Koi wa Ameagari no You ni

Akira Tachibana, a reserved high school student and former track runner, has not been able to race the same as she used to since she experienced a severe foot injury. And although she is regarded as attractive by her classmates, she is not interested in the boys around school.

While working part-time at the Garden Cafe, Akira begins to develop feelings for the manager—a 45-year-old man named Masami Kondou—despite the large age gap. Kondou shows genuine concern and kindness toward the customers of his restaurant, which, while viewed by others as soft or weak, draws Akira to him. Spending time together at the restaurant, they grow closer, which only strengthens her feelings. Weighed down by these uncertain emotions, Akira finally resolves to confess, but what will be the result?

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Tachibana, Akira Main

Watabe, Sayumi Japanese

Kondou, Masami Main

Hirata, Hiroaki Japanese

Nishida, Yui Supporting

Fukuhara, Haruka Japanese

Kujou, Chihiro Supporting

Miyamoto, Mitsuru Japanese

Kyan, Haruka Supporting

Miyajima, Emi Japanese

Kase, Ryousuke Supporting

Maeno, Tomoaki Japanese

Yuuto Supporting

Takeuchi, Junko Japanese

Yoshizawa, Takashi Supporting

Ikeda, Junya Japanese

Kyan, Shouta Supporting

Sawashiro, Chiharu Japanese

Yamamoto Supporting

Murai, Yuuji Japanese

Okada, Maiko Producer, Production Manager

Watanabe, Ayumu Director, Episode Director, Storyboard

Ebina, Yasunori Sound Director

Kaburagi, Hiro Episode Director, Storyboard

Reviews

Feb 25, 2026

Gintoki_007

Recommended

There are countless directions I could take this review, and yet my thoughts keep returning to a single truth: After the Rain is not merely a love story, but a quiet meditation on what it means to feel and to heal. Despite its seemingly controversial premise, a romance between two innocent souls separated by a wide gulf of years, it blossoms into one of the purest, rawest, and most innocent depictions of love I’ve seen in recent memory. It’s untouched by the vulgarity of lust or the spectacle of modern passion. There’s no need for carnal gestures, no desperate urgency to claim or consume; instead, ... the anime chooses silence, restraint, and grace. Even without the touch of lips, it feels achingly intimate, a reminder that love, in its deepest form, does not need the validation of flesh.

While watching it, I found myself thinking of Wong Kar-wai’s In the Mood for Love, a film that, to me, defines altruistic affection. Both share that unspoken ache, that tender patience that exists when two people’s hearts orbit each other but never collide. Online, you’ll find many who misunderstand After the Rain: some diminish it as uncomfortable or inappropriate, while others, craving only the intoxication of lust, dismiss it as pretentious. But I would urge anyone reading this to abandon those voices for a while. Watch the first episode and decide for yourself whether this story reaches someplace within you that words cannot.

When I think of love, I imagine it as a kind of looming presence, something that drifts in quietly and fills the spaces between thoughts. It’s not meant to be dissected or defined; it simply is. Today’s capitalist and materialistic world, so hopelessly drenched in desire and advertising, often packages love as a product, reducing it to libido, to marketable chemistry. Yet After the Rain reminds me that love can be something else entirely: a still current beneath the surface, soft but unstoppable, invisible but alive.

Akira, the story’s young protagonist, lives inside an invisible cage. She once soared freely, guided by dreams, but a cruel twist of fate broke her wings. Now, even when the wind calls, she hesitates, her spirit weighed down by memories of flight. This is a feeling that grips everyone at some point in life, when your most precious dream is taken away from you. That hollow moment when you realize the very thing you built your life around has vanished, and all that remains is a throbbing question: Who am I now? At such a time, the heart grows fragile, almost childlike again, instinctively searching for comfort, guidance, and warmth.

And then there is Kondou, the middle-aged manager twice Akira’s age. Stern-faced, hesitant, perhaps a little weary of life himself. To outsiders, he seems dull and unimpressive, the kind of man who blends into the grayness of everyday routine. His colleagues tease him; they say he smells of old paper and coffee, of unfulfilled years. But appearances deceive. Sometimes, what seems bitter holds the sweetest aftertaste. Kondou carries with him a quiet kindness, one that is neither loud nor performative, but deeply human. When Akira meets him, she doesn’t find excitement or thrill; she finds gentleness, safety, and an anchor. Her attraction towards Kondou isn’t rooted in physical desire, it grows from the soil of empathy and shared silence. In Kondou, she rediscovers not a lover, but perhaps a guardian, a figure of warmth who reminds her that kindness still survives in the world. It’s not strange that in our most vulnerable moments, we seek those who can cradle us without judgment, who can remind us what it feels like to stand tall again.

As their story unfolds, a quiet reciprocity takes shape between them. Akira begins to see that Kondou's kindness hides an ache of its own, the ache of abandoned dreams. Like two birds nursing broken wings, they mirror each other’s fragility. They do not need to speak their sorrows; the understanding simply flows between them, unspoken yet complete. This, to me, is love at its purest form, the wordless act of recognizing someone else’s pain and wishing, however silently, to heal it.

And perhaps that is what After the Rain wants to tell us, that we are all more alike than we would ever admit. We all once believed in something, in the thrill of possibility, in the glow of ambition. But life, so brutally unpredictable and unapologetic, doesn’t always honor those hopes. One day, you wake up and realize that the dream you built your world around has drifted too far to reach. You feel the weight of that emptiness like soaking rain. Yet even then, nature promises a truth: after every storm, the air clears; after every downpour, the sky remembers how to shine.



Both Akira and Kondou embody this truth. They are the stillness after the rain, the quiet renewal that follows heartbreak and exhaustion. They remind us that dreams don’t die; they merely sleep, waiting for us to have the courage to awaken them again. Love, in their story, isn’t about possession or desire, it’s about rediscovery. It’s about finding the will to live, to hope, and to feel, once more.

Reviewer’s Rating: 9

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Jan 7, 2025

Valentine07

Mixed Feelings

(Spanish review below).

This anime left me with a bittersweet taste.

I was really enjoying it at first, but halfway through I started to get bored. Even though the characters are well developed and the premise is interesting, I felt that the episodes were repetitive. I'm not sure if it needed more drama or more events to happen, but what was happening was definitely not enough for me.

At no point did I expect anything to happen between the main characters, so I wasn't disappointed, nor was I surprised. In fact, I like that it ended the way it did, with the two of them reflecting on each ... other and finding inspiration and strength in each other.

The characters are well developed, but I couldn't connect with any of them. I feel that, as I said, their conflict is a bit repetitive and I would have liked to see other things explored about them or see them in different situations. His passivity and her apathy drove me crazy.
The relationship I liked the most was the one between Akira and her best friend. Haruka was a bit intense, but at least she acted and added dynamism to the story.

The animation and drawing are beautiful. Especially in the last chapter. I highly recommend it if you want to see a cozy story.

I was hoping it would be an anime I really liked, but in the end it left me cold. In fact, I don't remember much about it anymore and that's why I don't have anything else to add. I'm aware that many people will love this anime, so I do recommend it. But, maybe many others will find it boring like I did. Anyway, I don't consider it to be bad.

...

Este anime me dejó un sabor agridulce.

Al principio me estaba gustando muchísimo, pero a partir de la mitad me comenzó a aburrir. A pesar de que los personajes están bien desarrollados y la premisa es interesante, sentí que los capítulos eran repetitivos. No estoy segura de si necesitaba más drama o que ocurran más acontecimientos, pero sin duda lo que estaba ocurriendo ya no me parecía suficiente.

En ningún momento esperé que algo ocurriera entre los protagonistas, así que no me decepcionó, ni me llevé una sorpresa. De hecho, me gusta que haya terminado como terminó, los dos reflejándose en el otro y encontrando inspiración y fuerzas en el otro.

Los personajes están bien desarrollados, pero no logré conectar con ninguno. Siento que, como ya dije, su conflicto es un poco repetitivo y me hubiese gustado que se exploraran otras cosas acerca de ellos o verlos en situaciones diferentes. La pasividad de él y la apatía de ella me sacaban de quicio.
La relación que me gustó más es la de la protagonista y su mejor amiga. Esta última era un poco intensa, pero al menos actuaba y agregaba dinamismo a la historia.

La animación y el dibujo son preciosos. Sobre todo en el último capítulo. Lo recomiendo mucho si quieren ver una historia cozy.

Esperaba que fuera un anime que me gustara mucho, pero al final me dejó fría. De hecho, ya no recuerdo mucho acerca del mismo y por eso no tengo más que agregar. Soy consciente de que a muchas personas le encantará este anime, así que sí lo recomiendo. Pero, quizá a muchos otros les aburra igual que a mí. De todas formas, no considero que sea malo.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Jul 10, 2020

m1dKn1ght22

Not Recommended

First, let me state what I appreciated of this anime. As per usual, Wit Studio made a wonderfully animated series. The characters and scenes are all beautifully drawn and, to me, this was the primary (if not only) well done aspect of the show.

Despite the appeal of its aesthetics I had to force myself through this series. Superficially it is supposed to entice with its provocative scenario, but its really just another story of adolescent angst. Now, stories like these aren't inherently bad to me but I think this show could have done much MUCH more with its story. To be honest, if it wasn't ... for its MC I probably would have enjoyed this much better. For such a beautifully drawn character (especially her eyes) Akira is the most frustratingly unpleasant MC I've ever had to watch. Selfish and self-centered, the only thing she cares about are staring and blushing at her manager. I understand that the point of this story was how two people can come together and help each other to grow and move forward from the stagnant point of each of their lives, but I think it could have been done much better. I can't understate how much I hated this MC. The other character's were actually much more interesting and if not for them I wouldn't have finished this story. I was hoping the entire time that Kondo would start acting more like an adult and start helping Akira to mature and come to terms with what is actually bothering her, which he did finally towards the end albeit lamely. To me, Haruka was actually my favorite character and made every scene with her in it much better. I think its obvious that this show is directed at a certain demographic that does not include me, but I thought I'd give it a try. I wish I hadn't wasted my time. I disliked this anime so much that I wrote my first review, lol.

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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	Poll: Koi wa Ameagari no You ni Episode 10 Discussion ( 1 2 ) Stark700 - Mar 15, 2018	67 replies	by LordCrueltyV »» Mar 23, 6:45 PM
	Poll: Koi wa Ameagari no You ni Episode 4 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 ) Stark700 - Feb 1, 2018	165 replies	by LordCrueltyV »» Mar 14, 1:20 PM
	Poll: Koi wa Ameagari no You ni Episode 3 Discussion ( 1 2 3 ) Stark700 - Jan 25, 2018	142 replies	by LordCrueltyV »» Mar 13, 6:13 PM
	Poll: Koi wa Ameagari no You ni Episode 2 Discussion ( 1 2 3 ) Stark700 - Jan 18, 2018	148 replies	by LordCrueltyV »» Mar 13, 12:24 PM
	Poll: Koi wa Ameagari no You ni Episode 7 Discussion ( 1 2 3 ) Stark700 - Feb 22, 2018	140 replies	by Blazesword »» Mar 2, 9:59 AM