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「つゆのあとさき」 (Tsuyu no Atosaki)
“After the Rain”
They sometimes say that journey can be worth than the destination and in Koi wa Ameagari no You ni’s case, I think this might ring true. Not that the destination was bad though!
Boy, after 12 episodes I can’t believe that it’s already over! Before diving into the final impressions and some parting thoughts since I think we’ve hit a lot of the main points throughout the previous posts, I would be lying if I said I wasn’t going to be a little bummed that we won’t get to see more of Tachibana, Kondou, and the rest of this show’s cast. As a whole the show has really grown on me and while I think where things ended was pretty good, I want to know more. With that said, let’s dive into the final impressions!
Final Impressions
With things said and done, I think we can all agree that we’ve ended up on one of the best timelines possible for Tachibana and Kondou. The two had various problems that needed solving and by the end of the series, I think it was clear that they were both heading down the correct path. With the former overcoming the trauma that comes with a painful injury/experience and the latter rediscovering the passion they once had for something they loved, all that we needed was a little more time in which I’m pretty sure they’d be able to reach the first of many goals toward the prize they were aiming for.
Rewinding things a little, I wanted to talk a little about Tachibana’s journey from when we first met her to the Tachibana of today. Comparing the two, it’s almost night and day when you look at them. However, what probably felt even better than knowing how much she’s grown was the fact that we got to watch all of it unfold right before our eyes. As Tachibana overcame the negative memories of injuring her Achilles and acknowledging (or at least somewhat acknowledging) that she may have been acting like a terrible friend toward the one person who she may have needed the most, the feelings and emotions we experienced as each episode played through was one that I wish I could rewind and experience all over again. As I said in the excerpt for the post, the journey in this show’s case I think edges out the payout of reaching the destination.
Changing sides to Kondou, it was fun watching him embark on a journey of his own. As the secondary main character to Tachibana, he definitely had his own issues to deal with minus an attractive high schooler having a huge crush on him. And while I wish we had a little more time to flesh out all the complicated emotions that he had swirling around inside of him, I’ll accept the fact that with the time given we got a pretty darn good glimpse at what he was struggling with. Age or time is something that we’re all fighting against and as more of it goes by, it gets a lot tougher to reconcile with your regrets or failures. As a 45 year old divorcee with a young son, it’s take a lot of gumption to face your fears and I’m glad the show was able to show that on-screen.
Besides that, I think this last episode was a pretty good way to close things out. With most of the major points closed and the romance between Tachibana and Kondou somewhat resolved, the only downside was probably that things felt a little rushed. Tiny gripes aside, I think that this show did a great job at what it strove to do. Sure it may have lied to us about it being about a relationship between a high school girl and an older aged man, but boy am I glad that things played out how they did.
As always, thank you everyone for keeping up with the posts! It’s been a blast and I’ll catch you around next season as all the new shows kick off. See you then!
I loved how this ended. The feels when Akira started running and that hug…
Sadly, a lot of people who can’t take off pairing goggles can’t seem to see that Akira and Kondo getting together in some “screw what society thinks” relationship wasn’t REALLY the main point.
Yeah, and for those people their last parting words seems to recognize that they meet “too soon”.
As I said to the official channels, I want an epilogue in some years.
I don’t mind where it ended, but it did feel a bit rushed. Any manga readers know how far into the manga the anime got? I know the manga is ending soon, so I’m assuming they either jumped ahead or made this up (and if they made it up, I guess up to what do was the anime canon?)
Well, yes they jumped ahead (also skipped a lot), but the manga is heading into the same direction i feel. I hope for a better, more clear resolution for the romance at least. The anime was rushing it, but the manga is doing the exact opposite and its not much better there as a result imho. Its not a fun to read when you can already tell the ending from the constant foreshadowing.
Manga ended last month suddenly at chapter 82. Ending was similar. But there is a major scene and talk between them that is missing. But I like this original anime ending too!!
Perhaps the people who wrote the OP and ED needed to take off their “pairing goggles” as well 🙂
https://randomc.net/image/Koi%20wa%20Ameagari%20no%20You%20ni/Koi%20wa%20Ameagari%20no%20You%20ni%20-%20OP%20-%20Large%2008.jpg
Anyway, that felt to me like a slightly muted ending rather than a rushed one. I don’t know how the manga ends yet, but even though they were slicing and dicing the chapters to make each episode, I’d say there has been a fairly big jump to get to an ending. So whether it’s anime original or not I have no idea at this stage.
In any case, I’d still describe this as a romance. And I’m sure it would have gone a lot further if Kondou hadn’t had the strength of character and the integrity that he clearly displayed, because it’s a pretty overwhelming experience having a high-schooler fawning over you when you get to a certain age.
As for the final scenes, I’m still not sure whether they actually hugged or not. Did the world turning into blue sky mark the transition from reality to fantasy or was it Kondou finally realising the true extent of his feelings? I suppose it doesn’t really matter because the dialog afterwards was clearly intended to be real. It was a “come back when you’re a bit older” put in the nicest way possible, but really a little more than that, too – it was also a “come back when we’ve both got our lives sorted out”. I really admire the guy for being able to say that.
After watching the last part again, it also struck me that not being able to offer the new Marumi menu because Kondou wasn’t ready yet was also mirroring his situation with Tachibana (who wanted the special Marumi character to bring her closer to him).
I believe that when he said “pairing googles” he was thinking about those delusional people that tried to convince the word that this was a bad, bad, very bad story about a creepy sexual predator prying an innocent little poor defenseless girl.
Well, the anime was good, mostly because the superb direction, but even if the destination is the same it was rushed because of all the development that was cut. This story is also about a romance between Akira and Kondo, part of the development is how they deal it this love they feel for each other. Including Kondo. Not in the anime but in the manga he really loves her and I don’t think this is a secret to anyone or a spoiler, it’s a obvious plot point, but the anime had to leaf almost everything about this out because it’s not the most important plot.
In terms of the screenshot, notice that the heart has always been upside-down.
I personally would take it to mean that it’s not “love” in a truly romantic sense, but possibly a show of it being more platonic (“friends”). Or, at the very least, it was telling us that it wouldn’t get THAT far yet.
Interesting, I hadn’t considered the upside-down thing at all.
I have taken this ending, as a message that we are told that there won´t be a second season in the future that follows the history of the manga.
(-_-)
Akira learns the importantance of resilience on an eight year old kid……. pretty much sums up her level of maturity which is not surprising at all.
I don’t really get the “embrace scene”. Did it happen or not? “Grade A” Wit Studio trolling there. I think it’s one of those fantasies which this adaption does a couple times as blissful, wishfulfilment scenes to satisfy viewers, only this time, it is Kondou who fantasizes.
Overall, I liked the manga much more than the anime. The relationship between Kondou and Akira is more clearly defined in the manga than here in the adaption which I think is the most important aspect of the story as whole.
I think they are on a break.
Another show I had some trepidation about, but turned out fine. Actually, it turned out excellent. The subject matter was handled very well and the anime has now made me want to read the manga. So the “ad” part worked, but I also want to see what was pulled in this adaptation and how it affected the overall story.
And the art. From the character designs to the backgrounds, it was outstanding. Also, the direction in this was top notch. Overall, just the mellow pacing of the visuals that let you soak it all up. Eyes, feet, rain and the rest. May take the best show of Winter ’18 and will definitely be in the top 10 at the end of the year.
Same here, I felt as though the last episode was a bit rushed but even so, it was a good show from start to finish. For some reason, starting at about the 3rd episode, I somewhat had a feeling that the ending wouldn’t be what everyone wants to see: a happy ending. Happy ending in meaning they both confess their love for each other, etc. And I actually like the way it ended. It’s somewhat more realistic and inspirational to achieve your passion. Like what you said, I’m really going to miss watching this show every week D: I didn’t even know this week was the last episode.. 🙁