Jackcarter
First Post
This isn't for those who already like anime, but for those who, for various reasons dislike/hate anime.
I had a chance to see an anime called "Now and Then, Here and There." I was simply overwhelmed by it. Now, if the reason you dislike anime is due to the buggy eyes and the general cutsiness of anime characters, try to ignore them. If you can see pass them, you'll see a fine anime series.
Now and Then, here and There, is a tv series 13 episodes long; it is being released on dvd on 5-4-4 format. First two are already out while the last one will come out in June; I haven't seen the last four episodes but I like what I've seen thus far very much.
The story revolves around a young man named Shu, an ordinary in all respects but very headstrong. His ordinary life becomes a hell when he meets a blue-haired girl named Lala-ru, who is on the run. This becomes apparent when her transdimensional pursuers appear and take her back; in process, he gets sucked in as well, and is transported to a hellish world.
It's a bleak, dune-ish world ruled by a mad dictator, in a madder world. The thing you'll immediately notice is violence, casual violence, committed by children no less. It's disturbing vecause the violence is casual, matter-of-fact, and without any glorification--like in plattoon.
It seems that children are recruited (kidnapped) all over the world by this mad dictator and then brainwashed to become his soldiers in his quest for the world domination. Yes, pretty stereotypical, but is because he's partially a figure of parody. The mad king is deliberately made to be a cariature; he even has the three stooges haircut and the trademark cartoon maniacal laughter. I believe that this was done so to show the absursidity of war and the follies of leaders, sorta like Aristophanes' Wasps.
What's truly disturbing is the portrayal of the society and the steady march of dehumanization, seen through the children. You learn this when, after the dictator was attacked by the rebels, he sends out his troops to 'recruit' more soldiers. They march into a village, kill the adult males and then take women and children, women taken to be used for breeding. After finishing their job, they then firebomb the village to ashes. The surprise here is that the children soldiers participating in the raid were originally kidnapped this way also, and now were participating in their own kidnapping. Finally, engaging in a doublethink, they kid themselves that when the war is over, they will go back to their villages.
Dehumanization becomes complete when it seems that feminine beauty or consideration has no meaning in this world; there's an extremely sickenging story where a 14-16 yr old girl is implied to have been raped. Then we learn that it's merely to impregnate her to bear a future soldier and the man who does so is very casual, non-sexual in his way. When he sees her, the only thing he says is to comment that she seems too skinny to bear a child. I'm not going to say what happens next but only that it's disturbing.
If you like good, thought-provoking story and don't mind R-rated shows, I suggest you try this. I myself haven't seen the whole thing but the 2/3 of it that I've seen so far is simply great.
I had a chance to see an anime called "Now and Then, Here and There." I was simply overwhelmed by it. Now, if the reason you dislike anime is due to the buggy eyes and the general cutsiness of anime characters, try to ignore them. If you can see pass them, you'll see a fine anime series.
Now and Then, here and There, is a tv series 13 episodes long; it is being released on dvd on 5-4-4 format. First two are already out while the last one will come out in June; I haven't seen the last four episodes but I like what I've seen thus far very much.
The story revolves around a young man named Shu, an ordinary in all respects but very headstrong. His ordinary life becomes a hell when he meets a blue-haired girl named Lala-ru, who is on the run. This becomes apparent when her transdimensional pursuers appear and take her back; in process, he gets sucked in as well, and is transported to a hellish world.
It's a bleak, dune-ish world ruled by a mad dictator, in a madder world. The thing you'll immediately notice is violence, casual violence, committed by children no less. It's disturbing vecause the violence is casual, matter-of-fact, and without any glorification--like in plattoon.
It seems that children are recruited (kidnapped) all over the world by this mad dictator and then brainwashed to become his soldiers in his quest for the world domination. Yes, pretty stereotypical, but is because he's partially a figure of parody. The mad king is deliberately made to be a cariature; he even has the three stooges haircut and the trademark cartoon maniacal laughter. I believe that this was done so to show the absursidity of war and the follies of leaders, sorta like Aristophanes' Wasps.
What's truly disturbing is the portrayal of the society and the steady march of dehumanization, seen through the children. You learn this when, after the dictator was attacked by the rebels, he sends out his troops to 'recruit' more soldiers. They march into a village, kill the adult males and then take women and children, women taken to be used for breeding. After finishing their job, they then firebomb the village to ashes. The surprise here is that the children soldiers participating in the raid were originally kidnapped this way also, and now were participating in their own kidnapping. Finally, engaging in a doublethink, they kid themselves that when the war is over, they will go back to their villages.
Dehumanization becomes complete when it seems that feminine beauty or consideration has no meaning in this world; there's an extremely sickenging story where a 14-16 yr old girl is implied to have been raped. Then we learn that it's merely to impregnate her to bear a future soldier and the man who does so is very casual, non-sexual in his way. When he sees her, the only thing he says is to comment that she seems too skinny to bear a child. I'm not going to say what happens next but only that it's disturbing.
If you like good, thought-provoking story and don't mind R-rated shows, I suggest you try this. I myself haven't seen the whole thing but the 2/3 of it that I've seen so far is simply great.
