Drawing Closer tells the story of two 17-year-olds who do not have long to live but find happiness and purpose in life after meeting each other. The series is now streaming on Netflix.
Plot summary
While contemplating suicide on the roof of a hospital, 17-year-old Akito meets Haruna, a terminally ill girl with only six months to live.
Haruna is not afraid of dying, believing that it would be better than being stuck in the hospital. She has always been sick and has had time to prepare for her death.
Unlike Haruna, Akito has recently found out that he has a tumor in his heart and will not live longer than a year. He is still struggling to come to terms with dying.
Both Akito and Haruna like to draw. While Haruna continues drawing in her hospital room, Akito has given up on art and everything else, not seeing the point when he is not going to live long.
Akito does not understand how Haruna can look forward to dying, so he meets her again to question her about it.
However, Akito cannot bring himself to tell Haruna about his illness when she asks him to go to art school and win an award in the Nika Art Exhibition to fulfill both their dreams.
From that day onwards, Akito visits Haruna regularly. Upon her insistence that he bring her a gift, he brings her flowers that signify hope.
While meeting Haruna, Akito finds a new purpose in life: to make Haruna happy. He even tries to reconcile her with an old friend, Ayaka, but fails.
Over time, Akito starts falling in love with Haruna. He continues hiding his illness from her because she wants him to live a long and happy life.
Akito realizes just how sad Haruna’s life has been when he learns that her father died in a car accident while driving her to the beach. Haruna blamed her illness for his death.
Akito then ensures that Haruna does not feel sad or lonely in her hospital room. He promises to watch the fireworks with her on the day of the fireworks festival.
However, he ends up breaking his promise when he has to be rushed to the hospital and operated on due to an irregular heartbeat.
Unable to be with Haruna on the day of the fireworks festival, he calls her from the hospital. As they watch the fireworks while talking on the phone, Haruna almost confesses her love for Akito.
Once Akito is discharged, he tries to reconcile Ayaka and Haruna again, and this time, he succeeds by telling Ayaka that Haruna only has a few months left.
Ayaka and Haruna became best friends in second grade, with Ayaka being the only one who was unafraid of Haruna’s illness.
On the day of their junior high graduation, Haruna ended their friendship, telling Ayaka she never considered her a friend, which hurt Ayaka.
Akito helps Ayaka realize that Haruna only did that to avoid dragging Ayaka down with her. Ayaka and Haruna rekindle their friendship, leading to Ayaka visiting Haruna frequently with Akito.
Ayaka also asks Akito to bring Haruna to their school festival, where Haruna gets to be a regular teenager for a day, away from her hospital room.
Additionally, Akito takes her to the beach where her father was taking her on the day he died. When Haruna confesses her wish to love and be loved, Akito tries to tell her about his illness.
However, Haruna stops him, asking him to leave sadness and heartbreak for another day.
Ending explained:
Saving each other
As Haruna’s time draws close, she asks Akito to draw her. It is then that Akito tells her about how she saved him the day they met.
In return, Haruna confesses that she was not in a good place that day, as she had just found out that she only had six more months left, but Akito lifted her spirits.
After spending the past few months with Akito, she no longer wants to die as she did before. Now, she wants to live longer.
She decides to fight her illness every day to have as many days as possible. She asks Akito to keep fighting too, and Akito agrees.
Haruna’s last wish
Akito had earlier refused to undergo the surgery that would prolong his life because the recovery period was three months, which would have meant being away from Haruna for that long.
After Haruna asks Akito to fight, he regains his will to live and agrees to the surgery, giving his parents hope. Soon after, Haruna’s condition worsens.
She fights for her life and asks for Akito in her final moments, but Akito himself has a medical emergency and does not get to meet her.
Haruna passes away, and Akito and Haruna never get to confess their love for each other. Haruna’s mother then gives Akito Haruna’s last drawings, which are her memories of their time together.
Haruna had also written a thank you note to Akito for making her happy. Her last wish is for Akito to live a happy life for her and draw beautiful pictures.
Akito fights until the end
Akito starts drawing again after Haruna’s passing. He gets the surgery, enrolls in art school, and makes happy memories with his friends and family.
Despite the surgery, his condition eventually worsens, and the cancer spreads, leading to frequent hospitalizations.
He remains good friends with Ayaka, who now brings him the same flowers he used to bring Haruna. One day, they discover Haruna’s social media profile, which they had not known about.
Haruna left a letter for Akito that only he can access through a password. In the letter, she had written about how, since the day they first met, she wanted to get to know him.
When he started visiting her, she eagerly waited for him every day. Then, when he was hospitalized, she found out about his illness.
However, she pretended not to know because she did not want things to change between them; she did not want to lose the normalcy they had and cherished.
She did not confess her love in the letter because she wanted to believe that he had already realized what she felt, and in the last drawings she left for him, she drew three Gerberas, which symbolize love.
Akito cries reading her letter. He leaves a comment on her social media account, telling her how she made his world colorful and how he is still challenging life because of her.
Soon after, on the anniversary of Haruna’s death, he passes away. Ayaka, who was a friend to both of them, is seen visiting their graves with three Gerberas.
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