Now and There, Here and There

"Because ten billion year's time is so fragile, so ephemerial...it arouses such a bitter sweet, almost heartbreaking fondness."

Now and Then, Here and There (Ima, Sokoni Iru Boku) is a anime series that was broadcast on Japanese TV from October 1999 to January 2000.

The plot centers around a young boy named Shuzo "Shu" Matsutani who meets a girl named Lala Ru. Though it starts off relatively lighthearted and carefree, it quickly becomes rather deep, giving insight into how war affects different people.

Even though the main characters are mostly all children, there is a fair amount of violence in this anime. This is not due to any overly explicit scenes, but rather to the fact that most acts of violence are committed amongst children, although some of the more disturbing scenes of violence and abuse toward the children are indeed committed by the adults. It is mostly non-comical; each episode has a very dark ambience, and the whole series portrays various acts of torture, brutal beatings, child rape, and murder. It is directed by Akitaro Daichi, who took a serious break from his otherwise happy shows.

Now and Then, Here and There has been released in the U.S. by U.S. Manga Corps as three region 1 DVD, containing all the episodes with Japanese and English audio tracks, subtitles and extras such as storyboard clips. The box set contains an additional fourth DVD with a mini-documentary on the dubbing process. The DVD is suggested for years 16 and up.

The story

The story begins with Shuzo "Shu" Matsutani coming home from kendo practice, whereupon he sees a girl sitting atop of some unused factory smokestacks. He climbs up another smokestack close by, to try to talk to her - she is watching the sun set. Time seems to stop everywhere outside of the immediate area around the smokestacks, and giants snake robots appear to try to capture this girl, Lala Ru. They have come from 10 billion years from the future and Shu manages to get taken back with them to their time.

In this world, it seems that they have been fighting so long that the army Shu lands in the midst of has begun conscripting children into their armies, so they may indoctrinate them from a young age. The children are taken from their villages, and it has been said they can return once all the enemies have been defeated, after which they won't need to fight any more. They try to conscript Shu as well, but they underestimate his resolve - he wants to do what he believes is right, and not to be bowed into actions he thinks immoral. Also, in the future the Sun has grown into a red giant, so big that its close proximity to Earth has caused most of the water to have evaporated. It is now mostly a desert planet, and water is a rare commodity and highly sought after.

reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Now_and_then_here_and_there

Personal Notes:

• an instant classic, one of the few animes that actually made me cry