[*Whatever By The Books*]

10 Promises to my Dog (Inu to Watashi no 10 no Yakusoku) is like and yet unlike Marley and Me. I watched the latter film just (maybe a week?) after Valentine’s Day, and it was supremely touching. Promises just…doesn’t manage to do the same. Read on for some screenshots (gallery), and a short summary. Be warned that quite a few of the screenshots will be…”Cute.” “Cute dog~” “So cute!” XD

10 Promises to my Dog is the story of Akari and her dog. Akari loves dogs — as a girl, her father was often busy working as a doctor. To cheer her up, her mother got her a golden retriever puppy they name Socks because of her white paw. Of course, mom says Akari has to make 10 promises to her dog.

Socks is with Akari through it all — the death of her mother, coping with the death, the move when her father gets transferred to a hospital in another city, (Socks stays with a friend of hers, Hoshi, a classical guitarist)..even when Akari studies to be a vet and becomes a workaholic, and Socks grows older, she’s always there, helping Hoshi overcome a hand injury after he gets into an accident.

I love golden retrievers, so Socks is a joy to watch (though I -have- seen cuter puppies ;)) — but I don’t know. Akari is more realistically flawed, I guess, and she does notice that she was being selfish, and decided to pay more attention to Socks. Nonetheless…she might have missed Socks on her deathbed because of an operation she had to perform.

And the last promise to Socks was to be there when she died. Sigh. I was already crying at this point. :( Just before Socks passes away, Akari’s dad passes her a scrapbook her mom had made, with cute drawings depicting the ten promises..
(From a dog’s point of view)
1. Listen patiently to me.
2. Trust me. I am always on your side.
3. Play with me a lot.
4. Don’t forget that I have feelings, too.
5. Let’s never fight. Someday I’ll win!
6. If I don’t obey you, I have a good reason.
7. You have school and friends, but I have only you.
8. Stay my best friend even when I’m old.
9. I’ll only live about 10 years, so let’s make every moment together count.
10. Never forget our life together. When my time comes, please be by my side.

It’s all the more touching in Promises because Akari’s mom knew she was going to die, and Socks was in some ways her replacement, so that Akari wouldn’t be lonely. And in some ways, I think her mom was speaking for herself as well as she mentioned rule 10…

It doesn’t end there, though — Akari ends up marrying Hoshi, and the scene where she thanked her dad for taking care of her and raising her…it was touching, yet so polite! As only Japanese can do it.

I guess all this reminds me of when my own puppy died. I didn’t have her for long, but I loved her as only the young (and restless?! XD) could..so if I could say only one thing..a pet is never just a/an , as long as we cherished them as humans do.

Oh, and one more regret when it comes to Promises. I joked to niisama about what the chances Hoshi would come back (he left to study in Paris, and they were separated for seven years before they saw each other again) hot and hunky were…but his actor turned out to not be good-looking! Ah well. XD Broke the K drama stereotype, haha. (Then again, this isn’t K drama..XD)

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