After The Rain Episode #03 Anime Review

What a good thing we lose.

What They Say:

Akira Tachibana is a soft-spoken high school student who used to be a part of the track and field club but, due to an injury, she is no longer able to run as fast as she once could. Working part-time at a family restaurant as a recourse, she finds herself inexplicably falling in love with her manager, a divorced 45-year-old man with a young son.

The Review:

Content: (Please note that the content portion of the review may contain spoilers)

Ladies and gentlemen, I am pleased to announce that after just three episodes, After The Rain has wandered into the territory that I previously feared it would avoid. With Akira's curiosity of her own feelings and a mix of adolescent lust, we've been literally thrust into the beginning of a forbidden romance between a divorced 45-year-old man and a 17-year-old schoolgirl that will be essentially inescapable from this point onward. Hell, Akira even went as far as confessing a second and third time just to make sure that we couldn't revert back to how things were in the first episode. But before we get into the romantic aspect of the show, it's important to first explore the other half of this episode- being as it's just as (If not more) important than the lovey-dovey section. That half, of course, is the impact that losing everything had on Akira's life.

This week's installment of After The Rain begins with a relatively despondent Akira, confused at how her half-confession from the night before would impact her relationship with Mr. Kondou. But in the midst of her sorrow comes an old acquaintance from the track team that strips her from her sadness and invites her back to watch them practice. Reluctantly, Akira returns to the track, but what she finds isn't solace- it's regret. Memories of her time belonging somewhere come flooding back in the form of flashbacks and montages. The feelings weigh her down as soon as they arrive, playing hell upon her already wandering mind. With only half of a goodbye, she leaves the track and wanders off into the rain in one of the most beautifully executed and thought-provokingly silent moments I've seen in recent memory.

When she arrives back at the restaurant, the silence breaks. She confesses again, this time leaving Kondou in the dust as she disappears back into the fog. It isn't until the next day that he's able to confront her about everything.

Desperate to, you know, not be a pedophile, Kondou tries reasoning with Akira. He goes on to talk about how there's no way the two of them can be together because of how everyone around them would see it. But Akira, being the headstrong gal she is, refuses to back down. In fact, she seems to get more even into the whole romance thing with every single reason Kondou throws her way. What's most interesting about all of this, however, is that she doesn't see anything wrong with it. In fact, it's like she refuses to acknowledge that their age gap is even remotely unusual. Kondou, of course, doesn't know how to handle this apart from blushing like a maniac and forcing himself to awkwardly look away every four seconds. At the end of the day, it's clear to see that being with Akira is making him feel young again. And with just how close he is to succumbing to temptation after just one day of this, I think it's easy to see how this relationship may end up several weeks from now.

In Summary:

The latest episode of After The Rain is met with a level of poeticism previously untouched by the other two installments. Kondou becomes more than just an aloof and out-of-touch old man, adding a layer or two to him that places him only several steps down from Akira. The shift in After The Rain from just last episode to this one is almost palpable, completely changing the tone of the series. And given just how much I've been looking forward to that tonal shift, it's hard to skip out on praise for episode three. If this level of quality can be reiterated in the weeks to come, it will be easy to place After The Rain at one of the top slots of Winter 2018.

Episode Grade: A

Streamed By: Prime Video

After The Rain Episode #02 Anime Review

Things that make your heart flutter.

What They Say:

Akira Tachibana is a soft-spoken high school student who used to be a part of the track and field club but, due to an injury, she is no longer able to run as fast as she once could. Working part-time at a family restaurant as a recourse, she finds herself inexplicably falling in love with her manager, a divorced 45-year-old man with a young son.

The Review:

Content: (Please note that the content portion of the review may contain spoilers)

After a light and refreshing pilot, After The Rain left its mark on Winter 2018 as one of the [few] series viewers should look out for this season. And despite the initial episode not necessarily doing anything that might warrant a strong reaction from the audience, its plot remained what is perhaps the single most interesting story in the entire yearly quarter. Seventeen-year-old Akira Tachibana is slowly but surely falling in the love with her manager. Of course, one of the many things preventing this unrequited love from blossoming is the fact that he more than doubles her age.

In the beginning of this week's episode, two separate conflicts arise within roughly thirty seconds of each other. To begin with, the boy that had been following Akira around throughout the first episode winds up getting hired at the diner. Luckily for Akira, her waitress counterpart (The one who looks like a rejected Sailor Moon character) already has a thing for him. The bigger conflict, however, rears its ugly face when Akira manages to reinjure her leg. When a customer leaves his phone in the store and the manager fails at tracking him down, Akira tears it from his hands and darts down the street, ultimately reaching the man and giving it back. However, once she gets back to the diner, she collapses. Then, in an act with the most sexual tension thus far (And probably the closest we'll get for a while), Kondou lifts her up and hoists her into his car, driving her off to a nearby clinic.

At the end of the day, Akira winds up on crutches. It's clear this isn't her first time with them either as she manages to move swiftly and without any problems for the rest of the episode. But even with this newfound temporary disability, the biggest problem lies within her confused heart. Kondo winds up calling her that night, setting off fireworks inside of the young girl. What makes it even worse is that the very next day, the two run into each other and wind up going to a nearby restaurant. Kondou apparently wanted to apologize to Akira's parents for the inconvenience he has caused. Of course, Akira fends this off and mentions that he had not done anything wrong whatsoever. In fact, she even takes it a step further by- woah, confessing to him right then and there? That sort of thing is supposed to take like, four episodes minimum.

Of course, Mr. Kondou simply takes it as an, "I don't hate you," and winds up buying Akira even more food in a celebratory fit. The episode then cuts to an abrupt close and we finally get to hear Aimer again. Hooray!

In Summary:

After The Rain takes the melancholic elements of its first episode and manages to weave in heavier hints of romance. With Akira sprinting down a path that is sure to be ridden with complications and misunderstandings, this series has already gotten off to a well-paced start. The fact that it is also accompanied by a clean, almost minimalist art style and a relatively cinematic-feeling score only winds up turning the series up several more notches. If After The Rain continues to improve at the rate it has over just one episode, I'm positive the end result will be something quite difficult to overlook.

Episode Grade: B+

Streamed By: Prime Video

After The Rain Episode #01 Anime Review

I'm sure it'll stop raining soon.

What They Say:

Akira Tachibana is a soft-spoken high school student who used to be a part of the track and field club but, due to an injury, she is no longer able to run as fast as she once could. Working part-time at a family restaurant as a recourse, she finds herself inexplicably falling in love with her manager, a divorced 45-year-old man with a young son.

The Review:

Content: (Please note that the content portion of the review may contain spoilers)

First and foremost, I want to personally thank Amazon for closing the lid on Anime Strike. Now that people are actually capable of watching their licensed shows without a double-layered paywall, I'm sure that we'll have shows like After The Rain reaching a wider demographic of people. Unfortunately, for a series as niche as this, I still can't imagine that being a very large number.

As I'm sure you've read in the description, After The Rain focuses on the relationship between Akira Tachibana, a seventeen-year-old high school student, and her manager at a local diner. This manager, however, is a divorced forty-five-year-old man old enough to a be the father of Akira herself. But despite this incredibly taboo and overwhelmingly unique premise for a shoujo series, After The Rain's pilot episode comes off as very innocent. Of course, we're only twenty minutes into it so it's hard to ascertain the path it is starting toward -- at least without any pre-existing knowledge of the manga it is adapted from.

Almost immediately after the show kicks off, we're greeting by a refined take on late 90's Sailor-Moon esque visuals. The necks are long, the eyes are bright, and every male character looks like they accidentally walked into a room they weren't allowed to enter. But despite such light visuals, and a color palette to match, After The Rain is actually quite pretty. The background are phenomenal and those floating light orbs you always see in romance series are done rather well. I was worried going into this that the visuals wouldn't be able to keep up with the story. Funny enough, episode one gifted me the exact opposite.

You see, not much happens in the introductory chapter of After The Rain. Simply put, it's twenty minutes or so if exposition and character introductions. Akira comes off as a sort of despondent, angsty teen with the heart of a child while Kondou, on the other hand, possessing the 'everything' of a child. He's a clumsy, oblivious restaurant manager who's really just trying to do his best. Of course, thanks to his persona, no one in the diner really takes him all that seriously. In fact, the only one who does take him seriously is Akira- but she takes him so seriously that she literally smells his clothes. Yeah, that's a thing that happens. It's weird.

At the end of the day, After The Rain is a little different than I imagined it would be. I expected more drama right off the bat, but the picture that was painted was more of a comedic romance than anything else. I'm hoping that some more serious undertones will squeeze their way in soon, but I'm not going to amp up my expectations any more than I already have. After all, that's what I did with NTR- and we all know how that turned out.

In Summary:

After The Rain presents a taboo premise in brightly colored retro-shoujo splendor. With a fantastic soundtrack (Including a phenomenal ending song by Aimer) and gorgeous backdrops, the series has marked itself as unique very early on. The only challenge is going to be taking that niche, age-gapped romance and carefully detailing it without crossing too many 'lines.' Personally, I hope those lines are crossed. I know they won't be, but it will keep me excited if I can keep my hopes up. Overall, I'd say this was an interesting first episode- at least in terms of the characters. Would I call it a must watch? No, not right now. But several episodes down the line, who knows? This is a series we're just going to have to feel out as we go.

Episode Grade: B-

Streamed By: Prime Video

Girl's Last Tour Vol. #02 Manga Review

What even is cheese?

Creative Staff:

Story & Art: Tsukumizu

Translation: Amanda Haley

Lettering: Xian Michele Lee

What They Say:

Distant lights illuminating the darkness pique Chito's and Yuuri's curiosity, so the two hop aboard their beloved Kettenkrad and head for the horizon. What they find may not be what they were looking for, but the surviving fragments of civilization are enough to keep them going. There's no telling what other strange surprises lie in store as their journey continues.

The Review:

Content: (Please note that the content portion of the review may contain spoilers)

In my nearly six-month absence since the manga's debut, I can't say with any amount of certainty that I have missed Girl's Last Tour. In fact, the pilot volume was so unremarkable that, as time went by, I actually started disliking it. It was strange- even though I was so distant from the series as a whole (Hell, I didn't even touch the anime), any time it was brought up around me I kind of just shoved my hands into my pockets and though, "Huh...I guess that was a thing I read." Even with that, however, I decided to give the franchise another shot. I mean, I was a big fan of its backdrops and setting and whatnot, so I figured that volume two might be a good spot for the book the regain its footing.

Early on in the second installment, it's made clear that we'll be reverting to the less linear format that the first half of the pilot took up. The girls' Kettenkrad (Tank) winds up breaking down after they crash into some weird worm (?) statue thing and they're sort of just left confused and hungry. Knowing full well that they need to seek shelter before rainfall, the girls wind up shacking up in some old warehouse-type building. As the rain begins to fall, it drips through cracks in the ceiling, slowly soaking their temporary home. Chiito, being the more fun of the two girls, winds up moving around various objects and observing the different noises the rain makes when colliding with them. After scattering a few more things, Yuuri mentions something along the lines of, "I guess this is what music is like-" which would have been a totally awesome and enlightening topic if these girls were able to drag out their stale an uninteresting dialogue for more than four panels at a time.

Eventually, the rain stops and our soldiers set out yet again. Then, in a completely unique and not-at-all reminiscent of book-one fashion, they come across a strange human with a unique profession- building planes or something? Honestly, I'm not sure. If this woman is actually some type of flight engineer, she's certainly not very good at it. Either way, she lets the girls crash with her under the pretense that they help her finish building her plane- something they are equally unqualified to do. What gets confusing here is that a few pages go by and, somehow, the plane is miraculously fixed. However, it is important to note that in this small amount of time, no one has done literally anything. They sort of sit there and talk about planes for a few minutes and then, boom, the plane is fixed. I was unaware that the key to aviation technology was verbal counselling. If I had known this earlier, I feel as though my career path would have changed at least a little bit.

The final section of the manga shows our new side character (Whose name escapes me due to unimportance) taking flight over the post-apocalyptic wasteland only to have one of the plane's wings break off several second in (I'd imagine this is due to the fact that she let two ten-year-olds help build it). But before things actually get even the slightest amount of interesting, the pilot slowly and anticlimactically parachutes back down to the ground because god forbid anything actually happens in this series. At the end of the day, the Kettenkrad is also [somehow] fixed and the girls, once again, set out on their 'last tour.'

In Summary:

Girl's Last Tour proves once again that you can not carry a manga with simply background art alone. It's hard to tell if its due to the translation or just the writing itself, but the dialogue for this entire series is so bland and uninteresting that I'd even go as far as calling it a chore to read at times. Mix this with the fact that the characters exemplify the same amount of individuality as a can of mandarin oranges and you have a story that feels closer to half-assed history lecture than an adventure series. I truly hoped that coming into volume two after such a long a break would help me change my mind and rewrite my original impressions. Unfortunately, I'm going to have to stick to my guns. Girls' Last Tour isn't bad, really- it's just incredibly boring.

Content Grade: C-

Art Grade: C+

Packaging Grade: B

Text/Translation Grade: C

Age Rating: 13+

Released By: Yen Press

Release Date: August 22, 2017

MSRP: $14.99