After the Rain (a.k.a. Love is like After the Rain)
Genre: Slice-of-Life, Romance, Drama
Studio: Wit Studio
Hello my friends. Welcome to another entry.
I do not know if I mention this before. If not, I will say it again. Slice-of-Life anime is one of my favourite genres, because it gives the opportunity to explore a bit of ourselves and the society in which we live in, not just Japan (i.e. Sing «Yesterday» for Me, Hyouka, Uzaki-Chan, and the rest of Kyoto Animation masterpieces). And in many ways, it can gives us a bit of calmness for we find something to guide in case we suffer from something like Social Anxiety.
And recently, I started watching a little series that makes me think about love and dreams. Of course, there was controversy about the plot, but we will get to there later. And I am sure that many will agree with me on this.
Having said that, let me introduce you:
But before we start, I must ask you the Question:
Are you guys ok? Feeling healthy? Protecting yourselves?
If the answer is yes, then I am happy. Now, let’s go with Koi wa Ameagari no Yō ni.
PREMISE
Love is Like After the Rain (Or After The Rain like many media names it now), is based on the same manga written by Jun Mayuzuki and published by Shogakukan, it tells the story of the seventeen-years-old student, Akira Tachibana, who also works as a waitress in a restaurant, part-time of course. There, she fells in love with her site manager, Masami Kondo, who is a divorcee and has a son called Yuto. Now, she is trying to find out some sense toward her feelings, as Kondo invited her to a coffee, unveiling a story about our feelings and what could possible be the true meaning of love.
Before the events of the story, Tachibana was a member of the track and field team, but a leg injury forced her to quit, making her more introverted. But… is perhaps her infatuation toward Kondo a path for her to find a way to believe in herself and the future?
Sorry. That was my own assumption.
Anyway, After The Rain starts publishing in June 27, 2014, and recently ended in 2018, having a total of ten volumes. Furthermore, the original anime consists in 12 episodes, released between January and March, 2018. There is also a live-action film, released in Toho in May, 25, 2018, and the whole series is available on Amazon Prime Video.
STORY
Now, before I continue with the story, I must revealed that I already read on the Internet all those pointless, ridiculous comments, accusing After The Rain of promoting pedophilia, that the author is a perverted, and that the protagonist Masami is disgusting. That kind of crap! And… At first glance, I was surprised that an anime had a story of a middle aged man having a friendship with a high-schooler.
But on the other hand, I must ask you all:
How many of us has fallen in love with a person older than us?
And keep in mind that just because I say «fallen in love» does not necessarily mean you guys ended up… you know! But we go in an inner journey to understand why do we have these feelings? How come? Or better yet.
Furthermore, one character falling in love with another, and then confessing, does not lead to a relationship, whether is platonic or sexual, but too many possibilities that help the characters to mature, to both of them. For instance…
Well. I am going off the track. My point is that, for what I have seen so far, is that this is the main story of After The Rain. The full title says it – some of us feel the rain as hopelessness, that life is not worth it. But then, we find the solution and some hope on the least possible outcome, and that leads us to have experiences that teaches us to handle life better. In this case, Akira is a girl who is going to that process, to understand how love works, how we have to deal with those feelings, and regarding Masami… I would say that he is the same, trying to be strong, and learning new things of life through his time with Tachibana, and getting better.
I have seen just 2 episodes, so this is only another assumption.
But this is exactly why I love slice-of-life anime and manga. And After the Rain manages to be relatable, and kind of nostalgic in many ways; and because of the story, I got to say that I have a lot of excitement of knowing more about these characters. Furthermore, After the Rain has a narrative style that takes its time in character development and backstory, helping us to understand our protagonists better.
Finally, the animation is really beautiful, but has better colour palettes than Sing «Yesterday» For Me. And that makes it for a nice slice-of-life story about love. Not a romantic one, I will not call it like that, I will simply say that it has a good start about helping us to learn about what we feel for another person.
CHARACTERS
Both Akira and Masami are very sympathetic characters. While Akira has this cool, aloof expression that makes her very stoic about her world, Masami is a generous and reliable man, who is always trying to do the right thing fir his family and his employees, including Akira. And throughout the series, we will see that both are more complex that we could imagine
One thing that got my attention is that Masami looks like a relative from Kogoro Mori, from Detective Conan.
Honestly, I cannot stop thinking that they are relatives.
On the other hand, every time I see Akira and the rest of the characters, they remind me of Clamp, who draw very tall characters, both male and female, incredibly attractive, and with beautiful face expressions.
Yeah. And I still need to see the rest of the series.
If that is the things we are about to see, then After the Rain is a winner is my book.
CONCLUSION
And there you go!
I really enjoyed watching After The Rain, because I feel that it is a more original, and perhaps profound story that I could ever expect, and hopefully, you will enjoy the other episodes as much as I did. Just give it a go… And remember, it is not that… crime against humanity called…
And more importantly. After The Rain reminded of the importance of self-love. If you want to love others, always remember to love yourself.
And now… Despite Valentine’s Day is over. I will Rent-A-Girlfriend, and I decided to rent… MAMI.
Why does Hori-San keep saying that?
Jainituos Presents 