Forum - View topicThis Week in Anime - Is After the Rain's Forbidden Romance Worth Rooting For?
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Brent Allison
 Posts: 2444 Location: Athens-Clarke County, GA, USA |
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First, thank you for actually making an effort at adult conversation with your edit. As for a young man-older woman scenario, why not? And I don't simply mean "why not" in the there's-plenty-of-room-in-the-pool-for-everyone's-story sense. I mean why not have another story that can be not only romantically compelling, but also trouble us with the dilemma of why an age gap must be infused with so much of an overt, implied, or simply assumed power differential to disturb the sensibilities of a polite "humanistic" society? How and why did persons under a certain age lose so much stature as to even make this an issue, and if they lost so much, just how "humanistic" are we to have burdened a would-be significant other with this no-win situation in the first place? So why not? As good politics, a younger male-older female story could bring this conundrum into sharper relief than its more traditional counterpart. But as I've developed a distaste for instrumentalized storytelling to serve political ends, I would want to enjoy that story because it is, in fact, a good story. And it very well could be. A shame I can't readily think of an example of it in anime, though. Perhaps I just didn't look hard enough. |
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Terrible90sDub
 Posts: 168 |
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'Tis the season for age gap anime. AFAIK*, After the Rain, Ancient Magus Bride, Ryou's Work is Never Done, Death March to the Parallel World Rhapsody, Violet Evergarden, and Card Captor Sakura (if following the original) all have an aspect of that to some degree, although some of them seem to be more fanservice than official relationships. The long forgotten but still airing Classicaloid S2 also had an awkward episode where Mozart was temporarily "engaged" to a little girl he met on the street, but it thankfully went nowhere. Killing Bites has a high school girl / college student bit going on.
After the Rain wears it more on its sleeve than most of those, and yeah I was pretty cautious going into it, but now I'm also rooting for them to improve each other's lives and then move on to better things. Akira being 17 instead of a few years older may be just to make it more scandalous, but a consequence (whether intended or unintended?) of that is that it's a rather interesting time of her of life to address how she can no longer focus on track. We've most likely all known someone in high school who had a sport as all they were focusing on, yet only a small % of people manage to make a career in professional sports outside of high school. In the US, there's even the stereotype of the older person who never got past how they helped their school win football games in high school. Due to her injury, Akira has to address a similar kind of problem earlier than most other people do, and while - for now - she seems to be replacing it with what feels like an adolescent crush (as opposed to love) I hope she ends up using this to grow and then finding her own path in life since she still has plenty of time. I also agree that the focus on her body language is really well done. At first, I was going to drop it after a few episodes, but now I'm pretty curious where exactly it will end up + Akira is a refreshing character to focus on. *And the asterisk being here as I'm not watching the majority of those, so might be slightly off due to how I'm relying on secondary information |
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kaorv
 Posts: 30 |
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I'm happy to say that I'm still watching this, and I grow more confident in its ability to portray its subject matter every episode. It is indeed very #relatable too. My favorite parts are always when we get a glimpse of Akira's more childish side. I feel like, due to not really having any friends, Akira doesn't get many opportunities to be silly or immature, which is actually very crucial because your not going to get rid of those feelings on your own, if you pretend they're not there because you think you're better than them you're causing big trouble for your adult self.
I know people are always harping on this column because it covers pointed topics, but I feel like there's a tasteless pedophile joke made every other week. I will make myself feel better by thinking of it as an arc that will one day climax with a very poorly-received pedobear joke. |
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Agent355
 Posts: 5113 Location: Crackberry in hand, thumbs at the ready... |
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I have not watched any episodes but you're describing this anime as beautiful, emotional, thought provoking and depressing. Very intriguing, and perhaps an age gap story I can get behind. I know that it is not uncommon for teens to have crushes on adults, but I am of the opinion that it's very rarely healthy for an adult to reciprocate and involve themselves in a relationship with a teenager. Most anime (and media in general) focus on the "forbidden fruit" aspect of that dynamic for drama or, worse, titillation. This show seems to be focused on the emotional aspect through a mature lens: how to help a teen through an emotional situation that can be complex confusing, exciting, and, ultimately, painful.
I would say its a maturity gap that bothers me the most in these relationships, as well as the real life knowledge that such relationships tend to be incredibly messed up. Physically, scientific and medical studies have shown that teenagers' brains are not yet fully developed. So let's take age out of it; I would be similarly uncomfortable with a romantic story set between a person with cognitive impairment and/or developmental disability and a typically functioning person who were both similarly aged adults, *if they had a gap in social or emotional maturity* (not necessarily simply intellectual ability). I have seen relationships between people of various behavioral/developmental/cognitive levels that are healthy; but when there is a big gap in social or emotional functioning between two people, regardless of age, it's hard for those two people to form an equal, healthy partnership. |
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xyz
Posts: 243 |
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I don't have the problem with the age gap nor the forbidden underage/older man issue and I'm definitely rooting for a happy ending. I like Akira's straightforward approach and Kondo's poetic and nostalgic ways of expressions.
I'm not sure why anime adult male fans would find this hard to watch when they're the ones who fantasize about young/underage female characters in anime. *cough* Anyways. |
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Aquasakura
 Posts: 700 Location: Chesterfield, Virginia, U.S.A |
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From my experience those who complain about such situations don't fantasize about adolescent females that are underage at all. However, I could be wrong and if there our people who do such things yet get upset when they see/read a story that delves into such topics then they are making themselves hypocrites. |
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Agent355
Posts: 5113 Location: Crackberry in hand, thumbs at the ready... |
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^I'd give people the benefit of the doubt. Anime is a medium, not a genre, and it includes fantasy genres with harems, monster girls & boys, lolis, shotas, 500-year-old vampire lolis & shotas, and, infamously, tentacles. What people want from their fanservice filled fantasy shows can be very different from what they want to watch in more realistic dramas that might be a little more close to home.
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Chiibi
 Posts: 4829 |
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My problem is the largeness of the gap. Almost thirty years is WAY too much. |
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zrnzle500
 Posts: 3767 |
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While I was hesitant going into it, not only for the premise but also with Wit also working on AMB at the same time, this is definitely one of the better shows of the season. I am with those hoping that it will end with them not in being in a romantic relationship though.
I think between this and AMB, Wit has really made their makeup animation not only very effective but also fit more naturally with the rest of the animation. While you can still notice it, it is never really jarring.
I'm not sure it is enough to raise questions - to say the least - like Shinkai's Garden of Words, but I agree it is a bit awkward to praise it in this regard, though I did think the one scene with Akira in the flip flops was well done. |
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insert name here
Posts: 84 |
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Can’t we all just agree that the rule is half your age plus seven?
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Aquasakura
Posts: 700 Location: Chesterfield, Virginia, U.S.A |
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Well for my case no, because it's not about age that makes a good relationship generally speaking. Instead it's all comes down to whether a couple can relate to each other, their level of maturity, having shared life goals and values and how much they want to be together. |
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Actar
 Posts: 1074 Location: Singapore |
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I'm sorry, but I never understood why the age gap thing is viewed in such a negative light, especially in the West. Or any other form of "alternative" relationship or family structure. For some reason, we really enjoy inserting ourselves into the lives of other people and dictating what they can and cannot do even though we have absolutely zero stake in their happiness or well-being.
If they're happy with each other... more power to them! If not, it's their prerogative to discover heartbreak and sadness and be better people for it. I personally find it really sad and disheartening that people automatically repudiate relationships based on the most shallow of information such as age difference without actually fully trying to understand the actual relationship. Hearing people actively wishing for such relationships to fail in order to validate and justify their worldview is truly sickening. |
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Chiibi
Posts: 4829 |
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Probably just because (in this show's case) it's very hard to think about, realistically. I'm not able to buy a teenager and a man of almost 50 having a successful romance, let alone marriage. Why? Because their mental levels, physical levels, and maturity levels are worlds apart. But from what others say, the show is well aware of that and a happy ending for the "couple" is unlikely. Pairing them on the other hand, is so far-removed from reality, I can't even. |
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Agent355
Posts: 5113 Location: Crackberry in hand, thumbs at the ready... |
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The problem is when there is a huge developmental differential in a relationship, it can be hard for the more vulnerable party, who is usually the younger, socially inexperienced, and not yet fully emotionally mature member, to realize they need to get out of the relationship and be able to do it. It is by its nature an unequal partnership. In the worst case scenario, the relationship can become abusive, and the younger party is at a major disadvantage to extricate her/him self from it. Which is why there are organizations like Unchained at Last fighting against allowing kids under 18 to get married worldwide and helping young people become independent from older, abusive partners. People aren't against teens and adults hooking up for arbitrary reasons, they're against it because it can lead to harm for the teen. |
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Actar
Posts: 1074 Location: Singapore |
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My problem with this kind of thinking is that it presumes guilty until proven innocent or leaves absolutely no room for relationships that are successful and can be successful. It homogenizes people, erases nuance and does not allow for anything that goes contrary to the narrative that people have constructed. "There is an age gap, therefore it must be abusive." "There is an age gap, therefore it is doomed to failure." Is the teen really immature and unaware of the type of position he/she is in and the steps he/she can take when things go South? Is the adult cognizant of the power difference and does he/she take active steps to minimize and mitigate it? Just like any successful relationship, it takes mutual respect and understanding of their own position relative to each another. I don't think it's right to presuppose anything until we have taken a look at the specific circumstances and individuals that are involved. Yes, there are obviously times when we must step in. But at the same time, I think it's also wise to know when we should respect the rights of others to find and determine what is happiness for themselves and not instantly persecute anything that doesn't conform with what society considers normal. |
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