At first glance, the 1st few episodes of After the Rain was all about a 17-year old girl having an immense crush towards some 45-year old middle aged man – but it’s far more than that…deeper than that.
It tackles something we experience even up to this point, and something that we’ve yet to grasp and cling upon to – passion. On the surface level, After the Rain is about love at first sight which I’ve pretty much can relate to since I’m the type of guy that will fall head-over-heels the moment someone brings light to me during my darkest times. And this anime portrayed really well how it really looks when someone developed a sudden interest toward someone.
This sure caught my attention, since it’s not always you’d see an anime that tackles age gap relationships, and most of the time, it either ends up in two things. Either the middle aged guy is a creepy old man or the girl just really wanted to try compensated dating.
This is not the case for this anime. It explains why someone would suddenly fall towards someone who’s not even in his/her age. It emphasizes on the reason WHY would you like someone that’s not accepted or questioned by society. And it addresses the reason why engaging in a relationship that fast is not a good idea.
Getting back to the main point, at some point in time I’ve lost my passion to do the things I’ve loved, and ended up clinging to the things that TEMPORARILY made me happy. Sure I can live with that, but there’s this calling that no matter what, it draws my attention and simply looking away from it brings nothing but ache. But no matter how much I try to pursue my passion, the fire won’t simply ignite, that is, until I’ve realized something.
And I’m hell glad for encountering this anime that hit me with that realization. Meeting strangers, spending time with family and friends, seeing the reviews I’ve made being helpful in MAL – these are just some of the things that straightened my path. It’s the connection between Akira and Kondo, that no matter how big the age gap is, you helped ignite the passion of someone stuck in the same place as you.
It’s the journey of the 2 main characters towards their realizations that helped me to push myself in writing this childish, long review of mine. What started as some one-sided relationship, ended up in some connection the word “love” is not enough to describe.
The music, especially the opening and ending, is exceptionally good. The mellow soundtracks that highlights some important scenes are also on point, which of course made me shed a tear.
As for the characters, our main character, being a 17-year old high school student, is blunt and is not wary of the opinions around her compared to 45-year old man she’s taken an interest with who I can say is the exact opposite. He’s cautious of his surroundings, careful with his actions, and thinks twice before doing anything. The side characters, although forgettable, does a good job in supporting our characters actions especially the friend of Kondo.
The struggles seems similar to the recent anime I’ve watched, Oregairu (it’s perfect by the way), as it’s more like of a struggle within oneself rather than a struggle between two people. It’s how the anime presents this struggle in a relatable manner that connected myself in the anime.
The visuals and art style, in short, is a guaranteed 10…Seriously. The character design for Akira did left me in love at first sight, and the aesthetic use of colors in every scene pleases my eyes.
The plot is simple yet executed exceptionally. It’s fast-paced and 12 episodes seems enough to fit the conclusion that left a sense of relief towards me. Although I look forward in reading the original source to see whether my guess is right or not.
Overall, this anime, despite being in the lower ranks of MAL, did left an impact towards myself as a person. In fact, as I write this review seeing my use of basic words, I have hopes to inspire or at least connect to a one or more person with this writing of mine. Even If I’m still bad at it, this anime reached out to me and made me realize that someday, somewhere – I can make someone smile with this passion of mine.
