After the Rain the anime was quite the experience. From its animation to its music as it told a story involving two decidedly different people, it was hard to not fall for how well-crafted it was and how the story ultimately played out.
After the Rain in manga form, so far at least, is definitely not quite the same.
Akira Tachibana suffered an injury running for her school’s track team, which affected how she was able to move forward with her life. But on a stop at a local restaurant, she is greeted with a free cup of coffee from the 45-year-old manager, Kondo. This small act seemed to help Akira out — but also in a way that helped her fall for the manager.
She now works at said restaurant, and she wants to seriously get into a relationship with Kondo. Kondo, meanwhile, is embarrassingly dense to her feelings, but I guess that’s not surprising — he’s unkempt, doesn’t have the respect of most of the staff, and hardly takes care of himself. The only thing that keeps him going is him taking care of his son on occasion, as he’s divorced.
So how in the world do two people with different wavelengths and ages happen to find love? Well, After the Rain might not just be about that after all.
You’d think so since the age gap is significant. The warning signs even flash continuously for Kondo as he further interacts with Akira as the manga continues. But the more you read, the more it becomes clear that the romance isn’t quite so serious yet. While Akira is trying to seriously fall for him, Kondo doesn’t feel the same way, and he thinks there’s zero appeal to him.
What fails him is his softie attitude. Whether it’s due to his upbringing or whatever, he just tries to tide things over. You get a sense of that in the first chapter, where he’s constantly apologizing for any issues that happen in the restaurant. This continues all the way up to a pivotal scene later in the manga, and instead of shutting Akira down for good, he accidentally plays along. You almost wonder what in the world happened to this guy to be this dumb.
But for Volume 1, the story is about Akira, who was a super track athlete. Getting hurt changed her and being unable to run got her down. She didn’t have someone to turn to until she ended up meeting Kondo. Now from this point, it’s a case of whether Akira either realizes what she’s really going through or Kondo finally, and definitively, shuts her down.
Coming into this series after watching the anime shows where the manga falls slightly short. The way the story is paced, the designs of the characters, the use of rain in key moments, etc., it is a bit of a step-down. It’s not a crazy step down by any means — for example, there are a number of color pages in this omnibus version that are lush and pretty to look at. But I personally find the anime version, at least for now, to be more pleasing all-around.
The story beats are about the same, though it has not jumped out to a level where I’d say I’m super engaged with it. I imagine it’s just a case where I’ve watched the anime, so most of this I’ve already seen. The jokes remain funny though (poor dude who Akira always forgets), and some moments remain standouts (Akira telling Kondo she loves him after watching her track team run amidst the rain is still chilling).
But I think I prefer how the anime went about things over the manga. I guess that’s the only bad news. After the Rain in manga form is still interesting to read despite its premise. Will definitely continue to see if the work can captivate me even more than the anime at some point.