Now and Then, Here and There is a… dark fairy tale-like show about the violent nature of humanity. Set in post-apocalyptic future it is centered on a present day boy named Shu who due to an unfortunate incident ends up in that hellhole few survivors still call earth. The show concentrates on atmospheric storytelling rather than action or adventures and is very strong on themes which touch survival instincts of humans. It’s not a show you have fun with, it’s a show you watch, think and then realize it is the fun. Recommended for anyone who has enough brains to contemplate about serious matters.

Soldiers and cats are alike. Good cats catch a lot of mice. Good soldiers kill a lot of enemies. But cats are greedy. They catch mice only for themselves. How fortunate you are… my soldiers, to be able to kill for my sake.

Composed by Kurata Hideyuki (R.O.D, Kannagi) and directed by Daichi Akitarou (Kodocha, Fruits Basket) Now and Then, Here and There is a… dark fairy tale-like show about the violent nature of humanity. Set in post-apocalyptic future it is centered on a present day boy named Shu who due to an unfortunate incident ends up in that hellhole few survivors still call earth. Unlike the usual epic adventure many who are familiar with ‘woops I fell into a parallel world’ theme would come to expect, NTHT rather concentrates on offering as much shocking violence and sinister atmosphere as possible throwing its lead into torture chambers before he could even say huh?. This show actually comes off more like an anti-epic (if such thing even exists) showing supposedly grand scale wars and victories so empty and pointless that shooting yourself in the head is about the only logical course of action you get left with. Nonetheless, the very well conveyed thought-provoking atmosphere, perfectly timed pace of the plot and the overall freshness this show is completely soaked in make it as compelling to watch as any other great work in anime realm.

Now and Then, Here and There is a show I will likely never forget. Not because of a relatively entertaining cast of characters or even the great well-planned out plot, but simply because it offers a setting which is so far the most sinister I have ever seen. To tell the truth, it’s not as much I enjoyed this show as I was fascinated by it. While I found the protagonist very far from my tastes, didn’t really notice any memorable persona from the cast of characters which are still relatively sane (King Hamdo is, of course, as memorable as a childhood’s trauma) and never particularly cared about what will happen to Lala Ru, I was still completely sucked in this show from the beginning to an end. Probably mostly creditable to the sheer originality and the obvious existence of the soul in the work; of course I might have been foremost fascinated by the unprecedented violence which mutually touches both physical and mental areas. Either way, I have to thank Now and Then, Here and There for giving me some fresh fuel to contemplate about how warped can humans become. It might not strike as hard as Neon Genesis Evangelion or Yoshitoshi Abe’s works, but this show is certainly a thinker’s anime and a good one at that.

Animation: 3

The best part of Now and Then, Here and There’s animation by AIC is its picturesque backgrounds critical for conveying the beautifully sick atmosphere of it. You will find many nice sights to behold, be it a village in the mountains or an outtake of the sickening mushroom-like form of Hellywood itself in the middle of the deserts. Detail might not be particularly impressive nowadays and color palette is realistically bland, but when it comes to atmosphere Now and Then, Here and There delivers with a bang. You wont even notice how fast you’ll be sucked in. It’s really nice to see someone who knows how to direct doing the “camera” work in anime for a change. Individually taken angles make the show feel very alive and in some cases camera work is enough to make a point in the story, credit the setting or even flesh out a trait of a character. Direction is not particularly artsy (though you can notice a few cases of surreal coloring and some nice shots at sunsets or deserts), but it’s obvious it was done by an experienced person; and is also very creditable for the Now and Then, Here and There’s awesomely crafted atmosphere.

The only glaring downside of animation is the generic character designs. Doubtless you wont remember anyone’s figure, save maybe for Lala Ru, few weeks after watching the show. Main cast is so generic you’ll have trouble telling important and one-stand characters apart. They also blend with the backgrounds very well, so well you’ll find them hard to notice in some scenes. At the same time, however, these designs give the show ‘realistic’ atmosphere; which in one sense helps to keep it serious, and in other makes imagery much less memorable than I would have liked. Now and Then, Here and There is not a new show and it’s evident from its relatively low frame rate. Nonetheless, it never cuts corners with stale images and always delivers when in action scenes. You might not be particularly impressed having watched stuff produced nowadays, but those moving objects did look quite well in the age this show has seen the light. Well, either way, while fluidity wont impress you, it will unlikely retract you from enjoying this show to the fullest.

Sound: 3

It takes to notice the great instrumental OP free of any flashy animations to realize the show is not your generic anime. ED imagery too, rather than the usual “fireworks” offers many relaxing outtakes on cityscapes … which feel miserably far away from the world the show takes place in. So far away to inspire melancholy with its sad, slow and relaxing song. Soft symphonic pieces composed for BGM by Iwasaki Taku (Tengen Toppa) do wonders at conveying the melancholic atmosphere of Now and Then, Here and There. Though his compositions in this show aren’t as varied as in, let’s say Rurouni Kenshin OVAs, they are just as good and emotionally engrossing. Oh yeah, and don’t skip on ‘next episode previews’, they are filled with some spectacular insanity straight from King Hamdo.

Like character designs, voice-work in this show is as bland as it gets. There are exceptions, for example, Ishii Kouji who has voiced King Hamdo pulled out some awesome schizophrenic tone changes. And that disgusting laughter certainly doesn’t come out without sufficient training. Apart from him, however, I doubt you’ll find anyone else’s performance spectacular. Mostly due to the fact that this show hired amateurs (some of who actually became big later). Also it’s likely you will find some performances annoying. For example all boys are voiced by women who sound like, well, women, (particularly Imai Yuka whose performance of Crest’s Jinto I hold as the best female-to-male ever doesn’t fit a stuck-up character like Nabuca), also Abelia’s timbre is prone to dissipate in the background more than you would like. Shu’s voice done by Ookamura Akemi is plausible (he sounds as bratty as he should), but he still doesn’t stand out much. Oh yeah, I also found Lala Ru’s voiceactress Nazuka Kaori (14 years old at the time) somewhat tempting in her performance, too bad she almost never speaks (though it makes her voice all the more tempting). No wonder she managed to net herself a significant amount of awesome roles later being this good for her debut.

Story: 4

From the first sight Now and Then, Here and There seems to be set in a modern day Japan centered on some laid back kid practicing kendo, having crushes on girls, acting like idiot; you know the drill. Then bam a lot of weird things suddenly happen and the guy finds himself into another planet, dimension, future or whatever you want to call it; either way, in a confusing and sinister place. Well, it still sounds like nothing new, now you just wait for him to meet some elves or other native critters and save the day in an epic adventure, right? Wrong. The guy finds himself captured and gets various torture techniques used on himself before he could even say huh?. The setting, for some reason, gives off a similar post apocalyptic fairy tale feeling Ghibli movies do, except in here bad things happen in the manner you wouldn’t want to show your kids. And if little kids forced to kill each other, underage girls getting raped is not enough for you, we also have a spectacularly insane omnipotent king who is prone to rip heads off the cats to make his point. Yes, a pleasant fairy tale indeed.

The plot itself follows Shu’s attempts to, well, survive in the world he has fallen into, concentrating more on atmospheric story-telling than actual adventures. You can notice some vicious critters pleading to be hunted and there are some war scenes in the show, nonetheless, all these work as a foreshadow, at best, for showing how people cope with insane orders from Hamdo or with results his thoughtless actions bring about. Pace never lets up for the whole thirteen episodes and, while not particularly fast, shows a lot of stuff through that time. All episodes are important and fully entertaining. The show might lack epic twists, but the overall shocking value is strong enough to shock you… even if you predict the upcoming horror. You could, of course, bitch about how the protagonist survives many of his trials through nothing but deus ex machina (certainly hard to explain how can you fall from twenty meters height and get up with nothing but bruises), but it’s not like the action of surviving is particularly important in this show, torment of living, however, is. Finally all of it is rolled up in a complete and deep ending which shows no signs of “happily ever after” and is strong enough to easily turn you teary eyed. Life… is beautiful, after all.

Characters: 3

The protagonist of the show, Shu, is the type of guy who’d dive down a fifty meters tall tower for a girl he has met for the first time (and didn’t even speak with). In other words, he is a genuine idiot. And while I was fast to write his name down to my hate list, I soon realized I’m actually liking him in the following episodes. True, his annoying idiocy is not something I appreciate, but his ability to remain strong and stubborn even in the shittiest of worst situations kind of made me go lenient on him. It’s also true that his idiocy is what moves the show forward very well, as any smarter protagonist would go insane if he had the brains to worry about what will become of him in the future. His idiocy is also outweighed by the other cast, who either are insane or have a refreshing common sense. Nonetheless, though Shu will never make to my cool characters list, I can’t say I actually hated him and I must confess, in the end, I was happy he was picked up to lead this show. His slight development is very well carried out and he has this individuality aura around himself, certainly not a character type ripped from some generic show.

It takes half of the show for Lala Ru to finally open her mouth, even more to show some emotion. Nonetheless, her alien outward appearance and peculiar, hardly human behaviour makes her into an interesting character. Her attitude might be weak in the sense of emotional impact, but mysterious charisma, originality and character depth (which is not obvious from the first sight) all make her into a relatively exciting heroine, very well paired with the hyperactive Shu. You might find her to your liking if you have it for characters like Ayanami Rei.

King Hamdo takes the seat of a villain in this show and offers some delicious insanity for evilness lovers. When I say insanity, by the way, I don’t mean he is a reckless badass or that he has hardly comprehensible motivation. I mean that the guy has some serious trouble controlling his mood, laughing happily at one moment and then stabbing someone with an anger-filled expression in the next. He also seems to be quite a megalomaniac, being quite uncooperative into considering an idea that not everyone in the world lives just so they could sacrifice themselves for him. Being completely out of touch with reality and demonstrating some fresh acts of gruesome insanity, Hamdo is not only an original and extremely hate-able villain, he is also my favourite character in the show. It’s not like he exhibits lots of hidden depth or offers much emotional impact, but he is, simply, very fun to observe. Also, one has to wonder, what kind of person has he been at the time he legally became the commander of Hellywood; a back-story would have been delicious, even if impairing the now elegant pace of the plot.

Side cast is surprisingly small. There is the stuck-up model soldier Nabuca (whose sense of duty is about the last thing keeping his sanity with him), snake-tongued violent Tabool (who turns out to be a grander schemer than one would expect), black little kid Boo (who appears to be the most sane of the bunch), Hamdo’s trusted lieutenant Abelia (any ruler, sane or not, would be envious of her unquestionable loyalty), abducted American girl Sara (her story is by far the most tragic of the bunch; very useful for conveying the social contrast between the two worlds, as her common sense to realize the grimness of her situation is something Shu’s pathological optimism could never achieve) and finally kid-loving middle-aged woman Sis (who despite having relatively short screen-time is very well fleshed out and easy to relate to). Overall, the side cast might not be the most memorable of anime characters, but all of them are more or less nice, have their motives and develop in the directions you’d expect them to (in a good sense). Realistic reactions to surroundings and atmospheric storytelling is more common than dialogue fleshing in this show. So while you might be doubting if you know one guy’s personality or not even near the end of the show you will still find yourself feeling for him. All the individual character drama, while not particularly heartbreaking, is bound to turn you watery eyed once or twice; a feat not so easily achieved by a half-season medium. Nonetheless, few from the overall cast, save for the “amusing” King Hamdo, will stay in your memories for long.

Conclusion: Now and Then, Here and There is a well crafted thought provoking show anyone looking for something fresh should try out. It is rated as 17+ and no wonder, since it offers some really sinister violence on kids which strikes you more on mental area than it would actually strike on physical… so be warned. Anyway, highly recommended this show for anyone who is interested in post-apocalyptic settings and prefer solid story-telling over action and thrill. When I think about a show that would come off as similar to Now and Then, Here and There, nothing in particular comes to mind, but if you’ve enjoyed it, I get the feeling you might also like Ghibli movies.