AME NOCHI HARE

DESCRIPTION

CAST

CHAPTERS

REVIEWS

• 

  nephilimk

  70/100
  Great character growth and dynamics in a harem

  One does not often associate mature character dramas with Gender Bender series. Often known for their fanservice or comedy, well written characters are the last thing one would expect from this genre. Clear up after rain or Ame nochi hare is such a series.

  Clear up after rain is a story set in high school about a group of boys who turn into girls due to unexplained reasons. Shocked at this predicament, the boys must learn to deal with accepting the fact that they have transformed and carry on with their day to day lives, without arousing suspicion from their peers and teachers. From the get go, I had a feeling that the story would be very character interaction heavy and I was glad to find it to be the case.

  The characters being teenagers, come with their own baggage, as often is the case with that age group. They are here to live their perfect high school lives, only to be thrown into this unexplained situation. The characters are fleshed out well enough to prove believable and is all the more impressive, given the short length of the manga. The highlight of the series though, is the web of interactions, which is at the same time layered and yet straightforward, showcasing the different dimensions of personalities in these interactions. Hazuki is at the centre of this web, in both forms and is a fun protagonist to follow. Kudos to the mangaka handling the dynamics with aplomb.

  The art is great, with both the male and female characters looking great. The backgrounds, considering the seasons over which this series takes places is a pleasant on the eyes and is great to watch. Also, both genders are given their time to shine and are treated with dignity. As mentioned before, this isn’t your usual gender bender series with the usual fanservice tropes, only serving to highlight the strength of the series. It was also a good thing that the series did not opt for solving the reason behind why they transformed in the first place. Doing so would have introduced an unnecessary element into the story, taking away from the character dynamics, the series strongest point.

  With all these positives, we do need to look at potential weaknesses of the series. Given the short duration, some of the character resolutions feel a bit rushed or written to finish the series (Touma's arc kind of gave that vibes to me). And while this doesn’t take away from the work, it might disappoint the reader, given the sense of attachment they might have developed with the characters, over the course of the series. Furthermore, the fact that the series is set is in a high school environment, most of the plot events are readily available to further the story. That being said, the series does a great job in using aforementioned events to add a new dimension to the relationship, introducing depth to the series, which one might not expect.

  To sum up, I was really glad to be recommended this series by my friend and recommend it to anyone who wishes to enjoy a good character drama in a genre not known for that. Enjoyment: 9 and Final Score: 7

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• 

  prichan

  70/100
  Thoroughly enjoyable reading despite its lackluster ending.

  Relevant characters:

  • Hazuki Yamanoi (the most important main character, has a twin)
  • Yuusuke Maki (The glasses guy with long hair)
  • Junta Goroumaru (Karate guy)
  • Madoka Sakonji (Calligraphy guy)
  • Touma Kisaragi (Half guy)
  • Sakurako Mutsu (The girl with black hair that appears to be serious)
  • Takuma Houjou (The Piano guy)
  • Asumi Houjou (Blonde girl and extremely adorable)

  I will start by addressing why I didn't give this manga a 8/10 despite it being good.

  1. The start was rough. It was difficult to distinguish between all of the 5 main characters. It was until halfway through the story that all of the characters background were uncovered, because of that the first half felt like most of the characters were mere decorations with no real purpose. Of course, this was greatly fixed later on.

  2. Ending with no emotional impact, failing to deliver. I am pretty sure the mangaka is fully capable of conveying impactful scenes. Almost all of the characters got beautiful resolutions to their stories but the way the main conflict of Hazuki was resolved was lackluster to say the least, I was so hyped and expected something big but the last pages had paneling below average compared to some memorable moments of the story.

  3. No implementation of gender bending to the drama. What I mean by that is that in many instances characters started to notice little details about the MCs suggesting that in the future their identities would be uncovered but none of this happened which made me question what was the point of throwing all of those hints.

  The translation wasn't helpful either, I know people translated this for free but still I was bothered by how much unnecessary text the bubbles had, this stopped being a problem 5 chapters before the story ended.

  

  Now on to the positives and will talk individually about certain characters, starting with the characters and outcomes I liked the most first.

  1. Madoka Sakonji. This one was a little unexpected because for many chapters Madoka was the most bland character of all, there was nothing interesting about him and for the whole run of the manga her female version didn't have any relevance to the story. Despite that, near the end his male part made me feel something to be proud of. This occurred during the School Festival, his manly stance while writing the School Festival slogan made me kind of admire him.

  2. Yuusuke Maki. I fell in love with his female version, she was so pretty and delicate, loved seeing all of her panels. I wasn't into his relationship with his brother's fiance because at first his brother seemed like a very naive person, somebody people could take advantage of very easily, but when both of the brothers snapped and started to argue in public I liked them both more. His brother was fully aware of Yuusuke's feelings and he was also fed up with his bullshit, so that made me respect them. And what chad move Yuusuke did near the end, declaring his love for his girlfriend in front of their parents is something worth of respect.

  3. Junta Goroumaru. My first impression of Goro-chan was that of a delicate and childish person. I was of course wrong and he turned out to be the strongest character with the most down to earth mentality. I like how blunt he his, so straightforward and always saying what he feels in the moment. He had the courage to declare his feelings to Sakurako and while I would have preferred that they became a couple, Sakurako was still madly in love with her best friend, so it is something I could sympathize with. In my head cannon Sakurako and Goro-chan became closer and spend a lot of time together, they really do make a great couple.

  4. Hazuki Yamanoi. This character was an utter mess of emotions (for better and worse). He is so indecisive but at the same time I can't blame him, he is going through so many things at the same time, his relationship with his twin, his crush on Asumi, the admiration he feels towards the Takuma-senpai and the feelings of Touma. I loved almost everything about his character and his crush on Asumi was well done, they had such an enjoyable and realistic character dynamic. Goddammit Asumi was so cute, she is so adorable to look at but it doesn't reach the point in which the character becomes totally fictional so we can see her faults or misconceptions about certain issues.

  5. Touma Kisaragi. In the end this character was the least interesting one, because outside of his crush towards Hazuki there is nothing else going on with him. 3 chapters before the story ends his drama with his father is introduced and I'm not saying it is bad per se but it came really late into the story, when almost all of the conflicts were resolved and it felt like this was needed for Touma to move past his unrequited love.

  

  As you can see, I have more positives to say about this manga than negatives, sadly those negatives hinder my overall thoughts on the manga, thankfully it didn't annoy me while reading it. If I had to say what was the major problem for this manga is the size of the cast, the author managed to give a satisfying ending to most of the characters but when it came to closing the manga they ran out of steam a little bit to early.

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