Was Rain's 24-day comeback a success or a failure?

Even before he scheduled a comeback into the spotlight, Rain's comeback was highly anticipated by both his fans and critics. He was Korea's first "world" star, making a regular appearance in Hollywood and conquering the Asian pop music market. However, his military service was ridden with scandals and rumors of scandalous behaviors during active service. The public was curious as to the effect that the negative rumors may have on his career. Rain did comeback to a degree of popularity and worked hard to renew his likability as well as his popularity with both his fans and critics. His two title songs, "30 Sexy" and "La Song", did fairly well. He stayed on his toes about fan meetings and renewing his popularity with his fans. Now that his 24 days of comeback activities are officially over, it's time to take a look at the so-called "Rain Effect".

When Rain's 6th official album Rain Effect was released on January 2nd, many people expected the song to much more popular. The news of his album was a hot issue, but his album was received to a lukewarm reception. Both of his title songs stayed between the 10th and 20th spots on online charts despite not having much of a competition for the week. Strangely enough, however, he received the "top song of the week" from both Mnet's "M Countdown" and KBS' "Music Bank". The viewers suspected foul play and the two companies had to explain their voting system before the fans in an effort to appease them. Rain, being in the middle of it all, received harsh criticism as people accused him of playing the media to his favor.

One music critic commented, "In a market that is dominated by real-time top ten lists that change every hour, it was hard to see 'La Song' as a 'hit'. The fact that the music programs did not account for this is ignorant at best, suspicious at worst."

The one thing that fans did receive well was the fact that his performances were always perfect. While his song performance was missing all the familiar traits such as a powerful dance break, his ability to connect with his fans through his dance was still there and made his fans say, "Rain still has it."

His redemption came at the last moment. Following his lackluster album performance, a fan made a mash-up of "La Song" and Tae Jin Ah's "Companion" - most likely as an effort to take a jab at Rain - but that video gave Rain the idea to close his album activities by recreating that mash-up as a live performance with Tae Jin Ah, who is almost 40 years his elder. Tae Jin Ah gladly agreed, and their collaboration became an immense hit. Rain may have sacrificed the last spotlight he might receive as a singer for a very long time, but this performance gave a late boost to his tracks on online music charts with "La Song" finally taking the top spot.

"Rain Effect" was also the name of Rain's reality TV show on Mnet. It followed Rain as he made a comeback unto the K-Pop scene. This show acted as the band-aid that covered the wound between Rain and the fans/viewers who adopted negative images of Rain based on the rumors. Rain stated on his show, "The viewers have an absolute right to judge me. They are the ones who made me, Rain, and they have that right. They fed me, they gave me a job, and they gave me the happiness that I have. It's unfair for me to be hurt by them now because it shouldn't be a matter of pride for me. Their support is what I need, and the lack of it will show that I am not up to par and that I need to try harder."

The grade for Rain's comeback performances wouldn't be higher than a "B" considering everything that's happened. However, that doesn't mean that it's the final grade. It's only been a few months since his return from military service, after all. Rain is now going to look towards re-entering the Hollywood scene. He was cast for The Prince with John Cusack and Bruce Willis. Rain will play Mark, who is a brave but cold character. He also has many other scenarios that he is considering and will audition for.

According to one Hollywood insider, Rain is hot commodity. He says, "Jackie Chan or Jet Li are no longer able to appease the fans desire to see a 'kick-ass' martial arts scene or character because of their age. That's where the new guard of Asian actors, which includes Rain and Lee Byung Hun, are stepping in to fill the void. If they can continue to act and commit themselves to large-scale action scenes, there will always be a place for them in Hollywood. Rain may become the most beloved Asian actor of this generation in the line of Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan if he plays his cards right"