While most events at Garden are linked in some way to Tachibana's and Kondou's relationship, so too do we see the relationships between the other workers, and get a glimpse at what it is like to work at a Japanese family restaurant. After the Rain exists to capture a moment in time, a slice-of-life anime truer to its genre than nearly all surrounding it.Ī significant portion of the anime depicts the daily lives of the two protagonists (Tachibana and Kondou) and their co-workers at 'Garden', a family restaurant modeled after the real-world Japanese restaurant 'Gusto'.

Perhaps things will stay that way, or perhaps the girl will reach adulthood and find her feelings to stay true. There is no sexual tension, no outright physical romance the two often describe their relationship as something more akin to friendship, even if it may not necessarily be platonic. A young girl develops an innocent crush on someone older than she who she admires and looks up to, and the man, recognizing the obvious issues with such a difference in age, does his best to dissuade her and lead her back to an ordinary teenage life. It takes a profoundly controversial topic and focuses not on its moral content, but depicts instead a story of ordinary, decent people merely put into a difficult situation. If I told you After the Rain is one of the more innocent and heart-warming anime I've seen, would you believe me?Īfter the Rain is something unique in the entertainment industry. There is no happy ending to be sought, for the situation itself is a crisis without salvation. The man is a manipulator, a pervert, and the girl merely a confused soul.

True, even when one puts aside the moral implications of such a romance, these sorts of encounters are often left to erotic fiction (the sort people would do their best to enjoy in complete and utter secrecy) and rarely depicted or even acknowledged in any serious

A glance at the premise and a quick 'no thank you', most people's experience with this anime will be a few seconds at best.

Anyone who has not already given After the Rain a go will more than likely have some serious reservations about watching an anime apparently centered upon some middle-aged dude getting with a high school girl.

After the Rain by Ember Davis