I Want to Eat Your Pancreas

I Want to Eat Your Pancreas is a 2018 anime film based on a 2015 novel by Yoru Sumino. The book was a big hit in Japan and had already become a live-action movie in 2017. This anime version was written and directed by Shinichiro Ushijima at Studio VOLN, and it opened in Japanese cinemas on September 1, 2018. The pop band sumika wrote the songs for the film, including the opening song "Fanfare", and its members also have small voice roles.

The odd title often surprises people. It comes from an old Japanese belief that if you are sick in one part of your body, eating that same part from an animal can help you heal. One of the main characters jokes about this idea. As the film goes on, the words take on a much warmer and deeper meaning, and many viewers feel the title makes sense only near the end.

The main character is a quiet high school boy. For most of the story we do not learn his name. He likes books much more than people. He has no friends and he does not want any, because he thinks other people's feelings are not his business. One day at a hospital, he picks up a notebook someone left behind. It is a private diary called "Living with Dying." It belongs to Sakura Yamauchi, one of the most cheerful and well-liked girls in his class. From it he learns something she has told almost no one: she has a serious illness of the pancreas, and she does not have long to live.

Sakura is not angry that he found out. In fact, she seems glad to share her secret with someone who will not treat her differently. She pulls him into her plans. They eat out, go shopping, and even take a trip together. She wants to use the time she has left to do things she enjoys, and she wants to live like a normal girl, not a patient. He does not understand why she chose him, and her friends, especially her best friend Kyoko, do not trust him at all.

The film is about these two very different people. Sakura is loud, warm and full of energy. He is careful, distant and shy. Through their time together, both of them change. He starts to learn why people reach out to each other. She finds someone she can be fully honest with. The movie looks at big questions in a gentle way: what it means to live a good life, and why the bonds we form with others matter so much.

This is a quiet drama, not an action story. The pictures show soft spring colors, cherry blossoms and ordinary town life. It is a sad film in many ways, and many viewers cry, but it is also full of humor and small, happy moments. It fits well next to other emotional school dramas, and it is a good choice for anyone who likes stories about friendship, growing up, and learning to open your heart.