Anime Profile: Now and Then, Here and There

Shuzo Matsutani. Seems like your typical, optimistic male middle school student. He's a member of the kendo club, though his kendo skills leave a lot to be desired. And that's a bit of a problem, because a girl he has a crush on is more interested in the guy who wins. But what Shu lakes in talent he makes up for in determination. And that's what makes Shu different from any other kid his age... cause his determination stronger than freakin' adamantium. But lets not jump ahead, as we'll be getting to that later.

So on his way home after kendo practice, Shu decides to detour over to an old hangout that he and his friends used to play around at. Three huge smokestacks is what stands out among the area, which Shu and his friends would climb to prove how brave they were. Only Shu made it to the top every time. This time, however, he spies a blue haired girl about his age already sitting atop one of the smokestacks. Funny thing is, the ladder on that smokestack appears to be busted. So he climbs up an adjacent tower and attempts to make conversation with the extremely quiet girl, who seems only to want to sit and enjoy the beautiful sunset. At least Shu was able to coax her name, Lala Ru, out of her.

Then out of nowhere appears a bunch of piloted mech robots that seemed bound and determined to capture this sweet young girl. Lala Ru doesn't put up much resistance, but she does mouth something to Shu... just a simple, non-emotional request for help. But that's all it took to get Shu to spring into action, risking his life high atop the smokestacks to stop these people from and their mechs from abduction Lala Ru. This is really where we start to catch a glimpse of Shu's unmatched determination. Out-numbered? Doesn't matter. Out-gunned? Doesn't matter. He ever persists after the towers begin to crumble! Unfortunately, the poor lad fails, and one of the mech suits tosses Shu up into the air. The next thing you know a big energy bubble surrounds them all and poof, their gone.

Everything caught inside that energy sphere re-materializes inside a giant chamber, and I mean everything, including rubble from the collapsing towers. Without skipping a beat, Shu finds Lala Ru and takes off! The leader of the team attempting to capture Lala Ru, a woman named Abelia, orders the heavy metal doors to be shut, but Shu and Lala Ru slip though just in time, giving them even more of a head start. They don't get far, however, before they finds themselves in the middle of a drawbridge that is being raised. They are on opposite sides, so Shu reaches out, but Lala Ru won't jump. And so the young boy with a heart of gold makes the decision to leap across the ever expanding gap back to where Lala Ru is. Flying through the air, he reaches out as far as his arms will allow, yet all he is able to grab is Lala Ru's pendant before he starts plummeting to the depths below.

This scene is very reminiscent of another scene in a PlayStation 2 game called Ico. And the next scene is reminiscent of that one in Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back where Luke is falling after being beaten by Vader and ends up sliding through giant tubes which slow his decent. Somehow, in real life I just don't think it would happen like that. But this is anime, so its all good. So now Lala Ru is back in the hands of her would-be abductors, and Shu is alone, running for his life aboard what seems to be some kind of giant complex. We soon learn that the team was after not just Lala Ru, but her pendant as well. Apparently, whatever King Hamdo's plan is, both are needed to implement it.

King Hamdo is the man in charge of everything and everyone in the massive compound. Oh, and did I mention that he's completely insane? He believes that he is the one destined to "fix" the world. He feels that no man is more important than the Earth, and that there will be no Earth without him, and therefor he is more important that the Earth and everybody and everything on it. Not really the kind of person you want for your leader... yet his army is completely loyal to him, especially Abelia, his right-hand woman. She follows his every order, no matter how insane it may be. This is extremely frustrating to watch, considering how intelligent and grounded she otherwise seems. There are so many times when you just want to show "just kill him and end this madness!", but of course if she actually did that then we wouldn't have the stupendous anime series to watch.

This is by far one of the absolute best anime series I've ever seen... ever. I blasted through all 13 episodes in one sitting, 'cause I just had to see what happened next. And what's great is that each episode had meaning behind it; there were no throw away episodes. The art style, although nothing ground breaking, was still quite good and definitely powerful enough to allow the dredging up of emotions throughout the grim tale. Of course, the voice actors help with that as well, especially the voice for King Hamdo. Both the Japanese and English voice actors were able to stunningly capture this madman. I should definitely mention here that this anime is definitely not for children, as there is a lot of violence and deals with several really tough subjects. I don't think it's rated by the MPAA, but if it was I'm sure it would have gotten an R rating.

The portion of the saga that I described above takes place in the first couple of episodes, and there is really a lot more here than just the standard boy-with-girl-and-her-pendant story. There is a lot of emotion is this series, due in part to some of the hard issues explored within, such as slavery, rape, and child abuse. Yet all of this seems to flow naturally from this world we become a part of, and never feels like it was inserted just to be preachy. Of course, there are a lot of positive moments too, which I wouldn't want to overlook. Only someone with a heart of stone could sit through this and not feel anything. If you love anime, and are over 17 years old, then you should absolutely get this anime saga, Now and Then, Here and There.