Koi wa Ameagari no You ni

This is one that will really hit you in the feels.

It also seems targeted towards an older audience. Some of us are a bit older now than we use to be, and by a bit I mean many tens of years. Reading the high-school drama romance stories are great and all, but it hard for us to connect.

Enter our 40 something year old dead end job manager that's pretty much given up on everything. A character that many of us older readers can relate to. And imagine getting a second chance to feel the torrent of emotions that come with youth even when you have aged. At a certain age we mellow out and we are no longer able to feel the fire that we felt in our younger days. And, maybe this happens because we force ourselves to change in this way.

That is what I felt when reading this story and I became emotional thinking about those emotions again. The emotions in this story are very powerful and are conveyed extremely well to the reader. In fact they are conveyed so well that this series brought out emotions from me that I thought were gone. And, for a moment I was young again.

I highly recommend this series for older readers, and younger readers may not enjoy this as much but I still hope that you will give "Koi wa Ameagari no You ni" a try.

The manga's premise is "gross" as my sister puts it and the author wonderfully writes around it. The writing treats the relationship between thought and perspectives. The theme of longing for the past underlines the story. From the manager's longing of love, the main character's longing of running, to her friend's longing of their past relationship. Manga gracefully returns to the message that you can't hold on to the past.

The art is whole another thing to rave about. It's beautiful and poetic when it needs to be. Scenes in the rain cover the entire page and characters occupying a fraction of it. It conveys the loneliness that these characters feel. There is a sense of space and size that the author controls to significant effect. For example, when a character is staring hard, their eye takes up the entire panel. There isn't any narrative to tell you how she longs for the manager. It is shown.

Are there flaws and crap characters that don't move the plot? It's a shoujo manga so of course. Personally, the high points stood out a lot more than the low points. Overall, I enjoyed this manga and how it explores love at different ages.

What are we suppose 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 apply to meant. In itself, its a common problem with 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.

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 of pedophilia, but how do you make something like this romance work? How can you portray this without it coming off as degeneracy and disgusting? More so, how will you tie such a thing into the philosophical talking points of the manga?
((Spoilers Ahead: Please skip to ART to avoid any possible spoilers.))

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 begin. 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 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 others 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 emphasis 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.
It is even worse when it becomes true, but it isn't the ending's fault. Everything before lead to the conclusion. If there was more viewpoints and certain side characters or arcs were handled differently, the ending it has would seem so much better.
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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. 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.

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". 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. (Especially of the older party.)
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 trying hard to be a love story. 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.

What do you think of me?

The question which you can answer... Is it alright to accept her love with someone like her on that current age?

Youth at times like this.. can be wild and times that can be vicious
And Yet, All those Emotions From every age become an irreplaceable treasure
Although you may not see that every second since the day you met her..

It would be kinda nonsense to know what are those genuine feelings are..
Even so, Right now He want to unburden her of her suffering. He wanted to secure the fact.. that she deepenly hurt.. Even he's not worth enough..

Possible That Mutual Affection wouldn't call "Love"

Hopefully.. That this romance could mesmerize your inner interactions once... you'll be able to know the strong affections... or whether you pull out the strings you kept inside of it..

This manga is less of a love story, than it is simply an uplifting one. The characters are very well crafted, the art is good, and the way themes are explored is well done.

Love is the medium through which our characters find themselves and overcome their fears. Many of the characters start off confused, unsure of what to do next. Or they are wounded in some way and afraid to move forward. Through love, our characters come to understand what they must do in order to realize their future.

Many stories usually focus on 2-3 main characters with a bunch of underdeveloped or one-dimensional side characters that the main set bounce off of. Apart from one bitchy lady, most of the other supporting cast have a good amount of depth to them.

"Youth... At times it can be wild, at times vicious. And yet, all those emotions from that age become an irreplaceable treasure. Although you may not see that right now..." - Masami Kondou

An injury, the fear of writing again... What do these two things have in common? Yes, they prevent you from pursuing what you want to do, and leaves you stranded alone while everyone else is moving on, as if time itself has stopped.

Story: 9
Revolving around the conflicting themes of moving on to pursue what you love or staying still for love, this is a beautiful allegory of life and regret.

I'm pretty sure that this manga is not mainly about romance. Although the theme of love is there, it is not as important compared to the main characters' interests and their decisions for the future.

Akira Tachibana is the best runner in her track club who has to take a break due to her ankle injury, and Masami Kondou is a family restaurant manager who has given up on literature due to various personal reasons.

With an age gap of 28 years (Akira is 17 and Kondou is 45), this manga tries to show the audience a different kind of relationship compared to what some people may think as a "normal" relationship. It is one where both help each other to reaffirm their thoughts for them to live the lives they want.

For me, any misconceptions about their age gap has successfully been removed through Kondou's personality. In the first few chapters they show how he gets scolded by his workers and the way he can't really handle his job. He is a very kind person and cares for his workers despite their criticism. Tachibana is rather blunt with her words, and seems more mature than others, except of course in "love", which she has experienced for the first time. Although they are somewhat similar I felt like they were a really good match allowing them to learn something from each other.

The symbolism of rain was very interesting in this manga. In fact, the reason I started reading this was because of the rain/umbrella on the cover. Obviously there's the melancholic but also refreshing feel, but in this case I think there was more. For me, it represented the length of Tachibana's injury or recovery, because when they first met: Kondou tells her: "I'm sure that it'll stop raining soon.". Now at this point he doesn't know that Tachibana is injured, but you can still say that he wanted her to go back and continue to live her life.

The use of metaphors was really impressive as well, for example the polished sea glass, the Rashomon story and the bookmark with the swallow. They helped a lot to emphasise this theme of making a decision, whether changing something or not. From unlikely things the author managed to connect them with the feelings of the characters. Fitting them into the plot itself mustn't have been an easy task either. Maybe it's just me who's bad at making metaphors but honestly, there were really good.

The reason I gave this a 9 and not a 10 is mainly because of the ending. It felt abrupt, and basically you could predict it from the start. However I do think it was appropriate and I guess you could say it was a beautiful ending.

Art: 9
I love the rain. I tend to try to find any manga with covers showing rain, despite the famous saying "Don't judge a book by its cover". And this manga perfectly nailed it in showing raining scenes. I don't ask for much, but there's this feeling that you get from looking at raining scenes and you really think you're there, you can hear the monotonous susurration or the heavy pattering sound. This was a perfect example of it.

Of course, rain wasn't the only good part of the art. I mostly felt like the art (overall) was cute, creating a relaxed atmosphere (except a certain point in the manga where I got really angry at a certain character. Manga readers/Anime watchers should know exactly what I'm talking about here). I also have to mention the eyes... Wow. especially Tachibana's eyes. They are simply mesmerising.
Only thing that prevented me from giving it a 10 is the sometimes very long and thin limbs and necks of certain characters... I know nothing can be perfect but just saying...

Character: 9
I completely fell in love with Kondou's inspiring lines throughout the manga... The one I showed at the start was just one of numerous examples. He is often cheerful (although he does lament himself for all the bad things his workers say behind his back) and a good father. Thanks to Tachibana, he experiences the youth he thought would never see again and this leads to building his courage again to write once more.

Tachibana is someone who still doesn't seem to know the real meaning of love, I think it's more of an admiration, and that's why I always thought that her relationship with Kondou as "friends" was interesting. Although she could be misunderstood to be a cold-hearted person, she is innocent and caring. Her interactions with Kondou shapes her choice to start running again as the manga progresses.

Haruka Kyan:
Lovely character who truly cares for Tachibana, as her long-time friend. She wants Tachibana to get back to running and does a lot to convince her. A lot of development between her and Tachibana, including flashbacks.

Yui Nishida:
Co-worker at the family restaurant, same age as Tachibana. She quickly becomes friends and talks a lot about her love interests and gets advice from her. I think she was an essential character to affect Tachibana's thoughts on getting back to running.
Would've been great if they showed how she was at the last chapter, but I guess that's asking for too much.

Takashi Yoshizawa:
He loves Tachibana, but it is unrequited. Annoying is probably the best word to describe this guy. I don't think he was particularly needed in the story (ok maybe at one point).

Ryosuke Kase:
Worker in family restaurant, in his 20s. I think his interaction with his sister was very interesting but the author didn't go deep enough.

Enjoyment: 10
I don't know what else to say.

Overall: 9
Give it a try unless you absolutely hate big age gaps no matter what.

Just to give some context, I only just recently came back at around chapter 50 to finish up the rest of the story.

This isn't meant to be a serious review, but more just me venting the gripes I had with certain subplots found in this manga.

In general, I thought that the author tackled the whole age gap thing quite well, but that's not what I'm here for.

I was absolutely thrown into disbelief when I read how the author slaughtered a certain side character's confession.

Rejection.

An absolute tragedy.

The salting of Carthage doesn't even come close to represent the same level of devastation that occurred in that chapter.

How could they butcher this character's heart felt feelings?

I was hooked.

I wanted to see how this played out.

Turns out it was just a segue into the "man this sucks, time to move on" theme they had going on in the few chapters after.

I'm not criticizing the message here as I thought the execution was well done, but I found it underwhelming with the amount of development that was given to the closure to this subplot and how the author never shared the insights of the rejector after the confession.

Oh and there was another subplot about a guy and his sister, maybe he wanted to bang or something.

I guess that got tied up with the guy getting upset with being blue-balled and getting punched in the face by being a cheeky cunt for making a comment about the confession above.

If you're somehow still reading this, Koi wa Ameagari no You ni is a lovely read, but suffers a bit from the lack of development into its side characters and subplots.

It had been a long time since I hadn't felt this way.
I was brought to the manga by the anime and I really have no regrets about it.

So first thing that shocked many people: there is an age gap. I think it'd be better seen as a forbidden love STORY than trying to imagine it in real life..

The art is wonderful, and the story has a good pace (though some people might find it too slow). The mangaka takes the time to deepen other characters too.
Things happen naturally and not too fast, it makes you crave for what's next and suddenly you realize it's over.
It was a beautiful love story.

I really love how the story flows! The more I read the more I'm getting excited I mean this is the kind of story I want less romance more on slice of life and comedy and these two character the manager and tachibana-san they're cute I mean the boss personality is extrovert while tachibana san is kinda serious and shy. She was once a promising athlete in her school but an injury has prevented her from taking part in track and field The manager is 45 years old and with a child and tachibana falls in love with him. These two character want to achieve their goal tachibana wanted to continue her career as an athlete in track and field after an injury and the manager wants to finish his writing or a novel. so what will happem to them? I hope y'll read this and watch the anime!

Soaked by the dropping rain,
Without any shelter to go under,
I'll let myself get wet by this passing storm,
Until someone shares an umbrella,
And move slowly but steadily,
Even with clothes dripping wet,
As we wait for the rain to stop.

Koi wa Ameagari no You ni is a manga that portrays what is considered taboo in today's generation, but instead delivers it beautifully and inserts metaphors that when understood, can really connect to the reader.

A tale of a 17-year old high school girl that lost her passion and a 45-year old geezer that stopped dreaming, it's a unique read that is filled with relatable struggles and delivers an impactful end as their connection towards each other is drawn by rain.

After the Rain is definitely something I'd recommend, like Oregairu and many more. The unique age gap relationship as foundation to explore each of their own struggles, and turn it into a genuine connection of healing that is not disgusting to read for that gap of age, was something that reached out to me as a person.

Romance was never the main theme of this manga. It's about something else. It's the heart wrenching and gratifying feeling of what comes After the Rain.