Sara Talks Anime

After having watched episodes of other things that I don’t do writeups for left me feeling…a variety of emotions, to not go into details, I would’ve been chill with basically anything for With You and the Rain. Worst case scenario, it’d be a bad episode that I’d let my anger about it out in this post, and then forget about it the next day. Best case scenario, it mixes everything together so well, I feel like the episode is perfection for this series, and give it my praises.

Bad news: it’s not best case scenario.

Good news: it’s not worst case scenario.

…at the very least, this would be considered news here: I felt like this episode WAS going to be perfect, but then the post-credits scene for this episode came up, and then it went from perfect to just great. Like…I don’t know if it was just me, but that post-credits scene came so out of left field, it made me question what importance this post credits scene could possibly have to the overall development of characters in this series.

Like…this felt like a bonus yonkoma (or as it’s likely better known as, 4-koma) at the end of a volume of manga than something that could give actual insight and/or development to the characters in the series.

…okay Sara, you can’t dwell on the negative for too long. Think of something positive to point out…oh!

I loved how natural it felt like this episode was progressing events, and I love the new characters introduced in this episode, as well! Also, there were more characters in this episode that seemed like they could see straight through the little fella that’s canonically known as You and see that it’s not a dog!

I love seeing characters in this series that don’t automatically think that the critter is a dog. They’re just like me, for real. Can we have more characters like that, please? I’d love to have more characters who see the critter and think “oh, a raccoon!” or “oh, a tanuki!” rather than hear Fuji say “oh, it’s a dog” and then having people be “okay!”…like, I know the critter pretending to be a dog is the big joke of the series (though it has enough moments that I found funny to ensure it’s not the only joke), but it’s always nice to see people in this series questioning how a dog can do some of the things that this critter does in the series.

All the elements ended up coming together so nicely in the end of this episode, that the post credits scene feels so out of place, like I pointed out earlier. Literally, if it weren’t for that, I’d be proclaiming that this series deserves anime of the year, but because of that one post-credits scene, it’s just…why. That’s it. Just why.

The series overall is still great, don’t get me wrong. But, as of right now, it feels like this episode is one that has just one small thing that ultimately ruins it for me. It’s not an end-all be all, but it’s still kind of disheartening to see this in a show I had such high hopes in. But, I’m gonna keep watching, as they haven’t tried sneaking in anything that I don’t feel comfortable watching in a show like this yet.

ADDITIONAL POSTS ABOUT WITH YOU AND THE RAIN:

• With You and the Rain Episode 4 – “Summer Festival”
• With You and the Rain Episode 6 – “The Cat and Pumpkins”