Koi wa Ameagari no You ni
After the Rain

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After the Rain or "Koi wa Amaegari no You ni"

This anime spans on Redemption theme.
You can find many animes out there with the same premise but this manga somehow resonates deeply in me, I felt that the main character has already moved on from her past completely without anything withholding her back.

This manga (anime is incomplete) touches on a successful person with a deep love for something until one day she loses it abruptly. To be honest, the shock is real and shouldn't be seen lightly. The manga builds on how the main character musters her courage to pick back on something ... she 'hates' and fears now with the help of Samaritans she met in her life. I like the story because I see myself in the main character. Everyone in his or her life will face setbacks and resilience can be torn apart sometimes. You can end up not eating or sleeping well because you lost your own identity by losing what defines you, especially when you're younger at age, facing your first major setback and thinking it's over.

This manga has the perfect ending: the mangaka gave us the most logical reason why she chooses to brave up again, coincidentally that's how I got back on my feet too; therefore, I like this manga.

If you enjoyed this, I would recommend: Cat Street.

Some time ago I started watching the anime adaptation of this, but somehow it didn't land. I don't know whether I just wasn't in the mood or what, but I wrote it off as uninteresting. Years passed, and I thought to give it another go; well, it totally won my heart. I like age-gap stories quite a bit, and this is a lovely, mature, and perhaps slightly bittersweet take on it.

The main characters are all very well fleshed out, with their own struggles and motivations. Their interactions and building relationships never feel unnatural, and most of all, they're likeable which isn't necessarily a given.

I ... would recommend this to anyone who enjoys age-gape romance but wants to read about a more down-to-earth approach. I would also recommend reading the manga rather than watching the anime, not because the anime is bad, but because the adaptation is incomplete and it has an anime og ending, which while it isn't necessarily bad, takes something away from the way the mangaka wrote the story.

What are we to do with ourselves, our lives, and our romances?
The biggest questions of our lives is really what we are suppose to do with them. A vague statement meant to be applied. In itself, its a common problem to deal with whether we are young or old. Just in different ways.

After the Rain tries to tackle these topics in a wholesome way, its downfall trying to fumble with the very answer itself and reaching something sweet but lukewarm after presenting and, at the end, dismantling it's main theme.

Story/5: (Quick tl;dr, this is a romance story with bittersweet realism and a giant age ... gap. Keep these in mind.)
Without spoilers, The story is a strange premise. If you go down the romance tags, a lot of the more well-known ones tackle age gap relationships and interests. This story stuck out to me the most for being one of the most mature and realistic ways dealing with this issue.
Now, our two main characters are from 17 to 45. One of the largest I've seen in a manga at the time. Not on the grounds of grooming or pedophilia, but how do you make something like this romance work? How can you portray this without it coming off as degeneracy even for the sake of it seeming plausible to present a message? More so, how will you tie such a thing into the philosophical talking points of the manga and it not seem morally reprehensible and also a mature story that wouldn't sound like some unrealistic erotic doujin?
((Spoilers Ahead: Please skip to ART to avoid any possible spoilers.))

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This is a story about aspirations, inspiration, and what it means to lose both. It is also a story of delving into an unexplained feeling and trying to grow from it.
So early on, when a confession occurs and our goofball 45yo man is dumbstruck, it all comes off as realistic. When you are old, you don't start to think of things occurring to you like you would in your teens. Unlike other manga, our character tries VERY hard to be a mature adult and role model to our other character even when romantic feelings get involved.
Even more, we are not surprised when romance never happens even when our female heroine tries so hard to both understand her feelings and pursue her love. She lost all her passion for her one joy in life from injury and gave up on it immediately. Our male protagonist, on the other hand, shares similarity when his aspiration to be a successful author falls short five years before the story begins. There's a comparison to be drawn from the two from start to finish on how they both supply this emotional necessity to pick themselves back up and push towards what they love the most even after all the hardships and doubt. It even pairs well when tackling topics only specific for age. Things you deal with as a young girls. Problems you suffer from when you are an older, divorced father. This realism is both lovable and also the downfall of this manga as what was used to both help nurture and grow these two into something more is also being framed as the catalyst for the romance between them.

As I asked earlier, how do you handle a romance such as this in a tasteful way and still keep all the themes I mentioned earlier properly?
Well, you don't. A romance never truly happens. It can't, or else it will abandon all the other morals and purpose the chapters try to set up from the start. Unlike other mangas, this one doesn't pull a "Age is just a number" or "I will wait till this love is acceptable". From the start, it wasn't going to work. The premise is pretty clear about this from metaphors and story itself. Disappointing to readers as everyone loves a good romance, the point isn't to fulfill a love story. It's telling a story of growth and maturity. Doing the right thing. This is why many characters seem unfulfilled and constantly troubled. This is why there is no official hook-up for anyone near the end. Only epiphany. In the end, if that is upsetting for you, blame the story premise from the start. This was never meant to be a blooming romantic tale and would be ruined it if did.

The problem is how it handles this. Along the way, the story is very slow and focuses VERY heavily on this story plot. In doing so, ALL the other aspects seemed to get watered down along the way and we seem to be missing out on details that probably would've made the story more appealing. Things like the backstory of our 45yo main character. I put emphasis on his age BECAUSE he wasn't always a man who abandoned his dreams and became content with life. Along the way, he grew to love writing, met someone, had a child, and had his life and ambitions fall apart to an extent. We don't see enough of this. We don't see enough of a lot of things that would make the story a lot more enjoyable. The pages seem like a waste and I can understand why people would become bored or frustrated with the plot after some chapters. Especially when they have doubt of a great and unsatisfying ending. So, if most of the pages aren't filled with that, what are they mostly used for...?
Well. Fluff. Unrequited romantic fluff with a clear idea of where this is all going to end.

Now, finally, to get to the point of explaining all this and why I haven't mentioned the obvious. "Are you saying it would have been BETTER if there was romantic fulfillment?" Well, no. Absolutely not; that would completely destroy the foundation that makes this all even remotely work. The problem is that I even have to talk about that BECAUSE the actual main focus of the plot seems to frame this unrequited love so much. More importantly, try to frame it like a romance plot. A lot, for dozens of grueling panels and heavy-handedly. It only begs the question... why?
Why go to such lengths to attempt that?

I mean, think about it in a theoretical. If you DID want this to be the "Taboo Romance Story", then this manga seems to fairly do a good job at how well it focuses it's time on the female and male main characters. Their interactions and "intimate moments". Yet, that doesn't seem to be the premise of it since we get what it is trying to do from the very start supposedly.

Is the point about the struggles of an adult man keeping his convictions to being a morally good person and role model? No. Because his intentions and convictions are set IN STONE from the very beginning. There is never any doubt, only caution. Which are two different things.

So, was it... maybe... suppose to be a story about a man who has always been a good role model with a story modeling his convictions and covering about a young girl , who is level-headed, confused by emotions and held down by their own problems with the complexities of both as they meet? Yeah, if you read only the beginning and ending while cutting out 90% of the inbetween, fine. But you have a lot of fat here that isn't spent doing that. So it seems confusing and wasteful and muddies the message. It's why you have so many fans split on how to feel about this story. It's why it a lot of times start seeming questionable or almost like... well... justifications for why all of this would be alright and persuading the reader should the ending actually be the romance while abandoning everything else it was presenting. It comes off as bait. Hey, maybe the ending pulls some kind of 180 and this is a romance, eh? or something else becomes involved. It's really hard to tell and that's bad, especially when there is this lingering feeling in the book itself letting you know "Guys. Listen. This isn't right." A feeling in the background by constant meetups, forced dates, and other mushy scenes. You want to make it seem believable and appear like a dilemma that needs solving? Fine. I understand. But the core of your writing needs to say that instead of being boring.

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Art/8: A majority of this manga's appeal is a very clean and lovely style they do for characters. Backgrounds and sidecharacters don't have a focus so usually they don't seem special, but when someone is focused on, there is so much detail to their design and facial expressions. Simple things from the slightest mouth gesture to even the perspective of the character being drawn to express an emotion is big in this. Most things aren't discussed or mentioned but instead uses the scene to show a mood and point. Now, it does seem like the quality quickly drops often or has almost no focus. The reason it has an 8 is because it is really good when it does and would have a 10 if this quality was more consistent.

Character/9: Characters, atleast our two main characters, are very well written. The side characters are not shown or spoken of enough, but at the very least
used to display the depth of our more important ones. Specifically, the male and female protagonists. It isn't particular personality traits or anything close. Sure, we have a seemingly stereotypical kuudere female and goofball clumsy male, but the look into their desires and what they do is what really makes them shine. The only reason it isn't perfect is there isn't enough content in the story on both the characters and the side characters.

Enjoyment/5: It's a realistic story with subtle enjoyments and subtle harsh feelings. Not rosey, not cynical. This comes off boring at many points to read through or unrewarding. With the sort of ending that it has, it will seem even more unrewarding to finish. I can understand the intention, but trying to portray realism and in the way it does it here doesn't exactly mean that, at points, the artistically beautiful work we have here wont come off as a dull slow-burn to nowhere but predictable.

Overall/tl;dr/7:
If I were to recommend any kind of Age gap romance to someone, it would definitely be this. Too many manga from Usagi Drop and others hold the mistake of trying to preserve this idea that "some exceptions are ok". Not the aspect of age gap itself, mind you, but something along the lines of a much older man and a highschooler. I get that writing stories of taboo relationships can be interesting and they surely are, the regularity and lack of giving a sense of maturity to them seem to just indulge in the simple vulgarity and excuse of allowing immaturity, however. (Especially of the older party.) There is no story that tries to explain and show why such a situation can be manipulative or immature as opposed to real thought-provoking stories that focus on this like House of the Sun.
Here we have a story of an older male. Who is experienced. Each time, disappointing the shippers, he does the right thing in his role as a more experienced person who struggles with his own dilemmas while assisting another's.

On the other hand, I wont be fooled that this TRIED very hard to also be a manga about romance. A heavy focus with a story meant to be portrayed. Themes and arts. At heart, this was really trying hard to be a love story by appearance. Yet it couldn't. No matter what, it was only recipe for a let down and could have been much more if done differently. Not in completing a romance but put more perspective on the other themes it had instead of placing it on the backburner.
Which makes the experiences, as whole, tediously boring and the growth subpar which finally concludes onto a vague close of the narrative. It spends so much time saying very little.