How well do you know your child? Could you imagine your child as a murderer? What if the victim was another child? This shocking human drama, based on a popular comic series by Minoru Itoh, tells the story of two typical mothers whose lives are abruptly brought together through a tragic incident involving their sons.
Typical mother Satsuki Noguchi (Izumi Inamori) spent her days trying to balance her life as a wife to her hard-working husband Kazuhiko (Taro Yamamoto) and mother to their only son Tomoya (Issey Kakazu), a seemingly withdrawn fifth grader with whom Satsuki struggled to communicate.
Seiko (Yuka Itaya) and Hideaki Ozawa (Shiro Sano), living in the same neighborhood as the Noguchi family, were raising a rebellious junior high school daughter Mihoko (Umika Kawashima) and long-awaited first son Kiyotaka (Shion Sato) a second grader who was showered with much love and affection by his mother.
On that ill-fated day when Kiyotaka was reported missing and was later found dead, Tomoya was taken into custody by police as the prime murder suspect. What would possess a child to kill another child? Tomoya slowly begins to open up about his innermost feelings as the hidden truth reveals the true motive behind his cruel act of violence. Satsuki, as mother of the perpetrator, comes face-to-face with her son's true self while Seiko, as mother of the victim, deals with her sorrow and anger.
"AISHITERU (I Love You)" acknowledges the challenges of child-raising that parents face while providing a catalyst for parents to reflect on how well they truly understand their child and how best to raise their child in this complex, modern society.