I enjoyed every aspect of this Japanese drama. Aware that it is based on the true events of the real Aya who suffered from the disease, it gave so much more meaning to the story. I particularly found the family moments heart clenching and very tear-jerking. Even though this drama is about 11 years old, even 50 years from now, this drama will still be unforgettable and memorable for its amazing story, acting and music. The story was well paced and meaningful. It followed a series of events with every episode becoming sadder and sadder. The saddest scene for me was with one of the family 'arguments' and the sister was saying how amazing Aya was. It made me cry so much. Everything made sense in the episodes. I found the short extracts from the real Aya's diaries submitted at the end of each episode a smart move. It added to the reality behind the drama. At the end of each episode, I would read what the phrase was for the episode this time, and after reading it, I would feel depressed once again. By the way, Asou Haruto was such an amazing character. He was definitely my favourite character even though he never existed from the real happening. The acting was superb! Sawajiri Erika is such an amazing actor in my opinion. All the actors did a really good job for every scene. Bonus, I really enjoyed Nishikido Ryo's presence in this drama. Not only was his acting great, he's also really good looking. Narumi Riko was so good in those moments when her character was speaking up. I admired her acting. And to think that most of these actors (SE, Nishikido R, Narumi R, etc) were teenagers at the time of filming, it just blows my mind. Their acting was out of this world and especially at their age at the time. Those serious moments... and those sad af crying scenes. They completed it perfectly. Now, the music is another thing. IT WAS PERFECT. It went along with the story nicely. There was not one piece that I heard during any episode that I thought something other than 'this music is nice and it fits well with this scene'. It added to the effect of what was happening in the story and even the closing episode music was sad enough to hear, to get me close to tears again. I recommend hearing the music, definitely. Watching the drama along with the music will make it sadder though, for sure. I may re-watch this drama sometime in the future but I may need some time to recover from everything that I just watched. I recommend this drama to everyone, but just be prepared for the sadness. I didn't cry as much as most people did, I believe, but there were maybe three times I did. It is the most I have cried in any drama of any kind. BTW, I do hold my tears well. I must say R.I.P to Aya... and thank her for her wonderful diary writing, for sharing her thoughts and feelings. She must've been a wonderful young woman.