After The Rain Episode #10 Anime Review

Any place where you won't get wet from rain is also a place without sunlight.

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)

Before we get into the bulk of this review, I just want to thank After The Rain for including so many quips about Kondou's passion for writing. Sometimes, especially during weekly reviews for ongoing shows, it becomes easy to lost motivation or the passion for something, even if it's something you love. But in this particular instance, where a character so emphatically reiterates his love for that exact thing, it becomes virtually impossible to lose motivation. If anything, it's like you a have morale-based personal trainer breathing down your neck and inspiring you to keep going. For me, Kondou is that personal trainer- which is strange because I have never been a borderline pedophilic, divorced forty-something-year-old.

That aside, After The Rain has returned to its roots this week- almost as if it's starting from zero. And no, I'm not saying that Akira is somehow killed and has to return by dea- (*choke*) to an earlier part of her life. I'm saying that we get to see an Akira who isn't at all overwhelming and fiery but instead softspoken and admirable. Also, I apologize to anyone that does not get that reference. For those of you that do, however, you're welcome. Either way, the episode centers around an innocent trip to a secondhand book fair that Akira comes across while throwing away some old newspapers. Why did Akira's family have so many stacks of newspapers, you ask? No idea. But that is beside the point.

She invites Kondou [offscreen] to the event and, obviously, he obliges. When the two of them meet up, however, there are a few glaring difficulties. First off, everyone thinks Akira is Kondou's daughter. Considering we've all sort-of been expecting this, it isn't much of a big deal. Hell, knowing Akira, she might even be turned on by this or something. The second difficulty comes in the form of Kondou being that one friend you bring to the dealers' room at an anime convention only to have them disappear four seconds later. Luckily, this secondhand book fair is an outdoor event, so Akira is able to bypass the issue of not getting any cellular service and simply send a "?" text to the object of her affection (This is a callback to an anecdote from earlier in the episode meant to emphasize the closeness between two parties and blah blah blah). Kondou responds with an "!" text and, next thing we know, our protagonists have been reunited.

Perhaps the biggest scene in all of this, however, is a major flashback to Kondou's past that illustrates the downfall of his marriage. Of course, we've known about Kondou's affinity for novels and writing for quite some time now. What we didn't know is that he was so obsessed with this several years ago that it destroyed his marriage. It's actually rather interesting that things played out this way. Up until now, at least for me, the series did a solid job at painting Kondou as a victim and never really emphasizing why his marriage failed. So now that we know it was essentially all Kondou's fault, it kind of changes up his characterization. He's no longer an aloof, wonky old man but an old man who was incapable of sorting out his priorities and ultimately paid the price for it.

The scene after, however, takes that same picture which was so meticulously painted for us and turns it on its head when Akira pretty much tells Kondou to his face that this is why she likes him so much. And just like the picture, Kondou's perception of himself flip-flops when he realizes that his love for writing isn't one in the same with self-destruction. In fact, he feels more inspired than anything. The hopeful ending of the episode signifies that perhaps he may learn how to balance this love with his love for real life and maybe even go on to explore more facets of it with Akira...Or...maybe learning this balance could somehow rekindle the flame of his previous marriage? Oh, please god, no.

In Summary:

From a thematic standpoint, the tenth episode of After The Rain is easily one of, if not the strongest episode thus far. Our perception of Kondou changes dramatically upon the reveal of his past life and, from this point on, it is completely up to us to decipher exactly what kind of a person he is. And while this viewpoint may drastically change from person to person, the single thing that all of us can absolutely not ignore is...how gosh darn cute Akira looked in her street clothes this week.

Episode Grade: A-

Streamed By: Prime Video

After The Rain Episode #09 Anime Review

We're not friends- we're classmates.

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 off, before we get into anything, I want to say that this week's episode really had me going for a second. I'm not sure if its because I was so desperate for my prediction about Chihiro to be correct or if the director is just a top-tier bait-and-switcher, but for a few minutes I was reasonably convinced that Kondou's ex-wife had undergone sexual reconstruction surgery and had become a man. I can now assure everyone that this DID NOT happen and that Chihiro is NOT Kondou's ex-wife (Damn unisexual names). He's just Kondou's best friend from when he was in high school like five-hundred years ago. Kondou's ex-wife is actually named Midori- and she apparently was also part of their friend group and club.

Chihiro is rather...eccentric, to say the least. He's loud-mouthed, flamboyant, and surprisingly wise. He's also hammered throughout our entire meeting with him and it's hard to say for sure if this had any impact on his character. Regardless, the chemistry between him and Kondou is that of...well, old friends. They waste no time reverting to old habits even though it's been ten years since they've seen each other. And despite the distance that has so obviously plagued them, their relationship remains almost entirely untarnished and was one of the most consistently entertaining exchanges in all of After The Rain. However, this isn't the only reunion we're graced with this week.

Yes, I know, calling the festival hang-out session between Akira and Haruka a 'reunion' isn't entirely accurate. But, in a sense, it's hard to describe the outing as anything else. The fact is, these two characters have not really had a significant chance to rekindle their relationship at all thus far. And just when things are finally looking up (And Haruka is finally starting to show off her yuri side), they take a significant turn for the worse. After catching wind of Akira's crush on Kondou, Haruka freaks out and spews that whole, "You never talk to me anymore!" spiel that is typical of sixties TV sitcom housewives. Akira responds with the even more typical, "Well, you never ask!" and now, all of a sudden, we're in an episode of I Love Lucy. And even though I'll poke fun at how it sounds on paper, this scene was definitely one of the more impactful ones thus far and was easily the highlight of Haruka's [semi-unnecessary] character arc.

At the end of the day, we have two friendships displayed in different manners. One pairing was suffering their first true struggle while the other was regaining lost bonds that had weakened over extensive time apart. The way these two bonds connect, however, is that they sort of can't exist without each other. Kondou winds up getting all poetic again and goes over this with Akira at the end of the episode, basically promising her that what she has/had with Haruka will never go away. And as the two stare off into a suspiciously large moon, the episode comes to a close and we're left with some sound advice that causes us to think back on all the friends we don't talk to anymore- which, in my case, is pretty much all of them. Sad face.

In Summary: 

Following a rather uneventful week with episode-eight, episode-nine turns up the volume and manages to introduce a brand new character while still giving ample time to two separate, yet relative plot lines. With Akira and Haruka's relationship reaching an all-time low, there is now a conflict in our protagonist's life just as large as figuring out how to bag an old man. Before we wrap this up, however, I want to point out that the artwork in this episode (Particularly the detail in the izakaya scene) is a cut above the rest and is truly a sight to behold. The level of realism this series is capable of portraying is significantly more impressive than I imagined it would be. Overall, the ninth installment of After The Rain is one you'll want to keep a close eye on when attempting to evaluate the series as a whole. It has a lot to say- and it says it well.

Episode Grade: A-

Streamed By: Prime Video

After The Rain Episode #08 Anime Review

Summer is slipping away.

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)

If you thought this week's episode would be the one where Akira and Kondou finally get out of the weird, legal purgatory they're in and just make out, then I will save you the time and say that they don't. For those of you who have made it past that first sentence, welcome! Last week, we got to see new sides of both of our protagonists. Kondou finally said screw it to his stoic way while Akira, on the other hand...Well, she kind of just cried a lot. But the fact of the matter is, we're eight episodes into the series now and both developmental arcs as coming to a close. Hell, even Haruka got some more screen time this week and I was pretty confident that we were done with her.

So, back to the task at hand- Akira and Kondou are friends now. I think. Honestly, I'm not really sure. The sheer number of times they have to vocally reaffirm that with one another is actually rather concerning. I have never felt the need to remind any of my friends that we are friends three times in the same conversation. At the same time, however, I am not friends with nearly as many high school girls as I was five years ago. That's right, ladies and gentlemen. We have gone from ever-impressive three female compadres to zero. Are you proud of me, dad?

I digress. The point is, Akira and Kondou have managed to jump over another hurdle separating them. Now that they're more than just 'manager and employee,' their relationship can begin to climb up other steps. This is even said by Akira during a conversation with that girl who looks like she's from Sailor Moon. Once two people begin to spend more time with one another, they can gradually progress into something more. Now, I'm not sure how large the friend-zone is over in Japan, but I think it's safe to say that Akira hasn't really thought into it all that much yet. What she has thought of, however, is a foolproof way to get Kondou's phone number.

While digital access to the manager may be another trophy in the life of Akira Tachibana, this week's real reward comes in the form of some sound advice from the object of her affection. Akira, struggling to grasp the concept of the Japanese classic "Rashomon," before an exam, engages in a conversation with Kondou where he manages to shine some light on it. Rather impressively, he correlates the book to both youth and aging, mimicking notes of both himself and the young girl next to him in another surprisingly poetic sequence. Despite being just some dude with pretty much nothing going for him, Kondou certainly has a way with words. And if you can somehow connect Rashomon to a slice-of-life series about a minor trying to bang her boss, I think the writers deserve some props as well.

In Summary:

To be completely honest, this is the worst episode of After The Rain thus far. From spending way too much time on the symbolism of a pimple to the introduction of a new character from the soccer team for the sole purpose of reintroducing Haruka, episode-eight has a hard time figuring out what it wants to do. While I haven't read the source material, I'm going to chalk this up to another 'Trying to fit too much into too little' situation. It's cool, though. All shows are allowed one or two subpar episodes. And considering that the rest of the series has been an absolute pleasure so far, I won't let this week tarnish my affinity for it.

Episode Grade: C

Streamed By: Prime Video