Here’s One Punch Man) and animated by Studio VOLN (Ushio And Tora), I Want To Eat Your Pancreas is an anime based on Japanese writer Yoru Sumino’s web novel-turned-book of the same name, which was first published on the -generated site Shōsetsuka ni Narō (AKA Let’s Become a Novelist) in 2014. Before the Studio VOLN anime was released in 2018, Sumino’s novel had already been adapted into a manga and live-action film.
While its odd title sounds like something Hannibal Lecter would say, I Want To Eat Your Pancreas isn’t a movie about cannibalism but a touching coming-of-age tearjerker. The anime follows the friendship that blossoms between two classmates from opposite ends of their high school’s social spectrum; introverted loner Haruki Shiga (Mahiro Takasugi/Robbie Daymond) and bubbly, popular Sakura Yamauchi (Lynn/Erika Harlacher). The unlikely pair are brought together when Haruki accidentally reads Sakura’s diary and discovers she’s dying of a terminal pancreatic disease. Wanting to live out the rest of her days as normally as possible, Sakura hasn’t told any of her friends about her illness but entrusts a reluctant Haruki with her secret.
I Want To Eat Your Pancreas follows the pair as Sakura enlists Haruki to help her check items off her bucket list and they gradually grow closer. As the anime progresses, Haruki gives Sakura what she needs – a peer aware of her situation – while Sakura in turn encourages Haruki to come out of his shell and appreciate life. Sadly, all good things must come to an end and as the film nears its conclusion, Sakura es away – which shouldn’t really come as too much of a surprise considering her terminal illness and the fact the anime opens with her funeral. However, the way in which Sakura dies is quite the plot twist.
At the end of I Want To Eat Your Pancreas, Haruki and Sakura are about to meet up after the latter has been released from the hospital. When Sakura doesn’t show up, Haruki heads home disappointed only to see a TV news report about a murder that has taken place in their hometown. It reveals Sakura was randomly killed with a knife through the heart by a murderer responsible for a few local deaths. Sakura’s shocking offscreen death is subtly foreshadowed throughout the anime but nevertheless delivers quite the gut punch.
Any anime fan with a heart probably shed a tear or two thanks to I Want To Eat Your Pancreas’ sad ending but it expounds a lot of what Sakura tries to teach the stoic Haruki throughout the film – that death can happen at any moment and in random, shocking ways but that’s exactly why one should appreciate each day as if it were their last.
