Ame Nochi Hare
It was the first day of school in the prestigious all-boys' Amagai Academy, and five first-year students — Hazuki Yamanoi, Touma Kisaragi, Madoka Sakonji, Junta Goromaru, and Yuusuke Maki — were all individually caught by a violent thunderstorm after school and decided to head up to the deserted top level of their school building for various reasons. As they converged in the top level, lightning struck the building and they suddenly found themselves transformed into girls! Shocked by the ordeal, they fled from the building and into the thickly wooded school grounds where they accidentally stumbled upon Haruto, the enigmatic dormitory supervisor, who decided to help them when he heard about their plight. But how should he help them? Will they ever change back to normal? What will happen to their school life?
Also titled Clear Up After Rain, this ongoing Gender Bender manga by Bikke is unusual in its premise by having five protagonists, each with varying personalities. This however does not stop them from being well-developed characters and all of them contribute toward a plot that interweaves comedy with issues on gender, friendships and relationships in general.
Not related to Jungle wa Itsumo Hale Nochi Guu.
- Ambiguously Gay: Touma
- Applied Phlebotinum: The five will transform into girls within an hour of rainfall and will transform back after the rains has stopped for 12 hours. The exact cause of this phenomenon has yet to be explained, though.
- Arranged Marriage: Madoka to Azusa, a 12-year old primary school student. He insists that he views her like a sister only, though.
- Attractive Bent Gender
- Bifauxnen: Even as girls, the five hardly look any less masculine than they do as boys.
- Big Brother Instinct: Takuma, the dorm head, to his sister Asumi.
- Big Eater: Junta
- Bishonen: Lampshaded by Haruto when he finally saw the five in their original forms.
- But Not Too Foreign: Touma, who is half-Japanese, can speak perfect Japanese and even claims that his proficiency in English is barely passable. It was revealed later that the other half of his ancestry is French and that French is his mother tongue.
- Different for Girls
- Five-Man Band
- The Hero: Hazuki (nominally)
- The Lancer: Touma (to Hazuki)
- The Big Guy: Madoka looks like one physically, but often acts as the Team Mom for his friends.
- The Smart Guy: Yuusuke
- The Chick: Junta acts and looks like one, but is actually the strongest among the five.
- Flower Motifs: Lampshaded by Sakurako when she first met Asumi along a path of blooming cherry trees. There is also one scene when she brought a bouquet of lilies to school.
- Gender Bender
- Hidden Depths: Who exactly is Haruto? Why does he have a house all by himself in the middle of the school grounds even if he is the dormitory supervisor? And how does he know so much about the girls' academy?
- Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: Each chapter is numbered with the suffix hPa, which stands for hectopascal and is used by meteorologists as a unit of measurement for air pressure.
- Involuntary Shapeshifting: The five cannot control their transformation, which is weather-dependent.
- Joshikousei: Asumi and Sakurako, by default; the five whenever they are transformed.
- Living a Double Life: All five of the main characters, as they will involuntarily transform after a rainfall, with Hazuki as "Tsukiko", Touma as "Mako", Madoka as "Madoka", Junta as "Junko" and Yuusuke as "Yuuko".
- Meaningful Name: Amagai literally means "rain valley".
- Meganekko: Yuusuke in his female form.
- New Transfer Student: The excuse provided by the principal of the Amagai Girls' Academy for the five to study there when they are transformed.
- Not What It Looks Like: Occurred in one chapter when Haruto tripped and fell over towards a transformed Hazuki while he was teaching Hazuki how to wear the female school uniform, and the compromising position is accidentally caught by his friend Jouji. Cue the vehement denial from Haruto.
- Pint-Sized Powerhouse: Junta is proficient in karate.
- Schoolgirl Lesbians: Sakurako is implied to be one.
- Serious Business: "This is the first time in my life that I've been so worked up about the weather forecast before."
- Sibling Yin-Yang: Hazuki and his brother Natsuki. It is even lampshaded by Touma.
- Slice of Life: And what a life this is!
- Supreme Chef: Hazuki
- Sweet Tooth: Yuusuke
- Tall, Dark and Bishoujo: Sakurako
- Tempting Fate: How Hazuki got stranded in his school building because of rain.
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Hazuki's mother: It looks like it's going to rain around noon, so take this umbrella along. |
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- Trademark Favourite Food: Hazuki loves chocolate and will always keep a stock of chocolate with him.
- Translation Convention: The first conversation between Sakurako and Touma (as "Mako") is supposedly in English, but is rendered as Japanese.
- True Companions: The five protagonists, united by their bizarre affliction.
- Weather Report Narration: The series starts off with a narration on spring rains, with even a mention on how unusual it is to have bad weather on the day of the entrance ceremony itself. Guess what happens next....
- When It Rains, It Pours: Averted. The rains in this series do start from a light rainfall before progressing into storms. Light rains and drizzles also occur, and the latter is noted for not triggering the transformation.