Koi wa Ameagari no You ni

Akira Tachibana, a reserved high school student and former track runner, has not been able to race the same as she used to since she experienced a severe foot injury. And although she is regarded as attractive by her classmates, she is not interested in the boys around school.

While working part-time at the Garden Cafe, Akira begins to develop feelings for the manager—a 45-year-old man named Masami Kondou—despite the large age gap. Kondou shows genuine concern and kindness toward the customers of his restaurant, which, while viewed by others as soft or weak, draws Akira to him. Spending time together at the restaurant, they grow closer, which only strengthens her feelings. Weighed down by these uncertain emotions, Akira finally resolves to confess, but what will be the result?

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Tachibana, Akira Main

Watabe, Sayumi Japanese

Kondou, Masami Main

Hirata, Hiroaki Japanese

Nishida, Yui Supporting

Fukuhara, Haruka Japanese

Kujou, Chihiro Supporting

Miyamoto, Mitsuru Japanese

Kyan, Haruka Supporting

Miyajima, Emi Japanese

Kase, Ryousuke Supporting

Maeno, Tomoaki Japanese

Yuuto Supporting

Takeuchi, Junko Japanese

Yoshizawa, Takashi Supporting

Ikeda, Junya Japanese

Kyan, Shouta Supporting

Sawashiro, Chiharu Japanese

Yamamoto Supporting

Murai, Yuuji Japanese

Okada, Maiko Producer, Production Manager

Watanabe, Ayumu Director, Storyboard

Ebina, Yasunori Sound Director

Kaburagi, Hiro Episode Director, Storyboard

Reviews

Apr 3, 2018

Veronin

Recommended

Anyone who has not already given After the Rain a go will more than likely have some serious reservations about watching an anime apparently centered upon some middle-aged dude getting with a high school girl. A glance at the premise and a quick 'no thank you', most people's experience with this anime will be a few seconds at best.

True, even when one puts aside the moral implications of such a romance, these sorts of encounters are often left to erotic fiction (the sort people would do their best to enjoy in complete and utter secrecy) and rarely depicted or even acknowledged in any serious ... context. The man is a manipulator, a pervert, and the girl merely a confused soul. There is no happy ending to be sought, for the situation itself is a crisis without salvation.

If I told you After the Rain is one of the more innocent and heart-warming anime I've seen, would you believe me?

After the Rain is something unique in the entertainment industry. It takes a profoundly controversial topic and focuses not on its moral content, but depicts instead a story of ordinary, decent people merely put into a difficult situation. A young girl develops an innocent crush on someone older than she who she admires and looks up to, and the man, recognizing the obvious issues with such a difference in age, does his best to dissuade her and lead her back to an ordinary teenage life. There is no sexual tension, no outright physical romance; the two often describe their relationship as something more akin to friendship, even if it may not necessarily be platonic. Perhaps things will stay that way, or perhaps the girl will reach adulthood and find her feelings to stay true. I didn't find the outcome so important. After the Rain exists to capture a moment in time, a slice-of-life anime truer to its genre than nearly all surrounding it.

A significant portion of the anime depicts the daily lives of the two protagonists (Tachibana and Kondou) and their co-workers at 'Garden', a family restaurant modeled after the real-world Japanese restaurant 'Gusto'. While most events at Garden are linked in some way to Tachibana's and Kondou's relationship, so too do we see the relationships between the other workers, and get a glimpse at what it is like to work at a Japanese family restaurant. Though these co-workers are hardly developed beyond their one-dimensional comedy relief or jerkass-dude-who-should-be-kicked-and-then-punched-in-the-nutsack roles, their presence serves as a simple reminder that Tachibana and Kondou are just two ordinary souls in a big, bustling city.

Anime has taught us that confessions are meant to be the peak, the conclusion of a romance—that telling someone you like them may as well be asking for their hand in marriage—but for After the Rain, “I like you” is merely the start of their story. Those expecting a long, protracted build-up to the confession may find themselves disappointed, but if you are a bit more like me and prefer to see characters behaving naturally as humans actually do, the pacing in this case is far more appropriate. How could it end with a quick "yes" or "no", anyway, when the question is such a difficult one to answer?

Though the first few episodes create the impression that the story's primary focus is upon this complicated relationship, Tachibana and Kondou are carefully characterised and developed in other, more multi-dimensional ways. Tachibana is confronted throughout the anime with the consequences of her withdrawal from the track and field club and the strained, awkward relationship with her closest friend, worsening with each day she has left the club. Kondou isn't just some happy-go-lucky 40-something-year-old, but a complicated individual who struggles with reconciling his dreams with reality and of his clinging to the past. Though it is rarely mentioned—likely as he does not want to mention it himself—it is strongly implied that Kondou is still hurt by his separation from his ex-wife and the difficulties of raising his son in this environment. These are issues shared by many real, living and breathing people of their age groups, and the result is that you can identify with the two and give more than a damn about their problems.

It is also worth noting how accurate the anime's depiction of its setting, Yokohama, truly is. Famous landmarks of the city such as the Cosmo Clock 21 Ferris wheel and Akarenga Warehouses (though, by God, did I ever hate visiting that place with its floods of tourists) are shown regularly throughout the anime, as well as the actual train lines (the Tokyu Meguro) and individual stations (Takadanobaba) of the Tokyo region. The cheap, boisterous nature of the pub Kondou and his old friend visit, along with the drink bars and parfaits on the family restaurant's menu brought a smile to me and made me feel right at home. Though I doubt people who have not lived in the Tokyo area would notice or care much about these details, they do well in making the story feel more real than imaginary.

After the Rain has a few minor issues—major, depending on your preferences. The ending is abrupt and does not resolve anything, resembling more the ending of any ordinary episode of the show rather than for the story in its entirety. Kondou's and Tachibana's personal struggles remain ongoing, their relationship still undecided, as though we only got about a third of the way through the story before the book was suddenly slammed shut. The reason why Tachibane loves Kondou is never really made clear—although I suppose you could argue that you don’t need a reason to love someone—and her behaviour regarding him, while cute, can occasionally be a bit creepy and uncomfortable to watch, what with her squealing and squirming in bed like some five-year-old who just got new dollies from mommy. One of her co-workers, the one I so described as a jerkass, detracts from the cute, innocent nature of the anime and briefly turns it instead into some borderline netorare thing. Everything surrounding that situation was frustrating—though I reckon that being frustrated only once by an anime isn't such a bad thing, maybe.

I can't convince everyone to look beyond the anime's premise, especially with how heated these sorts of topics have become in today’s political climate. But for anime fans willing to go a teeny bit outside of their comfort zone, or even for those who are just fans of slice-of-life anime, After the Rain is a thoroughly enjoyable and heart-warming little adventure. There's nothing so special about it to deserve high praise, but odds are, it will brighten up a rainy day.

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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Mar 30, 2018

fastghosthunter

Mixed Feelings

After the Rain, an anime full of imagery, symbolism, a mildly controversial plot, and hot track anime girls... I mean, two characters at the crossroads of their lives.

After the Rain could have stood to be more ambitious. It plays it so safe and measured that for long stretches of time I was asking myself why I was watching this, or why anyone was watching it.

The premise can be a little dicey and most of the fan dialogue around this show will mostly be concerning "the implications of dating someone old enough to be your parent", The protagonist/MC: Akira Tachibana, is in a bit of a ... slump. Her Achilles injury has caused her to quit track-and-field and she fills the void by working a part-time job where she continually grows infatuated with her boss(Mr. Kondo).

Now let me be clear. I am analyzing this show on its artistic merits, the controversy surrounding its premise does not really bother me. In fact - I liked it. What I had problems with was the execution. A younger woman attracted to an older man is probably more common than people would like to admit. With that being said, I wish the subject matter was handled... better. After the Rain is cautious and measured; the characters don't get too physically intimate, they never even inched upon the possibility of having a relationship. The mangaka knew exactly what she is going for, and so does the audience. This is never going to end in a declaration of love, but rather it will be a story about both characters working through their emotional baggage.

After the rain displayed small windows of great narrative potential. There are great moments of this shows and things that I could enjoy. There is symbolism through imagery and explicit dialogue(i.e. Rashomon, the bookmark). This series also contains parallelism, insofar as Kondo and Tachibana are going through very similar ordeals in their life.

My problem arises insofar as this shows feels like a bait-and-switch. The episodes seem like it will be an emotionally explorative piece with the focal point being a relationship with this oblivious middle-aged man and Akira; y'know what? I was onboard with that. However, those elements of the show were constantly undercut by the more slice-of-life elements that feel meandering in nature.

The two leads grow closer together with Akira pretty aggressively pursuing Kondo. This consist of walking his kid home, nursing him back to health, and chance coincidences. The thing about this, is the setup relied on chance encounters and circumstances. The way the relationship progresses in the story, while seeming natural gives off this unnatural caution that disrupts the tone of this show, and is an example of the mangaka keeping the cards too close to her chest. It never felt like there were any stakes in their friendship/relationship with each other. In fact, it never really felt like this was anything besides a one-sided relationship. Akira has feelings for Kondo and he kind of entertains her. There never was any substantive connection, which was the huge nail in the coffin for me because you are clearly supposed to be rooting for these two.

This is not helped by the fact that Tachibana may be one of the worst MC's I have seen in awhile. She is not even one note, but rather a complete, wholesale lack of a personality. She usually just stares, maybe says one or two words(exaggeration), and walks in the rain when she is sad.

Akira is oftentimes the center of attention, and the show goes out of the way to make it clear that she is attractive, the star/former star of the track team, and is too good for all those other girls. This series feels more like a shoujo then a seinen insofar as it is framed in the female psyche and female emotions. In some sense, I don't want to talk about it because that level of wish fulfillment is in every show these days. However, I have not seen many people broach the topic, so why not start here?

It is not necessarily a huge problem, but there were so many unbelievable scenarios regarding their taboo relationship. After the Rain has a hard time selling the audience on basic suppositions that you have to accept in order for this series to work, it also has a poor time portraying male characters in a completely believable way. An example of the latter point being a scene in episode 1, Kondo apologizes to a bratty customer and an older co-worker of Tachibana snarkily remarks "he is such a pushover, he has no spine", mind you Kondo is a manager. A manager in the service industry...

I felt early on that there was something "off " about the way Kondo is characterized. Kondo needs to be a pushover for the foundation of his "I have to entertain this girl" mentality to be believable. It just did not add up to me. Kondo is a full grown adult, he has been in college, he manages a successful restaurant, he has had a marriage that ended in divorce, he has a son, he has a full set of responsibilities. A full plate if you will. None of that aligns with a friendship with a younger co-worker of the opposite sex. This show speaks to that notion that "age is just a number", but scenes with Kondo walking in on her sniffing his shirt, them going to restaurants together, and continually meeting up just seems so out of line with everything we know about him.

One of the best moments of this was in episode 3 when Kondo flat out told her "you should reconsider all this", it is how these types of situations would unravel, and to keep it brief; I don't see a man of Kondo's temperament, personality, and sensibilities not just telling Tachibana to leave him alone.

This show was entertaining and I usually can find something every season that is watchable. That is this show for me, and the mediocrity of this is only accentuated by the fact that so many shows come out every season that I can recount that was worth more time and attention than this.

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

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Jul 10, 2020

m1dKn1ght22

Not Recommended

First, let me state what I appreciated of this anime. As per usual, Wit Studio made a wonderfully animated series. The characters and scenes are all beautifully drawn and, to me, this was the primary (if not only) well done aspect of the show.

Despite the appeal of its aesthetics I had to force myself through this series. Superficially it is supposed to entice with its provocative scenario, but its really just another story of adolescent angst. Now, stories like these aren't inherently bad to me but I think this show could have done much MUCH more with its story. To be honest, if it wasn't ... for its MC I probably would have enjoyed this much better. For such a beautifully drawn character (especially her eyes) Akira is the most frustratingly unpleasant MC I've ever had to watch. Selfish and self-centered, the only thing she cares about are staring and blushing at her manager. I understand that the point of this story was how two people can come together and help each other to grow and move forward from the stagnant point of each of their lives, but I think it could have been done much better. I can't understate how much I hated this MC. The other character's were actually much more interesting and if not for them I wouldn't have finished this story. I was hoping the entire time that Kondo would start acting more like an adult and start helping Akira to mature and come to terms with what is actually bothering her, which he did finally towards the end albeit lamely. To me, Haruka was actually my favorite character and made every scene with her in it much better. I think its obvious that this show is directed at a certain demographic that does not include me, but I thought I'd give it a try. I wish I hadn't wasted my time. I disliked this anime so much that I wrote my first review, lol.

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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