(L) Now and Then, Here and There... (Ima, Soko ni Iru Boku)

[hirahira]

I just started watching this anime again. Is it any good?

[FatPianoBoy]

If you like your anime cerebral, moving and depressing, you can't go wrong with this one.

[Lockgar]

I recently saw the anime Now and Then, Here and There. "Did the guy that made Hale Nochi Guu really make this? Seriously? This is the complete 180 of what he does! Unless if you read between the line and realize there was subtext about statutory rape, but that's beside the point." Thought this was a good place as any to ask this question, even though I found this forum site to be a bit off, with the racist-rants and promotion for sleeping with blood relatives, from a totally none related topic....

So is this site like 4chan?

Anyway, somehow I was reminded of the ending,

Spoiler for Now and Then, Here and There:

Why did Lala Ru disappear at the end? They really made no mention that she would, so it seemed kind of a random last second idea. As, for example, they said, O crap, we need to tie up this loose end. Personally, I thought her disappearing was for the better, since things would probably get worse if she stayed, but that didn't make it seem less random.

[GreatTeacherKen]

haha this site isn't anything on the level of 4chan, so don't worry about that too much.

Spoiler for Now and then, Here and there ending:

It's been a while since I watched it, but Lala-Ru disappeared because she more or less used up her power. Not to mention, it's fitting for her character development from someone who resented humanity using her to sacrificing herself for humanity.

[Lockgar]

Originally Posted by GreatTeacherKen

haha this site isn't anything on the level of 4chan, so don't worry about that too much.

Spoiler for Now and then, Here and there ending:

It's been a while since I watched it, but Lala-Ru disappeared because she more or less used up her power. Not to mention, it's fitting for her character development from someone who resented humanity using her to sacrificing herself for humanity.

Heh, ok, must have been bad luck then, I click on topic and all of a sudden, people are talking about sleeping with their sisters and how much they hate all people from *blanks*. Moving on!

Spoiler for Now and then, Here and there:

It was indeed very fitting, I also think more so, because, how the show seemed to imply, it was her fault the planet was in that state. Whether it was because she help the king's rise to power, or if she actually caused the entire planet to be a desert, I don't know. As well what you said.

They seemed to hint out that she would get really tried or really weak after using her powers, but being tried, and disappearing are two different things. The show was only 13 episodes long, so they most likely had that planned from the start, but it just seemed spontaneous.

[Kirarakim]

About La La Ru

Spoiler:

La La Ru disappeared because she sacrificed herself to give water back to the planet.

[Dam Dog]

The first part of this post is my mini-review, free of major spoilers. The second half may contain some spoilers, as it deals with discussion of the show.


Lala-Ru and Shu. I'll leave it to you to guess which is which.

Part the First: The Review
Thar be no spoilers here, cap'n

Now here's a goody.

I can't recommend it for everybody, of course. Now and Then, Here and There easily ranks among the saddest animes I have ever seen, as well as one of the most disturbing. It is, however, an EXCELLENT show.

The story was apparently written after the director read about the situation in Africa, specifically Rwanda and the use of child soldiers. That is, essentially, what Now and Then, Here and There is about, along with a number of other heavy themes, including some oldies such as environmentalism and a dose of 'hope conquers all'.

The story follows Shu, an early-teen-something (call it 12-15, he has no official age that I know of, but he seems to be either an elementary or middle schooler) who seems to live a more or less everyday life. The first episode, indeed, seems to hint that the show will be some sort of silly shounen thing.

First-Episode spoilers ahoy! (not that anybody cares about those)

Shu decides that he's going to take a detour one day, and spots a girl sitting on top of a smokestack. He decides that this warrants investigation and climbs up the smokestack of an abandoned factory scheduled for demolition (which kind of gives you a hint as to his personality). His attempts to talk with the girl are met with silence, despite throwing things at her and yelling until he gets her attention. She simply points at the sunset, getting the message across that she's not interested in conversation, at which point Shu starts a monologue. Eventually Shu gets her name, Lala-Ru.

Eventually a portal opens in mid air and the two find themselves being attacked by some rather interesting robots as well as one Abelia. Lala-Ru gets grabbed, but manages to mouth 'save me' to Shu.

Shu, being the prepubescent badass he is, grabs a handy weapon (a stick) and proceeds to take on the robots, demolishing a chunk of the factory in the process.

However, the robots and Abelia manage to reactivate the portal and everybody vanishes in a flash of light, along with the remaining smokestacks.

The series hints that the action of the 'then and there' portion takes place some ten BILLION years in the future, possibly on Earth, as indicated by the massive size and red coloration of the sun. This, of course, leads to some questions about why humans haven't evolved at all and such, but that doesn't matter. I'm willing to suspend some disbelief.

Despite all the sadness and disturbingness, Now and Then, Here and There has a quite satisfying ending. A very sad, but excellent conclusion to a very sad, but excellent, show. You will cry. Trust me on that.

My honest and solid recommendation is that anybody with the stomach for it obtain this anime. There's a dub version, but it's fairly heavily cut, although it allows you to pick up some more of the nuances of the main badguy's speech much more easily than those who might have some grasp of Japanese.

BE WARNED: Although not exactly violent (I recall that there was only one scene with lots of blood in it), this show contains scenes of murder, kidnapping, slavery, implied rape, the consequences of said rape, and one dead cat.
Like all the best horror, they let your brain do the work. This show is definitely full of 'holy shit' moments.



Part the Second: Discussion
Warning, spoilers ho!

Possibly the most disturbing thing about this show, besides the murder and rape and such, is the way the children are bent to Hamdo's will. This is frequently mentioned, but I feel it's worth discussing.

Hamdo is obviously totally bonkers. Not only are there bats in his belfry, he's got them in his nave, font, quire and sanctuary. He's pretty much a cathedral run by bats. But he's not stupid, as far as his crippling paranoia and madness allow him to be.

His 'recruitment program' involves sending lots of soldiers out to nearby villages, kidnapping everybody fit to work, and then demolishing the villages as they leave. The men and boys become soldiers, and the children are fanatically loyal, although not in the normal way. Take, for instance, Shu's squad leader. He's convinced himself that he'll get to go home once Hamdo rules the world, even if he really knows, deep down, that there's no home left. Another boy in Shu's squad is in it for power, and has plans to replace Hamdo some day.

The girls are all kept as well. They get handed out to good soldiers. I'm sure I don't need to go into details. Hamdo uses this to keep his soldiers happy and maintain a fresh supply of slaves.

While I felt, early on, a tiny pang of sympathy for Hamdo because of how utterly crazy he was, he rapidly worked his way to the top of my 'most hated' list, when I realized that while Abelia is certainly a bitch, she at least isn't a COMPLETE monster.
[spoilers]She's even redeemed at the end of the show. The only bad guy that survives, as I recall.[/spoiler]
Still, Shu smashing that stick to bits over Hamdo's back was a great scene. I loved it. It gave some satisfaction after all the terrible things Hamdo's done, to see somebody finally give him a good beating.


Lala-Ru herself is one of the most pitiable and sad characters I have ever personally encountered. While it's never explained exactly what she is, it is apparent that it's not human. She claims, at one point, to be 'tens of thousands of years old', and that's just what she remembers. I have seen discussions which indicate she may well be the very personification of the near-dead planet itself.
So, for those tens of thousands of years, she's wandered, alone, without friends, being treated as an object or a resource, fought over, killed for, and possibly even raped, at least at the hands of Hamdo.
Shu may well be the only person to have treated her as a friend, or even something other than an object, in THOUSANDS of years.
The fact that she was willing to sacrifice herself for his sake, and for the sake of all the people Shu wished to save makes the ending of Now and Then, Here and There one of the most beautiful I have ever witnessed.

Ah, my eyes are watering even now. I need to go blow my nose.

Anyway, while I'm doing that, discussion is welcome. If you happen to agree or disagree, or wish to bring up some other subject, do so, by all means.

[Guardian Enzo]

Thinking about this series, I'm reminded of the sign John Laroquette had on the wall of his office on his sitcom - "This is a dark ride".

[FireChick]

Edit: all deleted due to my senseless retardation.

[Veritas]

Saw it several years ago, and it's very heavy as you say. However, as time went on it just annoyed me for reasons I can't remember all that clearly anymore. The primary one was how lame and senseless a villian Hamdo was, and then the treatment of Nabuca and Sara. It's not a very well-crafted story.

[Forbin]

Correction

I didn't lke this at all because of the unkillable hero.

[drobertbaker]

Yeah, Now and Then, Here and There is right up there on the brutality scale. My favorite recollection is how the guy remains optimistic and good hearted through everything. Like when he's being tortured, he says "Hey, c'mon now, what'd you do that for!"

For REAL brutality and child abuse, you have to jump up to the works of Mohiro Kitoh - Narutaru (Shadow Star here) and Bokura no, especially the manga. It still makes me want to throw up when I think of what that gangster "Piggy" did to that one kid.

Elfen Lied will tear your heart out too.

[Statonxyb]

It's a great series but can be difficult to watch for some, due to the themes. However, it did a good job at showing us how painful and hard it is for those who go through such abuse. I also agree it lost its luster in the end, but I felt the ending was a nice little wrap up.

[Zwei]

I added this to my watch list today, thinking it was just your regular shounen anime series. I guess you really can't judge a book by it's cover. Now that I'm reading the comments, it definitely did jump out some ranks on what to watch next so I might give it a go soon.

[Aquifina]

I saw most of this show as a dub on SyFy (as a dub, it's actually above average, I think), which just finished airing, and am happy I missed some of the eps in the middle that probably would have upset me the most.

In terms of narrative logic, the show really doesn't work, but it's definitely powerful in terms of its emotional register (I think this is true of much anime, although this takes that trait to something of an extreme).

Spoiler for Spoilers for Ending:

I for one was rather stunned when LaLaRu just disappeared, although in retrospect I shouldn't have been surprised. The ending "fit"--it was a proper close to the story. And as sad as her departure was, Shu gave her a measure of real happiness, shortly before she left. Indeed, Shu seemed so terribly alone at the end, which seemed unjust, since he was the one who saved the alternate world through sheer force of will, but as melancholic as it seemed for him to go back alone, I also think he'll be fine.

[Master_Yoma]

I do not like this anime the main character is annoying as hell and the villain is just so pathetic