Japanese Film 2018
After the Rain (Koi wa Ameagari no You ni) Review & Summary
After the Rain poster
- Genre: School, Age-Gap Romance, Live Action Manga
- Release Date: 2018
- Origin: Japan, based on a manga written by Jun Mayuzuki
Cast:
- Nana Komatsu as Akira Tachibana
- Yo Oizumi as Masami Kondo
- Nana Seino as Haruka Kiyan
- Hayato Isomura as Ryosuke Kase
- Shono Hayama as Takashi Yoshizawa
- Honoka Matsumoto as Yui Nishida
- Maika Yamamoto as Mizuki Kurata
- Shigeyuki Totsuge as Chichiro Yoge
- Mari Hamada as Kubo
- Yo Yoshida as Tomoyo Tachibana
Akira Tachibana is a seventeen-year-old high school girl who thought herself in love with the manager at the Cafe Garden Restaurant she was working as a part-timer.
Though I enjoyed the film, I think there was really no real chemistry between the leads. The story is innocent throughout the movie.
There were no titillating scenes at all. The closest they got was a brief tight hug.
Anyway, Akira was a very promising athlete in track and field. Those who saw here run say that Akira looks like running on air.
Sadly her career as a runner ended before it was fully realised. She was competing in a race when she fell and hurt her Achilles tendon.
She was in and out of the hospital for physio. One of this visits was during a rainy day. And to wait out the rain, she went to the Cafe Garden Restaurant. A kindly man offered her a cup of coffee on the house. She was beguiled with his friendliness.
Akira then went to work at the cafe garden Restaurant. Though she rarely smile, she was a hit among the staff as she was very pretty and diligent at her task.
Yui is one of the waitresses in the cafe, one day she asked Akira who she likes in the restaurant. Was it Kase, a handsome guy who probably was a playboy, or Yoshizawa who is cute and eager to please?
Actually, Yoshizawa is Akira’s classmates and has a crush on her but he just doesn’t rock her boat.
Anyway, Akira asked Yui why did she did not include in her list their manager?
Yui said that their manager is old and stinky. Which shocked Akira and the Manager who overheard the conversation.
He was so embarrassed he went to change his shirt.
While he was out of the office, Akira saw the worn shirt and picked it up. She was caught in the act smelling his shirt by the Manager himself, who laughed it off.
Akira was very honest and later told him that she likes him. The manager was very pleased that someone actually likes him because he noticed that the staff at the restaurant think that he was a bit of a joke, especially when he is forced to bow and apologised for every customer complaints regarding service whether warranted or unwarranted.
Akira was confused that the manager did not take her confession seriously.
So one rainy day, she did it again. The manager let her down gently and told her that a relationship between them would be unbelievable and rather laughable. She was 17 and he was 45, a divorced man with a child. He feels that life has passed him by.
Akira, however, was serious. She told him that you can’t help who you fall in love with. Before he knew it the manager was forced to go on a date with her.
Akira did all the running but they did agree to be friends.
There was another character introduced into the drama. She was Mizuki, who liked Akira had an operation performed on her Achilles tendon. She was about to give up running but she saw Akira run and this inspired her to try it again once more.
Mizuki went into the restaurant and challenge Akira to a race. Haruka, Akira’s best friend told her that Mizuki’s very good. During Mizuki’s last race she equalised Akira’s own record.
This inspired Akira to rethink her decision to give up running completely.
She went back to her racing club. The manager looked her up and told her that he was glad she was running again, he said that he had been promoted so he was in a good place as well.
Akira reminded him that since they are friends, perhaps they should send each other texts. You can feel that their friendship, for now, will eventually lead to a more serious one, one day.
It is a heartwarming film. Everything will get better with time. There is sunshine after the rain.