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That was a lovely episode. The two different kind of friendships and the parallel between them was presented really well. It's a pity that we have only 3 eps. left, I would love to watch 24 eps. total from this series. I haven't read the manga, but I somehow feel that Akira and Kondo won't come together. Definitely one of the best animes this season.
You are right on посмотри but месяц does mean moon as well. At least I think. I am learning Russian for just a half a year but in Slovak (related language) Mesiac does mean both moon and month. Russian dictionary also confirms this.
Completely agree on the best episode part. As a fan of Russian/Japanese literature and as someone who dabbles in writing (while a friend was already published) this was really a treat.
What I meant was that "moon" and "month" are the same word in Japanese. In Russian, moon is луна and month is месяц
You are right on посмотри but месяц does mean moon as well. At least I think. I am learning Russian for just a half a year but in Slovak (related language) Mesiac does mean both moon and month. Russian dictionary also confirms this.
Completely agree on the best episode part. As a fan of Russian/Japanese literature and as someone who dabbles in writing (while a friend was already published) this was really a treat.
What I meant was that "moon" and "month" are the same word in Japanese. In Russian, moon is луна and month is месяц
xpforever said: That was a lovely episode. The two different kind of friendships and the parallel between them was presented really well. It's a pity that we have only 3 eps. left, I would love to watch 24 eps. total from this series. I haven't read the manga, but I somehow feel that Akira and Kondo won't come together. Definitely one of the best animes this season.
By now it doesn't feel as if that is even important anymore. It is more about how those two are finally able to move forward in their life. They both suffer from great insecurities (he thinks he is worthless and has everything done by halves and Akira only truly loved running and doesn't know how to really move forward without running). I also do not think that they will come together but the show may end with them having become friends or have learned to truly appreciate each other. If there will be a kiss then it will be one on the cheek.
Hmm, now I got your point. But the most common word is Луна, I thought that using "месяц" would be a bit too figurative. Also, if you look it up on Russian wikitionary, it says that месяц it's more commonly used to refer to a moon that's not full (that was not the case in the scene)...
I'll keep an eye on this matter and pay attention when I see this word being used in Russian. Thanks for pointing this question out.
This episode reminded me a lot about my friend from college. In our circle of friends, she was the only one who wasn't able to graduate on time because of a back subject. Nevertheless, everyone in the class were invited in the send-off party, including her. But she refused to attend. Other than that, she began isolating herself. She hung out with less, as the graduation approaches. My classmates were upset because she didn't attend the party, it was supposed to be the last thing we would do together as a class. Our circle as well, thought she was being petty.
I think Akira's circumstance is quite similar with my friend's (P-chan). Akira was of course hurt and frustrated. Seeing them practice and even merely talking about the track club is rubbing salt to the wound. Haruka is ignorant in this aspect. Back then I understood, that hanging out with us and talking about applying for jobs made P-chan feel left out. It made her like a failure and she was devastated. If distance is something that she needed, then even at the risk of growing apart I gladly obliged.
We didn't talk for 6 months. Now it's been a year, and P-chan and I are still good friends. She is juggling part-time jobs while pursuing her education, and I'm currently a teacher. We reminisced about our college days without feeling the usual slight pain in the chest. She just needed time to heal.
I hope this is something Haruka realizes. I hope she recognizes that Akira is having a hard time herself and is still healing.
Wow, what a great episode. I didn't expect Akira and Haruka to get into a fight, but I can get why they would - it's tough to try to reconnect after a while. I really liked the second half with Kondou and his friend Chihiro as well - I was fooled into thinking that the writer was his ex, but instead he's just his old university friend (I blame the feminine name XD). So Kondou was a writer as well huh ... that would explain his love for literature. Maybe his experience with his ex soured his writing? Though it seems as though he can't stop writing in secret :O Then Kondou and Akira talking about their experiences with friendship at the end was really nice - I actually thought that was the halfway point but then it cut to the ED instead! ;P
A bit toned down episode, wherein most of the episode is centred between Kondou & Chihiro a classmate of him since young school days!
Looks like things are not going well between Akira & Haruka...
Super Mangetsu always happen these days huh...
4/5.
Enjoyed the parallels and contrast with Akira's friendship and Kondou's. One wants to become an adult and the other wants to so desperately go back to the past.
The moon scene at the end was wonderful. Space Brothers director doing quality work as always.
I'm so glad that Akira invited Haruka to the festival. It's nice seeing Haruka's family. Her brother is pale but she and her sisters are tanned. So cute.
As usual, Akira was a bitch and that made Haruka and the cute twins cry. I like Akira's visuals, she's gorgeous and total hottie. She has a cute personality SOMETIMES but she needs to work on herself and stop being so goddamn selfish.
Turns out Kondo-san was gay and Chihiro was an ex-husband. I'm kidding, of course. Chihiro looks pretty cool.
His wife's name is Midori. How cute.
Also what language were Kondo and Chihiro speaking on the bridge?
I'm glad they addressed the tension between Akira and Haruka directly since I was worried it was just going to be this lingering thing that they never verbalized.
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An episode in which both a teenager and an adult can be reflected, here we begin to see the true value of a true friendship. I did not expect an evolution of the extreme context between Akira and Haruka. This time the episode seems to have ended too soon.
Wow wow. The break up in the romance monotony was a good change in pace. And seeing Akira and Kondo kinda of separate and how they go solo almost with their own issues, especially Kondo is a good break away.
And though people complain about Haruka it's obvious how much Akira means to her, she's a teenager, and they've spent each others lives together. The drama has built and led to this break. It was very well prompted.
Chihiro is such a vibrant character and really brings Kondo out and he's so well fleshed out in a short amount of time. Their relationship is so authentic but believable that they haven't been around one another in so long.
The supermoon was gorgeous and the advice Kondo gives Akira about his own life stance is important in the grand scheme.
Really wonderful episode, quite love the bit of backstory and focus on the manager! Loved that summer festival and while a bit of a shame they had a fight, I do think they'll patch up! Let's see what's next.
A very nice bit of story. Made me think back to being with friends that I hadn't seen in almost 10 years and the fun I had when we met again. I probably will never see them again but they are still my friends. The episode definitely made me smile at the end..... and what a great moon!!
Z_Tetriminos said: Hmm, now I got your point. But the most common word is Луна, I thought that using "месяц" would be a bit too figurative. Also, if you look it up on Russian wikitionary, it says that месяц it's more commonly used to refer to a moon that's not full (that was not the case in the scene)...
Hi, I am russian and I can tell that usually we use:
месяц — month
луна — moon
But that's right, sometimes we use word «месяц» while talking about the moon. It's not a mistake, just a little outdated name of the moon. Especially often used to the sickle of the moon as opposed to the full moon.
By the way, I did not understand why Kondo and Chihiro spoke in Russian, how they know it at all, lol.
I think this was my favourite episode so far. I'm still a long way off Kondo and Chihiro's age, but their relationship and dialogue resonated. That drunken wandering about the town, admiring the moon. That... "We're not adults. We're classmates." I hope and think that's how I'll always feel for the friends I made in university.
To be honest, I don't know why the tan chick even wants to remain friends with Akira. Like I've said (in the manager's case), what is to gain from having a relationship with her? She doesn't really do or say anything. She just gloomily stares.
On one hand, I get it, the tan chick is nostalgic for their past. The two were childhood friends and remained friends throughout middle school. She genuinely enjoyed running with Akira, and it's the pillar of their bond. Aside from that though, what is there? It kind of reminds me of the scene where she wrote on a piece of paper, something like "is track the only reason we're friends?" or "we're still friends outside of track, right?" or something like that.
The answer is probably yes (for the first one) and no (for the second one), lol.
Maybe I'm just a bitter human but I feel like this isn't what friendship is about. If the relationship fizzles out and neither party has anything to gain (enjoyment) then what does it matter if the friends part? Does that make me unsentimental? Sure. But I'm also thinking logically. Why not just separate yourself from conflict -- especially when there's no reason for the conflict to start with? Maybe it's not that easy, but I think it's easier than After the Rain makes it out to be.
The manager, as usual, said something very wise. That people may grow apart but the memories they had are irreplaceable. I mean, it's true. The tan chick can always reminisce about their past. And friendship or not, Akira impacted her life in a large way: i.e., introducing her to the "sound of the wind [when running]" which led to her to joining the track team with Akira and becoming a talented athlete. The friendship was not in vain and the two should confide in this.
Furthermore, Akira's got tons of other friends on the track team. All of which are ten times more lively and fun to be around than Akira. And amidst all of her track acquaintances, Tan Girl longs for Ms. Depression. Something about that is distractingly illogical to me.
I'm sorry but I just don't see it. I can't relate to whatever suffering the tan chick is feeling. (Sorry I keep calling her "tan chick" but I don't remember her name. Looking it up will be fruitless because I'll just forget it again.) Akira clearly doesn't desire for their relationship to heal (albeit her praying to the moon for her to repair the bond between the two)... she's tied up in her own life, working at the cafe, pursuing the manager, tending to her wounds, remedial classes, etc. ... And the tan chick has a full-fledged commitment to track and tons of affectionate, perky friends. Both parties are doing just fine without each other so I don't see the need for them to trouble themselves with breaking through the awkwardness. Tan chick's gotta heed the manager's advice and confide in the irreplaceable past the two share.
I do understand that this (my logic) isn't how humans work. Psychologically, they tie euphoria and good feelings to people and places from their pasts. Tan chick grew up with Akira so she thinks her happiness will depend on them becoming friends again. And who knows, maybe her brain is conditioned to feel ultimate happiness when they're together. By association, she feels legitimately depressed being apart from Akira. But for a jackass like me, I can't help but think of the bigger picture here.
For that (and as someone on a third-party streaming site commented), "[I'm happy the manager and his old friend got to bond again, but] I couldn't give two cents about Akira’s and Haruka’s relationship."
Having said that, it's not like I'd remove this aspect of the plot/story. "The more the merrier." The extra conflict between Akira and Tan Chick just adds more things to the story. If the manager/Akira dynamic wasn't enough, we've got the Tan Chick/Akira side-story for world-building purposes. Not to mention, everything IS tied together in this world. One thing leads to another. Everything is loosely connected. And everything has a purpose. I can certainly get behind the extra layers of the overall After the Rain story. While I'm personally not entertained or concerned with the track-aspect of the story, it's certainly a nice touch that allows us to see the MC in other settings aside from the cafe.
P.S. I'm not necessarily complaining. These are just my personal opinions. None of this really affects how I rate the show, as I'm looking for an intricate and consistent story (check), great animation and design (check), tolerable characters (check, except for Akira), a lack of fallacies and contradictions in the plot (check), immersion (check), production value (backgrounds, VA, music -- check)... as of Episode 9, this series has it all. It's just the trivial things that rub me the wrong way (a lot of which are going over others' heads, making me the odd one out). I won't compromise the rating of this show for clashing with my personal ideals, but it's some food for thought nonetheless.
I should also mention that I admire the more platonic episodes. People love to lambast this series for having a taboo premise of "an old guy getting it with a teenager" but it's anything but. The teenager just has a (non-sexual) infatuation with the old guy because he's kind and, to her, interesting.
The manager, on the other hand, claims to enjoy spending time with the teenager because soothes his desire for youth.
If anything, the relationship between the two just is just a vessel for everything else in the show. Akira has to worry about her leg injury and the manager has to undergo a mid-life crisis. All the while, the manager gives Akira fulfillment in place of track whereas Akira helps the manager relive his youth.
It's clear that neither party has any sort of lust whatsoever (except for Akira going to town on the manager's shirt in that one episode). It's also clear that, as of Episode 9, the manager hasn't approached any sort of "crush" or "love" feeling for Akira yet. He still just views her as a "friend." Maybe he's starting to question his feelings, but it's obvious he's not at that stage yet.
If anything, this anime is actually about an "intergenerational friendship" like Doc and Marty McFly... just between opposite sexes, with the younger party crushing on the older party. Not to mention, young boys do this all the time with their older female teachers.
Trust me, if the genders were swapped, there'd be no 'controversy' or hesitance regarding this series what.so.ever. Nada. None. In fact, people praise shows when there's an intimate relationship between a young male and an older woman. So what's the issue with this one? Especially when the romance (from the manager's perspective) is at a minimum?
I may have gotten off topic a bit, but like I was saying, I appreciated this episode for treating the manager as a more platonic individual, just like the last episode.
(P.S. I don't think it'd be much of an issue if the relationship did progress. I mean, age IS just a number... when there's many other compromising circumstances involved... but in this world, it almost looks like it'd be completely harmless. Especially if it progressed to an intimate one by the time Akira was midway through college, which happens all the time in Japan. This anime is truly wholesome.)
Only in anime do you get a super moon the size of an earth-destroying meteor lmao. I liked the idea of "we're not adults we're classmates." It's cool to think of all the people you spent time within a specific time in your life will always have a special bond with them. That's cool, I really enjoyed Tachibana's realization about friendship transitions with Kondou
Kondou and Haruka can understand Akira's deepest secrets/feelings just by looking at her, no words needed. Hopefully they can fix their friendship, the little push that Kondou just provided gives me a lot of hope.
I wonder what Haruka will think about Kondou if she ever gets to know him as much as Akira...?
being hopeful in front of hopelessness and how the memories stays together and shapes us even when we can't run away from loss.This anime balances the duality remarkably well.A major part in me wishes for an open end to this show ~
It would be easier for Akira to grow closer to her friends by actually putting in any effort at all to be their friend instead of being spacey, moody, and totally unconcerned about their lives. I don't mind this show but I think the only character I kind of dislike is Akira, lol. When her story is completely confined to her interacting with the manager the story is kind of sweet but there's any normal life aspect she's just such a lame-ass and mostly quite a bad friend. Even her being nice with the other girl at the diner the other episode was only because she could relate her feelings about the manager as advice. I think the story is supposed to be sweet but its very easy to read it as a cautionary tale of a weird overly obsessed high school girl that isolates herself socially over a crush on her boss.