and living are increased and around how much longer she'll live. On the other hand I feel this anime teaches us an important lesson about life. For Yuichi and Rika, I wish them luck and hope this surgury changed Rika's health for the better so she can live a happy life with Yuichi.
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