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EP. REVIEW: With You and the Rain


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chrisb
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Joined: 07 May 2006
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Location: USA
PostPosted: Wed Jul 23, 2025 3:41 pm Reply with quote
I think it’s pretty obvious how I feel about this series based on my profile picture, but I’m impressed with the way they’ve managed to make this “dog” even more adorable.
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TJ_Kat



Joined: 11 Jan 2007
Posts: 897
Location: Saskatoon, Canada
PostPosted: Mon Jul 28, 2025 12:25 am Reply with quote
As aloof and stoic as Fuji normally is I appreciated how they managed to show her being visibly distressed when her 'dog' went missing without breaking that character.
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Greed1914



Joined: 28 Oct 2007
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PostPosted: Mon Jul 28, 2025 1:07 pm Reply with quote
I have to give this one credit for being so real, despite the seemingly magical "dog." Fuji didn't hang up on her father because of some bad relationship, she just didn't want to get stuck in a conversation with him when she meant call her brother. Probably the funniest thing was her mother inventing an excuse to eat cake after putting dad on a diet.
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Gina Szanboti



Joined: 03 Aug 2008
Posts: 12773
PostPosted: Mon Jul 28, 2025 8:50 pm Reply with quote
This review reminded me of this webtoon.
"What happened to 'personal space'?"
"It's our space now."

And from the comments, "I like my quiet space but I want *you* in my quiet space!"

Inviting Kimi (which episode did she name him?) into her quiet personal space is clearly not a unique or contradictory choice. Smile
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minamikaze



Joined: 20 Jan 2008
Posts: 388
PostPosted: Mon Jul 28, 2025 10:01 pm Reply with quote
Gina Szanboti wrote:
Inviting Kimi (which episode did she name him?) into her quiet personal space is clearly not a unique or contradictory choice. Smile

I don't think she named it. "kimi" just means "you".
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TJ_Kat



Joined: 11 Jan 2007
Posts: 897
Location: Saskatoon, Canada
PostPosted: Tue Jul 29, 2025 12:01 am Reply with quote
minamikaze wrote:
I don't think she named it. "kimi" just means "you".


Thanks, I was wondering that too.
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Princess_Irene
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Joined: 16 Dec 2008
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Location: The castle beyond the Goblin City
PostPosted: Tue Jul 29, 2025 7:20 am Reply with quote
Yes, sorry, I forgot to explain his name! He's listed as "kimi" in the credits, so that's what I went with. I was desperate for a proper noun, what can I say? Laughing Plus it baffles and vaguely offends me that Fuji never gives him a name. My family has always said that animals should have real (people) names because they deserve dignity, which is how I ended up with a cat named Kathryn. (And six others and a dog with similar names.)
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TJ_Kat



Joined: 11 Jan 2007
Posts: 897
Location: Saskatoon, Canada
PostPosted: Tue Jul 29, 2025 6:53 pm Reply with quote
My interpretation was that she was telling herself she hadn't decided to keep him yet - which her visible distress she felt when she couldn't find him this episode put a lie to - and she wasn't naming him so she wouldn't get attached.
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Yune Amagiri



Joined: 28 Jul 2016
Posts: 1331
Location: France
PostPosted: Sat Aug 02, 2025 2:43 pm Reply with quote
This maracas-addicted kid killed me.
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Duck Du Normandie
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Joined: 07 Dec 2018
Posts: 74
PostPosted: Sun Aug 03, 2025 10:06 am Reply with quote
For those who may start to think raccoons (or tanuki) would make a good pet, just a reminder that, at the end of the book, (60+ year old Spoiler) Sterling released Rascal back into the wild because Wild Animals Do Not Make Good Pets.
When the anime came out, people seemed to miss that point, or didn't watch to the end. Raccoons are now a major problem in Japan, and very illegal to import. https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/rascal-the-raccoon-that-ate-japan

Even if you take in native wildlife, legal or not, they are still wild and it frequently does not end well for anyone involved.
https://dnrec.delaware.gov/outdoor-delaware/the-perils-of-wild-pets-dnrec-warns-against-keeping-non-domesticated-animals/
https://education.turpentinecreek.org/2025/08/02/why-wild-animals-dont-make-good-pets/
</lesson>

Also, maracas-kid truly is nightmare fuel.
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TJ_Kat



Joined: 11 Jan 2007
Posts: 897
Location: Saskatoon, Canada
PostPosted: Sun Aug 03, 2025 8:50 pm Reply with quote
The whole dog/racoon/tanuki thing got me thinking. Fuji isn't stupid, she has to know Kimi isn't a dog, right? But based on how Kimi stopped the doctor from revealing he wasn't a dog and just how he behaves in general whenever someone suggests he's not a dog, does he maybe think he's fooled Fuji into thinking he's a dog and that she wouldn't have taken him in or that she'll kick him out if she finds out he's not? And that Fuji is extra sharp and noticed this so she's playing along with him.

There was also the line to the one girl about how if she looks at Kimi and thinks he's a racoon, then to her he's a racoon. Maybe Fuji wants him to be a dog, so to her he's a dog.
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Exodus007



Joined: 21 Sep 2012
Posts: 140
PostPosted: Sun Aug 03, 2025 10:46 pm Reply with quote
His name isn't Kimi it's the Japanese name for "You".
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TJ_Kat



Joined: 11 Jan 2007
Posts: 897
Location: Saskatoon, Canada
PostPosted: Mon Aug 04, 2025 12:58 am Reply with quote
Princess_Irene wrote:
He's listed as "kimi" in the credits,


Good enough for me.
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Reiemye



Joined: 28 Jan 2022
Posts: 11
PostPosted: Mon Aug 04, 2025 4:37 am Reply with quote
Quote:
And hey, if you can keep them from getting rabies, raccoons do domesticate fairly easily (Rascal by Sterling North, anyone?), although it's illegal in some places to keep them as pets.


As an ethologist I'm obligated to react to that: raccoons don't "domesticate easily", domestication is an extremely long process that they haven't gone through. Pet raccoons are captive raccoons and are not in any way domesticated or even tame.

They're wild animals, and as captive animals go they're particularly unpredictable. Plus, the vast majority of pet raccoons are ill cared for and obese because of poor diet. Raccoons aren't pets.
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iathor
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Joined: 11 Nov 2023
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PostPosted: Mon Aug 04, 2025 4:52 am Reply with quote
I prefer “Kimi” to “You” as his name, though neither apparently conveys the nuances of the original Japanese word well to English speakers. (Yes, I had to go research that, it’s compulsive….)

On the topic of what Fuji actually believes Kimi to be, I’ve been assuming she’s aware of his actual nature. As a writer and avid reader, I find it hard to believe she’s not aware of the folklore around tanukis, and that Kimi is clearly not the mundane species, but the supernatural version. The constantly mutating head ornament pretty much makes anything else absurd, and Fuji can clearly see it, as she comments on the two-leaf version in Ep5.

The original manga (at least the English translation) plays coy about many things going on in the series, including Fuji’s actual beliefs on his nature, but the very first chapter of the first volume does end with the text panel “I met a tanuki”. Whether that’s Fuji’s thought at the time, or something looking back from later, isn't clear. This doesn’t appear in the anime, though.

But, to me, Fuji seems to have a rather subtle sense of humor, and basically ignoring the whole issue, and sometimes apparently adding to the confusion, feels like it’s in keeping with her nature.

Overall, the manga seems to cleverly avoid revealing much about anything specific, doling out tiny scraps of info here and there, so Fuji’s ambiguity on Kimi’s nature seems a part of that, and the manga’s first chapter text block is the element that seems out of place.
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