is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by

Jun Mayuzuki is a Japanese manga artist. Her most famous work is the series '' After the Rain'', which was serialized in Shogakukan's ''Monthly Big Comic Spirits'' magazine in June 2014, before moving to the magazine '' Weekly Big Comic Spirits'' in January ...

. It was serialized in

Shogakukan is a Japanese publisher of dictionaries, literature, comics ( manga), non-fiction, DVDs, and other media in Japan. Shogakukan founded Shueisha, which also founded Hakusensha. These are three separate companies, but are together called the H ...

's ''

Monthly Big Comic Spirits Monthly usually refers to the scheduling of something every month. It may also refer to: * ''The Monthly'' * '' Monthly Magazine'' * ''Monthly Review'' * '' PQ Monthly'' * '' Home Monthly'' * '' Trader Monthly'' * ''Overland Monthly'' * Menstruati ...

'' magazine from June 2014 to November 2015, and later in '' Weekly Big Comic Spirits'' from January 2016 to March 2018. Its chapters were compiled into ten ''

tankōbon is the Japanese term for a book that is not part of an anthology or corpus. In modern Japanese, the term is most often used in reference to individual volumes of a manga series: most series first appear as individual chapters in a weekly or ...

'' volumes. A 12-episode

anime is hand-drawn and computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japanese, (a term derived from a shortening of ...

television series adaptation by

Wit Studio (stylised as WIT STUDIO) is a Japanese animation studio founded on June 1, 2012, by producers at Production I.G as a subsidiary of IG Port. It is headquartered in Musashino, Tokyo, with Production I.G producer George Wada as president and Te ...

aired from January to March 2018 on

Fuji TV JOCX-DTV (channel 8), branded as and colloquially known as CX, is a Japanese television station based in Odaiba, Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Owned and operated by the it is the key station of the Fuji News Network (FNN) and the Fuji Network S ...

Noitamina is a Japanese programming block on Fuji TV devoted to anime, originally broadcast every Thursday late night/Friday morning from 00:45 to 1:15. It was launched with the intention of expanding the target audience beyond the typical young male dem ...

programming block. A

live-action Live action (or live-action) is a form of cinematography or videography that uses photography instead of animation. Some works combine live-action with animation to create a live-action animated film. Live-action is used to define film, video ...

film adaptation was released in May 2018. In North America,

Vertical Vertical is a geometric term of location which may refer to: * Vertical direction, the direction aligned with the direction of the force of gravity, up or down * Vertical (angles), a pair of angles opposite each other, formed by two intersecting s ...

licensed the manga and published it into five omnibus volumes from September 2018 to September 2019. The anime series has been licensed by

Sentai Filmworks Sentai Filmworks, LLC or just Sentai, is an American entertainment company owned by AMC Networks. Located in Houston, the company specializes in the dubbing and distribution of Japanese animation and Asian cinema. Its post-production arm is S ...

for home video and digital release. In 2018, ''After the Rain'' won the 63rd

Shogakukan Manga Award The is one of Japan's major manga awards, and is sponsored by Shogakukan Publishing. It has been awarded annually for serialized manga and features candidates from a number of publishers. It is the oldest manga award in Japan, being given since ...

in the General category. As of April 2018, the manga had over 2 million copies in circulation.

Plot

''After the Rain'' tells the story of Akira Tachibana, a high school student working part-time at a family restaurant, who starts falling in love with the manager, a forty-five-year-old divorcé with a young son. Akira struggles to determine why she is falling for Masami, and whether or not to reveal her feelings to him.

Characters

; : (Japanese);

Luci Christian Louisa Michelle Christian (born March 18, 1973) is an American voice actress and ADR script writer at Funimation and Seraphim Digital/ Sentai Filmworks. She has provided many voices for English versions of Japanese anime series and films. Lif ...

(English) : Played by:

Nana Komatsu is a Japanese actress and model. She is best known for her roles in ''The World of Kanako'', ''Destruction Babies'', '' Drowning Love'', '' The Black Devil and the White Prince'', ''My Tomorrow, Your Yesterday'', '' After the Rain'', ''Farewell ...

: A high school student with a piercing expression that makes many people slightly wary of her. She used to be part of the track team, before a leg injury forced her to give up running. Having fallen into a depression, she met Masami who acted in a kind and friendly manner, offering her a free coffee when she took shelter at the restaurant in the rain. This act of kindness, began her infatuation with him. Despite her cold and inapproachable demeanor, she is actually rather timid and shy, especially when it comes to Masami. ; : (Japanese);

Jason Douglas Jason Douglas is an American film, television and voice actor, known as Tobin on AMC's '' The Walking Dead'', as the voice of Beerus in the anime film '' Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods ''and the series Dragon Ball Super, and Krieg in the vide ...

(English) : Played by:

Yo Oizumi is a Japanese actor, comedian, television personality and voice actor. He is a member of the theatrical and musical unit TEAM NACS, and is represented by Creative Office Cue. His wife Kumiko Nakajima is a drama producer at Fuji TV. In 1995, w ...

: A 45-year-old manager of a family restaurant. A kind, timid man, he is often criticized by his employees for being too weak. He is divorced and has a young son named Yuto. He is initially rather intimidated by Akira, whom he assumes actually hates him, while she, in fact, is merely staring at him in love. He is a fan of "Pure Literature" and loves reading books. Prior to becoming a restaurant manager, he wrote novels alongside his former college buddy and now-renowned writer Chihiro Kujo. ; : (Japanese);

Elizabeth Maxwell Elizabeth Maxwell is an American voice actress. She is best known for her roles as Ymir in ''Attack on Titan'', Winter Schnee in ''RWBY'', Urbosa in '' The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild'', Rosaria in ''Genshin Impact'', and Caulifla in ' ...

(English) : Played by:

Nana Seino is a Japanese actress. She has played Sunmi in ''Tokyo Tribe'', Tetsuko Kuroyanagi in the TV Asahi adaptation of Kuroyanagi's autobiography '' Totto-Chan: The Little Girl at the Window'', and Yuko Komiya in the 98th NHK asadora '' Half Blue Sky' ...

: Akira's buddy on the track team, who remains steadfast in maintaining their friendship after Akira's injury. ; : (Japanese);

Maggie Flecknoe Marguerite Kathryn Flecknoe is an American voice actress, radio personality, television host and producer. Biography Flecknoe graduated with honors and a Bachelor of Science degree in Journalism and Broadcast News, and a minor in Theatre from t ...

(English) : Played by: Honoka Matsumoto : Akira's coworker at the restaurant who has blonde hair and a cheerful personality. She has a crush on Takashi. ; : (Japanese);

Jason Liebrecht Ernesto Jason Liebrecht is an American voice actor who voices for a number of English versions of Japanese anime series and video games produced by Funimation/OkraTron 5000 and ADV Films. Some of his major roles include Lavi and the Millennium E ...

(English) : Played by:

Hayato Isomura is a Japanese actor who is represented by the talent agency Blue Label. Filmography TV series Films Awards References External links Official profile * {{DEFAULTSORT:Isomura, Hayato 21st-century Japanese male actors 1992 births L ...

: A chef at the restaurant who had a sexual interest in Akira. When he learns about Akira's infatuation with Masami, he blackmails her by forcing her to date him in order to keep her secret intact. ; : (Japanese); Gareth West (English) : Played by: Shono Hayama : Akira's classmate who had a crush on her. He also works at the restaurant with Akira as kitchen staff. ; : (Japanese); Patricia Duran (English) : Played by:

Mari Hamada is a Japanese heavy metal and pop rock singer. Since her debut in 1983, Hamada has been known as the "Heavy Metal Queen" of Japan. Throughout her career, she has released 25 singles and 23 studio albums. Biography Early history Mari Ham ...

; : (Japanese);

Kira Vincent-Davis Kira Vincent-Davis is an American voice actress best known for her work in English-language versions of Japanese anime. She voices Lucy/Nyu in '' Elfen Lied'', Anchovy in '' Girls und Panzer'', Izuna Hatsuse in '' No Game No Life'', Ayumu Kasuga ...

(English) : Masami's young son who attends elementary school. ; : : Played by:

Shigeyuki Totsugi is a Japanese actor, TV personality, voice actor, screenwriter, theatre director, and singer. His real name and former stage name is . He was born in Teine-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido. He is a member of the TEAM NACS. He graduated from Hokkaido Sapporo ...

: Masami's friend from college who is a renowned writer.

Media

Manga

''After the Rain'' is written and illustrated by

. The series was first serialized in

's ''

'' from June 27, 2014, to November 27, 2015. It was then transferred to '' Weekly Big Comic Spirits'', where it ran from January 18, 2016, to March 19, 2018. Shogakukan collected its chapters in ten ''

'' volumes, published from January 9, 2015, to April 27, 2018. In March 2018, it was announced that

licensed the manga for an English language release in North America. The manga was released into five omnibus edition volumes from September 25, 2018, to September 17, 2019.

Volume list

Anime

television series adaptation was announced in March 2017. Produced by

Fuji Television JOCX-DTV (channel 8), branded as and colloquially known as CX, is a Japanese television station based in Odaiba, Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Owned and operated by the it is the key station of the Fuji News Network (FNN) and the Fuji Network S ...

Aniplex is a Japanese anime, music production and anime licensee company owned by Sony Music Entertainment Japan. Established in September 1995, Aniplex has been involved in the production and distribution of several anime series, such as both '' Fullm ...

, DMM pictures,

Dentsu Dentsu Inc. ( ja, 株式会社電通 ''Kabushiki-gaisha Dentsū'' or 電通 ''Dentsū'' for short) is a Japanese international advertising and public relations joint stock company headquartered in Tokyo. Dentsu is currently the largest advertis ...

and

, the series is directed by

Ayumu Watanabe is a Japanese anime director. After joining Shin-Ei Animation, he directed multiple ''Doraemon'' anime films. As a freelancer, he also worked on numerous anime adaptations such as ''Space Brothers (manga), Space Brothers'', ''After the Rain (mang ...

, with Deko Akao handling series composition, Yuka Shibata designing the characters and Ryō Yoshimata composing the music. The opening theme song is "Nostalgic Rainfall" by CHiCO with HoneyWorks, while the ending theme song is "Ref:rain" by

Aimer is a Japanese pop singer and lyricist signed to SACRA MUSIC and managed by agehasprings. Her name comes from the verb "Aimer" in French, which means "to love". Aimer uses the name aimerrhythm for lyrics credits. Debuted in 2011, she has relea ...

. It ran for 12 episodes from January 12 to March 30, 2018 on Fuji TV's

programming block.

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek mythology * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon (company), an American multinational technolog ...

streamed the series worldwide on their

Amazon Video Amazon Prime Video, also known simply as Prime Video, is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming and rental service of Amazon offered as a standalone service or as part of Amazon's Prime subscription. The service pr ...

service. In March 2020,

announced the acquisition of the series for home video and digital release in North America. In the United Kingdom, the series is licensed by

MVM Films MVM Entertainment, also known as MVM and MVM Films, is a British licensor and distributor of Japanese animation. The company also sub-licenses anime titles from US anime companies such as Media Blasters, Geneon, Nozomi Entertainment, Urban Visio ...

and it was released on Blu-ray on October 26, 2020.

Episode list

Live-action film

A live-action film adaptation of the manga was announced in November 2017. It stars

as Akira Tachibana and

as the manager Masami Kondo. The film is distributed by

Toho is a Japanese film, theatre production and distribution company. It has its headquarters in Chiyoda, Tokyo, and is one of the core companies of the Osaka-based Hankyu Hanshin Toho Group. Outside of Japan, it is best known as the producer ...

and premiered on May 25, 2018.

Reception

As of April 2018, ''After the Rain'' had over 2 million copies in print. In 2018, alongside ''

Kūbo Ibuki is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Kaiji Kawaguchi with cooperation by journalist Osamu Eya. It was serialized in Shogakukan's ''seinen'' manga magazine ''Big Comic'' from December 2014 to December 2019. A sequel, titled ...

'', ''After the Rain'' won the 63rd

in the General category. The manga was ranked fourth in the 2016 edition of

Takarajimasha is a Japanese publishing company based in Chiyoda, Tokyo. It is known for publishing subculture-oriented fashion magazines aimed at teens, fashion magazines in general, as well as guide books. History The company was founded on September 22, ...

's ''

Kono Manga ga Sugoi! is an annual reference mook series published by Takarajimasha since 2005 featuring yearly rankings and reviews of manga. The rankings are compiled by surveying people in the manga and publishing industry. The series is part of Takarajimasha's ...

'' guidebook. In 2016, the manga was nominated for the 9th

Manga Taishō The is a Japanese comics award recognizing achievement in manga. It is awarded annually to a manga series published in the previous calendar year of eight or fewer collected volumes in length. The Manga Taishō was founded with the aim of re ...

Awards; and was ranked 7th with 42 points. ''After the Rain'' ranked fourth on the "Nationwide Bookstore Employees' Recommended Comics" by the Honya Club website in 2016.

Notes

References

External links

* * * * * {{Wit Studio 2014 manga Aniplex Coming-of-age anime and manga Live-action films based on manga Noitamina Romance anime and manga Seinen manga Sentai Filmworks Shogakukan franchises Shogakukan manga Slice of life anime and manga Vertical (publisher) titles Winners of the Shogakukan Manga Award for general manga Wit Studio Japanese romance films