After the Rain

Episode 12

Following nearly three months of slow-paced, atmospheric build up and character development, After the Rain's finale finally clears the skies for our two (non)lovebirds. The series concluded by sticking with its bait-and-switch decision regarding the role of romance in its story. In the end, Akira and Kondo may be nowhere near together as a romantic couple, but they've both been reunited with their passions, proving that regaining that personal sense of joie de vivre matters most.

Appropriately, After the Rain doesn't conclude with any sort of big dramatic climax. Rather, this episode serves as the moment when all of the emotional realizations that have been percolating in Akira's psyche finally slide into place. These realizations – which include how much she misses running, how much Haruka means to her, and how she's using her crush on Kondo as a way to avoid dealing with her problems – have had their own individual climaxes in previous episodes, so what we witness in this last stretch is Akira's mind start to rapidly process everything that she's been through. I find this to be a quite realistic depiction of how emotional processes like these progress in real life. Most emotional growth doesn't happen consciously with big verbal confirmations – instead, it plays out on the plate tectonics of your subconscious, with glacial movements and invisible yet unrelenting influence. This is especially true for Akira, who isn't a particularly self-aware person, and thus doesn't do much of the conscious self-correction that people like Kondo engage in constantly. (This isn't to say that one personality type is better than the other. They both have upsides and downsides. While Akira-types can rush into bad situations that could have been avoided with a little self-reflection, Kondo-types can get stuck in paralysis loops of overthinking their problems.) In the end, Akira's gotten back on the racetrack, having rediscovered the strength to keep doing what she loves alongside new insight into exactly how much the sport meant to her.

At the very end, it's implied that Kondo might have begun to reciprocate Akira's feelings, but it doesn't look like he's going to act on this complicated attraction. He's just happy to see Akira return to running, able to be the person who provided her with support during a difficult period in her life. After all, she did the same for him – Akira's influence is the biggest reason why Kondo got back into writing, so he owes her just as much as she owes him. With that, their relationship in the show concludes on a note of mutual respect, gratitude, and (most importantly for Akira) independence. Akira's renewed maturation is also likely the reason that Kondo has begun to take notice of her as more than a confused child.

Ultimately, After the Rain was just about the best version of itself that it could have been. It broached its controversial subject matter with both honesty and responsibility, averaging these two qualities out to a best-of-both-worlds situation where Akira's crush was neither dismissed too easily or depicted with exploitative permissiveness. Thematically, the whole thing works on a number of interconnected levels. First it's a story about healing and the processes by which people recover from major slumps in their lives. Secondly, it's about how different people shape their lives around specific passions, and the pleasures and burdens that come with devoting yourself to a particular activity. Finally, it's a relatable depiction of a relationship type that I haven't seen depicted often (or not depicted well, at least) in fiction – as in, a quasi-romantic mentorship between a young woman and an older man that isn't exploitative fetish material. I've been in situations like Akira's, and while I acknowledge that they're rare compared to the ones where the dude turns out to be a remorseless creeper (something that I am also unfortunately familiar with), it was nice to see something like my positive experience mirrored in a work of art. The only significant flaw that sticks out in this show is the derailed importance of Kase's character, but it's also pretty easy to forget that part of the story without losing anything. (I've heard that he has more of a presence in the manga, alongside a couple other side characters. My impression is that they streamlined this story for adaptation, so check out the upcoming manga release if you're curious about the show's occasional loose ends.)

As usual, I have to bring up the show's stunning production work. From Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress to Attack on Titan season 2 to The Ancient Magus' Bride and now this, Wit Studio makes some of the most consistently gorgeous anime out there these days. And while After the Rain's story could have been told in a show with a much more workmanlike production, the luxurious visuals add a lot to this story, especially when it comes to Akira's characterization, which is largely conveyed through the details of her surrounding environment. The contrast between how Akira and Kondo experience the world (Akira takes in her experiences in an immediate and overwhelming way reflective of being a teenager, while Kondo filters his through literary self-reflection informed by his decades of experience) added some extra resonance to the story too. This last episode also looked particularly impressive, with some of the character animation approaching theatrical quality.

All in all, After the Rain was easily this season's standout drama for me, and it may be an early contender for my best of the year gauntlet nine months down the line. An intense and subtle emotional experience, After the Rain overcame my initial reservations about its premise to become a heartwarming drama that I can recommend to anyone.

Grade: A

After the Rain is currently streaming on Amazon Prime.

Gabriella Ekens studies film and literature at a US university. Follow her on twitter.