Thank you to NetGalley & Kodansha for letting me read a copy of this manga in exchange for a fair and honest review.

I love the art style. Jun Mayuzuki is a fabulous manga-ka for this alone. It was delicate and reading it felt like I was experiencing the gentle pitter patter of rain. I know that sounds strange!

It is however, really difficult to get past two of the major things that pop up in this manga. Firstly, Kase is a creep, and predatory. Secondly, a romantic relationship between Tachibana and her boss is just totally problematic and inappropriate. Obviously the author is taking the softly-softly approach with these characters, but Tachibana is 17 and Kondo is 45 - that's a 28 year age gap. As the adult in this situation, he should be 100% saying no and sticking to it, but that doesn't suit the storyline. My concern is that teenagers might read this and romanticise age gap relationships, and end up in tricky situations themselves. That's why I've given the rating that I have.

The first volume of After the rain is the beginning of a story about open wounds, overcoming and second chances.

It centers on Akira Tachibana, a 17-year-old girl who suffered an injury, while in the athletics club, that changed her world. It is when Masami Kondô enters the scene, who without knowing and with a single simple act manages to encourage her, and even make her fall in love with him.

Akira is not like the rest of her classmates, especially in tastes, but behind that serious and formal attitude, she hides a nervous and insecure teenager, in love with her manager at a restaurant. The person in charge is none other than Masami, a 45-year-old divorced man, the typical person who apologizes for everything even if he hasn't done anything wrong. The story also has other characters that give the story its charm, such as the co-workers of the protagonists and Akira's classmates.

My only problem with this story is the age gap. She's a minor and he's more than 40. I don't know if their relationship is going to evolve into something more.

This first volume has left me wanting more, especially after the end. I'm looking forward to seeing which direction the current relationship between Akira and Masami goes, and the evolution of each character. And I hope there will be more funny moments. A manga that has an adult design for a youth story.

This story was so sweet, funny, and cute! It is a age gap work romance that reels you in right from the start. The only thing that concerned me about this book was that the FMC is 17 and the love interest is 45 years old. But other than that, I enjoyed this story.

This one...is problematic to review.

Ok, first, what I liked. The artwork, the MC h was believable (though in a less than awesome way), the plot made sense and while it pushed the envelope it didn't jump the shark...kinda.

The GINOMOUS elephant in the room? He's 45, she's 17.

I noticed that in the home scenes for the MC h, the father-figure is subtly absent, so it seems like she is looking for a father-figure and found one in the 45 year old manager. She has other issues too, the ankle injury that has killed her dreams re: running, feeling like she is no longer part of the track crowd, adrift from friends, sport, family.

She makes sense in her reaching out to someone to fill those huge holes inside of her.

He makes sense too, what 45 year old divorced man wouldn't be flattered by the attention of a 17 year girl who is enamored with him? He knows better and, thus far, hasn't acting inappropriately, but where is this story going? That fills me with dread.

Then there is the absolute GARBAGE cook who is blackmailing the teenager into going out on a date with him. The ONLY color panels in the eARC were of when he imagined getting her drunk so he could take her virginity...

I'm assuming the color was to indicate that it was a fantasy and not reality, but maybe not the best way to show that?

I'm betting the contrast is to show that the 45 year old crush is better than the younger cook (who is still older than the 17 year old girl BTW), because he's not fantasizing about getting her drunk and using her, but it's still really squicky to me.

I'm really up in the air about what to rate this. I did like it, but it has so much potential to go sideways that I am at a loss as to what to rate it.

I am curious to see if the next volume can ride that fine line or if it tips too much over it, so I'll go with 2.5, rounded up.

3, this is sitting on the fence and seeing what the next volume will bring, stars.

My thanks to NetGalley and Kodansha Comics for an eARC copy of this book to read and review.

This story explores a first love. Akira Tachibana is a high school student who realises that she is attracted to her boss who is a divorced 45 year old man with a small son. Akira is also recovering from an injury which brought her running sports to an end. She works part time in a restaurant and it is there she meets her manager and starts to fall for him.

The manager is a bit clueless and rather shocked when Akira tells him her feelings and so they begin a friendship, he hoping to be able to explain that he is too old for her and she simply following her heart. This first volume introduces the characters in the story and their lives. It is a great start with good artwork and in promises to be an intriguing story.

4/5

This edition is a 2-1, so this review is for both V1 and V2.
I think that this is somehow a delicate topic, and it's super easy to fall into the cliché and especially superficial way to narrate it.

So far I really didn't see any of this.
The story is a fast read, there are a lot of full pages art, and it's definitely a light read.
I like overall the set of characters, there's a good mix of different personalities and so far they all work pretty well together.
I really liked that even if the main story is set during Tachibana's working hours, the author didn't forget about her teenager everyday life, based on school and relationships with friends.

I like how we see different aspects of her life, and there's even some backgroud on how certain things went and it's always appreciated, it gives to the story that extra thing and feels more complete.
As I previously said, there are tons of full pages of art, some even colored, and they are beautiful.
I love the style used in the drawings, it's simply stunning!

Talking about the main topic of this series I think it's too early to address it properly on a review because we didn't see much in these first two volumes. It's starting to be more consistent in V2, but it's not cringe nor heavy to read at all. I think I well played throughout the overall story.

So far it was a pleasant experience and I will definitely continue once I find somewhere V3, which is the last hard to find volume!

This was a beautiful, slice of life manga about a high school girl and her crush on her part time boss. The protagonist, who hurt her ankle and can no longer race on her track team, is struggling to find herself. The slow pace of the story, coupled with bursts of high school nostalgia, is like a smooth hot chocolate on a rainy day.
The attraction to her boss is a little creepy, but you can tell she's struggling to stand on uneven ground as she goes in a direction of her life she never intended to go on.

I liked the concept of this book, and I also enjoyed the art style and characters, but having a high school girl, porn after a male who is well into the adulthood years seemed a little off balance. I think the art style is really good and I also really enjoyed the pacing of this book on the side characters. It has a really good set up for more books and I would like to read more in the future but I don’t think this is gonna be one of my favourite series, but I also don’t think that it’s meant for my age range or book taste, but nonetheless I do enjoy it and I would recommend it as it seems very well rounded a solid story and plot

Thank you to NetGalley, Kodansha Comics, Vertical Comics, and Jun Mayuzuki for the opportunity to read this manga in exchange for an honest review.

This version appears to be a collected tome of volumes 1 and 2 of the manga.

Tachibana is 17 and works at a neighborhood restaurant. She used to be a runner, but after an injury, she needs to take it easy. With her passion fizzled out, she seeks something new to fill her passions. She has a crush on her 45-year-old manager, who has a kid, but happens to be divorced.

This manga revolves around Tachibana's feelings for her boss and the possible ensuing relationship as her boss reflects on the past and Tachibana seeking a new passion in life. This story has a lot of potential when it comes to love regarding the notion that "age is just a number." I am exceedingly interesting in following this series and the magnificent writing craft this manga employs.

Probably very nice manga with a very nice story. Like usual this manga too hits with its creative narrative plot.

Akira Tachibana is one of her school’s best track and field athletes - until a foot injury takes her out of commission. Following a chance encounter, she decides to use her newly freed-up after-school time working at a local restaurant where she develops a crush on the middle-aged manager, Masami Kondo. Could a relationship work between a shy 17 year old schoolgirl and a hapless 45 year old single dad divorcee?

I saw the anime of this series a few years ago and really enjoyed it, then was reminded of the creator’s original manga after reading her latest series, Kowloon Generic Romance, so I decided to backtrack and read After the Rain. Even knowing the full story, this is still a really great book!

Jun Mayuzuki tells the story well with just the right balance between drama and light-heartedness. It helps that Kondo isn’t a pervy older man who can’t wait to jump into bed with Akira, and so the relationship is dealt with with tact and thoughtfulness, making him and the premise deeper than it could’ve been in the hands of a lesser writer.

The age thing is weird. Part of me thinks that having Akira be 17 is unnecessarily creepy and plays to readers who are into schoolgirl fantasies. Having her be even a year older and out of high school wouldn’t have changed the story - but then she wouldn’t be wearing the schoolgirl uniform. It feels calculatingly exploitative.

The attraction itself is also strange. Not that Kondo is grotesque but it’s unusual for an attractive young woman to fixate on a man in his mid-40s with nothing glamorous about him rather than the younger men clearly interested in her also in her life. But then I suppose we can’t choose who we fall in love with - the heart wants what the heart wants, eh?

Both main characters are built up strongly over the course of this book (which collects the first two volumes of the series). We see the struggle of an introverted, reserved girl as she tries to let her feelings be known (I really feel like Tomohito Oda 100% lifted her character for his series, Komi Can’t Communicate, because Akira is practically identical to Komi in all ways). And we see why Kondo lives the way he does, as a somewhat wishy-washy underachiever, and how Akira’s entrance in his life reminds him of the young man he once was.

For a story that seems as light and superficial as this one, Mayuzuki gives it some clever layers. In particular the small touches elevate it and make it seem more real - like when Kondo does a small magic trick when he first meets Akira, adding some understanding to how she developed a crush in the first place. Some parts of the story are more interesting, like the date comparison, than others, like when she went to get her hair done. I appreciate that Mayuzuki’s building on the supporting characters but it might’ve been a stronger narrative to focus on the two main leads instead.

Mayuzuki’s art is really pretty. Not just the perfect character expressions and body language but also the backgrounds. She does seem to invite some seediness into her work though by drawing Akira’s clothes as transparent in the light, so you can see her athletic figure through her clothes. It does feel like she’s pandering to a male readership in those instances for whatever reason.

I think I might have rated this higher if I hadn’t seen the anime before but even still I really enjoyed After the Rain, Volume 1 - it’s not hard to see why it’s been as successful as it has since it was first published in 2014. Subtly sweet, this charming tale of a Spring/Autumn romance is definitely worth a look for all fans of manga, even those who aren’t into romance.

I loved reading this manga.
The life of the character is shown little by little and we become rooted in it, because we can relate to her and her feelings until we feel a deep connection with her.
We feel the pain of loss and unfulfilled dreams, of things we gave everything for but didn't achieve.
But this character is something else completely. She is confident and strong-willed, true to her feelings and goes after her goals. She takes life in her own hands from the beginning.
And the love interest adds so much to the book. It gives a different perspective, but related, to what the main character is dealing with. He shows the side without self-confidence that tries to please everyone.

The manga convey real emotions that the characters are feeling to the reader through drawings that give us time to connect, perceive and feel.
The drawings represent the story itself and the is shown to us on such a delicate and careful way that is designed to dictate their own time to the reader.

I absolutely loved it. And I will definitely buy the second volume.

The premise of this manga can come off as iffy, what with a young girl crushing on her much older boss, but the actual presentation in the story is tame and more introspective. This is not a racy title, even though it' could have very easily gone that route if it wanted. What follows is a fairly standard slice of life story that's full of nice art and odd charms.

This is what I get for picking up a random manga without reading the description.
What even is this premise???? Someone put these men in jail.

I really wanted to enjoy this, but it made me extremely uncomfortable. I did not like the age gap between the characters, and I’m generally over manga set in high school that is romanticized and sexualized.

There were aspects I liked and were done well. The art style was especially good, and I liked some of the themes it exploded.

Overall though, I probably won’t continue the series…

Akira Tachibana is a serious young woman, dedicated to her studies since an injury caused her to stop her running career. The high school girl works part time in a small family restaurant under the leadership of Masami Kondō, a divorced 45-year-old man with a young son. The 17-year-old girl has a secret : she is secretly in love with Masami, and on one rainy day she decides to tell him her feelings.

After the Rain is an age gap story between two characters who know their relationship is doomed before it ever started. While Akira is very naive and dreams about the perfect relationship, Masami is perfectly aware about the impossibility of their story.

More than a contemporary romance, After the Rain is the tale of two broken characters in search of a little happiness and healing in nowadays Japan.

So this is another entry into the very popular trope of a highschool girl having her first full-on crush on an adult man. This trope has its issues and it’s a dangerous line to walk, especially almost 10 years after this story was originally published. But, I will give credit where credit is due, in After the Rain the mangaka handled this trope in one of the best ways I’ve seen.

Akira is a 17 year old highschooler, and used to be a runner until she suffered a severe ankle injury that stopped her for good. She enters a family restaurant while healing and an older man shows her some kindness. This is where her crush on Kondo begins. Desperate to follow positive feelings, she gets a job as a part-time waitress at the restaurant to be nearer to him.

Kondo is a 45 year old divorced man with a young son. He’s a bit spineless, and appears to be very stressed and going nowhere.

Thing is, Akira has a massive RBF and everyone sees her as cold and mean, but she’s still very much a girl. This is especially amplified with her absolute giddiness when it comes to certain things like black and white cats with socks and… also, positive interactions with her boss. This giddiness in comparison to her usual calm nature really emphasizes that while she might seem mature, Akira is still very much a high school girl.

There’s also an interesting plot line by introducing an older college student who actively pursues Akira. It feels skeevy right off the bat, even though he’s closer in age to her than Kondo. But since Kondo is not actively pursuing her and is keeping things as professional as possible - is that what makes Kondo and Akira’s relationship less creepy than the college student who actively daydreams about getting her drunk enough to SA her? It’s a really interesting discussion point for the reader.

Kondo, for his part, is very much aware of how this relationship would appear to the outside world and does his best to dissuade Akira, but as he is spineless, he does eventually give in and agree to try one date. I wish he hadn’t given in and kept things professional, but I’m very interested in where this story is going, because I get the feeling Jun Mayuzuki is not going to have this play out as expected. And it’s very fun to be in the hands of a writer that gives you that feeling.

Overall, I think only Sweetness & Lightning handled this difficult trope the absolute best of anything I’ve read so far in manga, but After the Rain is just a few notches beneath it. I’m definitely invested.

Also the art style is so great - each character design is unique and reveals character traits without being too obvious. Funny moments are funny and beautiful, tender moments are just that, too. I absolutely love this mangaka’s style and will definitely look for more of their work.

*I received an eARC from Kodansha Comics (Vertical Comics) & NetGalley in exchange for my honest review*

I didn't thoroughly read the description, and I regret that. There's a huge age gap between the two characters. I'm hoping it doesn't go anywhere, and some other reviews have mentioned that they don't think it will. That would definitely be for the best, but after Usagi Drop you can't trust anything.

The art style is beautiful and nice to look at. If the love interest was anything but who it was, I think I would've enjoyed this more. Except Kase. Because he's a creep.

What would you do if a high schooler asked you out on a date?

After the Rain tells the story of Akira Tachibana who falls in love with her 45-year-old manager, Mr Kondo. Although Akira knows that her feelings will never be returned, she can’t stop thinking about what could be. I know age gap stories have become the black sheep of romance novels, but this manga deals with the topic in a tasteful manner. Kondo is depicted with all flaws you would expect from a man his age—greying hair with a bald spot, bad physique. He’s not the typical sexualised “older” hero is so prominent in these stories. He never takes advantage of Akira and instead tries to understand where her feelings are coming from. I actually really enjoyed reading this manga.

Akira Tachibana has a secret crush towards the manager of the restaurant she works at. The only issue is that she is seventeen and he is forty five.
Art wise this slice of life is as good as you would want it to be, with very good panels that perfectly capture the emotions of the scenes.
It even takes such a sensitive topic and deals with it with the appropriate care, making for some fun and cute moments all throughout.
Yet it strangely sexualizes the main character in a very weird and cringy way that felt inappropriate and out of place.