Ima, Soko ni Iru Boku

Shuuzou "Shuu" Matsutani lives his ordinary life in peace. He has friends, a crush, and a passion for kendo. Dejected after losing to his kendo rival, Shuu climbs a smokestack to watch the sunset where he finds Lala-Ru, a quiet, blue-haired girl wearing a strange pendant. Shuu attempts to befriend her, despite her uninterested, bland responses.

However, his hopes are crushed when a woman, accompanied by two serpentine machines, appear out of thin air with one goal in mind: capture Lala-Ru. Shuu, bull-headed as he is, tries to save his new friend from her kidnappers and is transported to a desert world, unlike anything he has ever seen before. Yet, despite the circumstances, Shuu only thinks of saving Lala-Ru, until he is thoroughly beaten up by some soldiers. As he soon finds out, Lala-Ru can manipulate water and her pendant is the source from which she is able to bring forth the liquid, a scarce commodity in his new environment. But now, the pendant is lost, and Shuu is the prime suspect.

Ima, Soko ni Iru Boku is the haunting story of a dystopian world, and of Shuu, who has to endure torture, hunger, and the horrors of war in order to save the lonely girl he found sitting atop a smokestack.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Matsutani, Shuuzou Main

Okamura, Akemi Japanese

Lala-Ru Main

Nazuka, Kaori Japanese

Ringwalt, Sara Main

Nakao, Azusa Japanese

Nabuca Main

Imai, Yuka Japanese

Hamdo Supporting

Ishii, Kouji Japanese

Sis Supporting

Matsumoto, Rica Japanese

Boo Supporting

Konishi, Hiroko Japanese

Soon Supporting

Saitou, Ayaka Japanese

Abelia Supporting

Yasuhara, Reiko Japanese

Kazam Supporting

Matsuyama, Takashi Japanese

Haigney, Michael Producer

Daichi, Akitarou Director, Script, Storyboard, Original Creator

Tanaka, Kazuya Sound Director

Ootsuka, Masahiko Episode Director

Reviews

Jul 22, 2024

Lionfrog13

Recommended

Never have I experienced a work of art that is so raw yet optimistic. Now and Then, Here and There is in many ways an answer to art that seeks to be realistic and gritty without depth. It aknowledges some of the darkest part of humanity and then contends that living is still worth it. It is uncompromising in its statement that you deserve to live. I am someone who believes in non violence and optimism, but never has a work of art more made me contend with that stance. I believe things will get better in a world that lets child soldiers exist. I ... believe that people are inately good and that belief must contend with the acts of extreme violence human beings can commit against eachother. I did not have a good time watching this anime, but I will never forget and will continue to think about it for years to come.

Reviewer’s Rating: 10

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Jun 6, 2024

korix_

Mixed Feelings

Transported to a war-torn desert in another world (supposedly), our MC Shu sets out on a rough journey to return home. The grim universe Now and Then, Here and There paints is brought to life through its sufficiently good production and art. Some people may fault the still-frame-ridden animation, but honestly, considering some of the shows that come out these days, it's more than decent in comparison.

While the world of this anime managed to suck me in from episode 1, accompanied by an interesting premise that quickly builds up the tension, as I kept watching, the setbacks it suffered from became more apparent.

This ... sort of setting requires a cast of flawed characters who have been impacted by the hopeless world around them, but that type of decent characterization was surprisingly sparse. We have people like Abelia who spend their days enacting the nefarious whims of others even when they're not as bad as those above them. But how did she get to that point? Why does she act so servile? You'll be asking these questions even after the series ends because, despite her unique position in the conflict and plot, Abelia's never truly given the time of day. She's merely another tool for a genocidal dictator who is so incompetent and irredeemable that you'd want to punch your screen every time he shows up. The lack of nuance in portraying anything beyond a villainous, screeching man-baby as the main antagonist in this supposedly "mature" anime is astounding, and these are just two examples. This issue persists in other facets of the show as well.

At some point, the core question that drives the narrative is revealed. Fight back against the dictator, or live in peace, ignoring the atrocities around you because you want your children to have a good life. From there, motherhood is brushed over, giving value to protecting children who are blameless in war and don't deserve to suffer if conflicts were to escalate. Overall, it's a nice mesh of thought-provoking ideas that can elevate any show to a masterful depiction of humanity and their urge for violence... if executed correctly.

Well, that's too bad.

In this anime, the narrative is slanted in favor of a pacifistic yet complacent view, which in itself is not a bad thing. I can think of a few other series that also do this (most notably Vinland Saga). But where Now and Then fumbles and Vinland succeeds is the execution and the nuanced portrayal of the opposing mindsets. Another thing that sets them apart is that the people preaching for peace in Now and Then, Here and There are nobodies. They hold no power or leverage. How would doing nothing be a solution in that situation? Their mindset, while not unfounded, has issues that the series crashes into but refuses to address.

The opposing force to our pacifists, a rebellious group that aims to take down the dictator is mostly portrayed as bloodthirsty kidnappers who are in the wrong. But when aiming to kill one irredeemable man to save millions of innocents, can this dilemma really be reduced to "They're resorting to violence, therefore they're bad"? There's a singular scene where they're spared any sympathy. Just one. The rest of their depiction hinges on them being unreasonable douchebags.

Another clear pitfall to the pacifism is the fact that the big, bad dictator's main military resource is children from villages he's decimated. How can we act like living peacefully in a hidden place protects children when many of them are suffering on the ship, under his rule? All the kids on that ship should have trauma - not just the select few that the writers decided would be good friends with the MC. While the situation did highlight one of the few well-rounded characters in the show (Nabuca), we also had characters like Tabool, who again, boils down to an unsympathetic "bad guy" yearning to assert his power over everyone. The show goes as far as vilifying these kids when they should have been handled with more care. They've struggled due to the brutality of war just like everyone else, and maybe by the time they've encountered Shu, they've reached a point where violence is second nature to them. Now and Then, Here and There doesn't negate the possibility of them being molded by their circumstances, but it also presents them in a grossly simplified way, while giving them some of the most cartoonish Disney villain lines in existence. They eventually get somewhat disregarded by the narrative, which puts an end to any interesting exploration before it gets the chance to begin.

Overall, Now and Then, Here and There's solution to a lot of its conflicts is waving away all the antagonists through a series of conveniences, and proclaiming the protagonist and his friends as the ultimate good guys. The gruesome things shown early on don't amount to much as our MC insists on forgiving and forgetting. They're there to make the show seem darker and more mature when thematically, it's none of those things. All it did was resort to the most juvenile kind of black-and-white moral grandstanding. One of the MC's sidekicks (Lala Ru), is even indirectly provoking the persistence of war and leading to many deaths due to her refusal to do anything despite her immense power. This is never addressed. She never acts violently, and she never directly tries to harm people. So in the writers' eyes, she's a great person and there's no need to question her behavior when it's clearly very questionable.

TLDR; This anime may get sold as a gritty portrayal of war, as it handles serious subject matters like child soldiers, brutal authoritarianism, and rape. But by the end of it, it didn't feel like any of its themes were given the weight they deserved, and all it did was resort to a juvenile black-and-white presentation of characters and their morality. This is something you'd expect from a children's show with some "dark subjects" sprinkled in there to add some spice. Its saving grace is that it's short enough, and has a good amount of moving parts to where it doesn't get too tedious. You could also find around two decent characters in there if you squint hard enough. I didn't get much from watching it, but it's also not a complete waste of time. If you happen to like artistic, philosophical, and "dark" series to begin with, you can give it a go. I did find it thought-provoking albeit in all the wrong ways.

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

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Dec 22, 2022

RebelPanda

Not Recommended

*This review contains spoilers in a marked section*

I finally watched the cult classic "Now and Then, Here and There" the anti-war series released two decades ago. Over the years, it has been labeled a masterpiece and one of the best Isekai anime ever. I had to see it for myself, but all I can say is… Seriously?

Throughout 13 tedious episodes, I found a beautifully produced but ultimately poorly written anime. Although I liked the sound and art direction, I couldn't get invested in the plot or care about any of the characters. Despite the story's attempts at social commentary, it has a surprisingly 1-dimensional view ... of war. It presents war and violence with the subtlety of a wrecking ball that often feels more like shallow exploitation meant to disturb you.

The story is centered around a classical shounen hero: A boy named Shu. He's a free-spirited kid with a loud voice but a heart of gold. After losing a kendo tournament, Shu climbs on top of a smokestack to watch the sunset, pictured in the anime's poster. After nearly falling to his death, he spots a quiet blue-haired girl on a smokestack parallel to his. Suddenly both of them are surrounded by soldiers piloting flying bizarre snake mechas, ordered by a bitter woman attempting to kidnap the girl. Shu selflessly tries to save the girl while being shot at; his blind desire to help those in need gets him into much worse danger. In a burst of white light, the girl is summoned to another world by the soldiers. Shu is accidentally whisked along with them to a dystopian barren wasteland—this world is bathed in sunlight, sand, and rusted metal architecture similar to Mad Max's setting. This alternate reality is controlled by a brutal military composed of young men—which is often said to be inspired by child slave soldiers in the Congo wars (occurring simultaneously as the anime's production).

On Shu's first night in the foreign world, he is tortured by the comically over-the-top antagonist, King Hamdo—a sadistic villain who chokes cats and beats innocent people when he's upset. The King is an unpredictable antagonist because he's insane; there's no depth to his crazed persona. His goal is to find an ample water supply because the scorching hot sun has gravitated dangerously close to Earth. He needs water both for his soldiers and for "fuel" ala Mad Max. Please don't ask me how water is used as fuel, and the show certainly didn't give me an answer. A dead cat blocks half the frame throughout the torture scene to remind us how Evil this man is. It frequently dabbles in this variety of misery porn to disturb the audience, which the show succeeds at in the same way Cannibal Holocaust repulses ordinary viewers. I cannot comprehend how anyone could possibly take this character seriously. The series often juxtaposes over-the-top situations with bleak and depressing story beats. Violent abuse in the same episode as Shu exhibiting laughably non-existent survival instincts, the comic relief he almost falls to his death, and his sudden burst of super-strength (even after suffering a beating). His character is more akin to Naruto than a normal human being in a life-or-death situation.

Shu's primary motivation is to rescue the quiet blue-haired girl named Lala-ru. The pain he endures to save Lala-ru is unbelievable; he constantly risks his life to save someone he does not know. When he's asked why he keeps chasing after her, he is speechless; his reasoning is that they're friends, except they're not. They briefly met, and he knew nothing about her, but she asked him for help. He has a good heart, even sparing the life of his first enemy who tried to kill him. Though his intentions are always pure, his perusal of Lala-ru is obsessive and borderline unhinged.

(Spoilers below)

By the end of the first episode, Shu is defeated, lying on a metal floor, covered in bruises; beside him is the deuteragonist, a girl crying in pain. He attempts to jump on her, assuming he was Lala-ru due to their similar faces—immediately asking the question, why would he jump a girl he barely knew anyways? The crying girl is also from Earth, an American, but she speaks Japanese for reasons. Her name is Sarah Ringwald; She is both the most relatable but worst-written character in the show. At least Sarah is the only one to call out Shu for his overly idealistic personality, but that is one brief occasion that doesn't change his character in the slightest. She is sexually abused by soldiers off-screen, and Shu's response is to "Just forget about it." What's the metanarrative point? Nihilism? We already know the dystopian setting is cruel to outsiders, so why? If it was meant to characterize Sarah, then why were we alienated from her thoughts? If we can hear the thoughts of supporting characters, like Hondo's minion Ebillia, why can't we hear Sarah's? Sarah is irrelevant—forgotten by the story and Shu in favor of his irrational fixation with Lala-ru. Sarah wasn't the focus of her own abuse, and that's damning for a story attempting to make us empathize with a victim. All we see is her screaming and crying, and that's all.

When Shu suffers abuse, we at least hear his thoughts and understand how he feels, even though the portrayal of his trauma is shallow and the aftermath is short-lived. He quickly returns to being complacent and forgetting about trying to escape and rescue Lala-ru—instead, he continues to live as a prisoner until the plot demands he continues his journey. Only through lucky coincidences is he set on the correct path. Sarah was kidnapped because the soldiers thought she was the Lala-ru. Shu earnestly promises to escape with her, but unfortunately, this is ignored until the end.

(Spoilers end)

Shu is the hero of the story because he helps those in need, refuses to kill helpless criminals, and maintains his morals even when facing assassins. There's a dichotomy between him and Nabuka, the soldier he saved in the beginning. Shu refuses to follow orders, but Nabuka follows the rules no matter what. Through their contrasting choices, the story informs us of the mind prison caused by authoritarianism. Shu's unshakable morals show how expressing free will is the antithesis of authoritarianism. Nabuka believes the solution to war is genocide, making him as brain poisoned as the rest of the soldiers. The military has conditioned him. While Nabuka doesn't really grow as a person until the final act, Shu imparts heroic wisdom. There's an odd dichotomy in that Nabuka is inferior to Shu, who is seemingly perfect in the eyes of the narrative. Therefore he never grows. Every time Shu abides by his morals or breaks the rules, he or others get harmed—yet it is never treated like his fault because he has good intentions. Seeing him constantly get away with being foolish infuriates me. He kept making the same mistakes until the end. However, it's easy for me to root for a hero who protects those in need and has good intentions. Shu is just an idiot. If he has a choice between shooting someone and letting an orphanage get shot up, he will throw his gun on the ground and cry because the decision is too hard for his tiny brain to comprehend.

For a series entirely about war and its horrific impacts, it has a black and white idea of war. You're either good or evil. In this fictional world, victims of war, trauma, and abuse will suddenly monologue all of the horrible things that happened to them because of war. They lash out in anger, beating innocent people and making irrational choices to exact revenge. The way it views mental illness is detached from reality at best and offensive at worst. Nearly every character suffers from a mental disorder, so it is impossible to ignore: For one, villains brutally beat innocent people for no other reason than to relieve anger. Occasionally people will spout the origin of their trauma like they're at group therapy, one says side character say, "Soldiers kidnaped my sister. They left her in the desert. She died of dehydration. Eaten by animals." Then he proceeds to kick the shit out of a person who's trying to protect him. This kind of nihilistic portrayal of violence is juvenile, unrealistic, and a sign of terrible writing.

The main point is "War is bad." No matter how often the anime plays its one sad song, the theme does not become more complex. When praising this series, people often cite the mature subject matter and the beautiful production design—but neither of these aspects makes a story great. Art, animation, storyboards, music, and editing, enhance the narrative. In a series as slow-paced and artfully framed as this one, it leaves plenty of room for the viewer to make their interpretation, like Evangelion, Ergo Proxy, and Haibane Renmei. It has plenty of still close-ups, silent longshots, and characters staring solemnly at the sky. Remember the iconic elevator scene from Evangelion? Take that and do it every other episode, except with none of the emotional weight. One great appeal of Now and Then is its ambiguity—But I need to get invested in the characters and plot before analyzing the symbolism. While others may love it, to me, it was mind-numbingly dull and pretentious.

There is symbolism in this series, such as the water and flowers. Water symbolizes life, and flowers symbolize love. The themes boil down to "War is bad." Over and over. Sacrifice yourself for the war. If you like the story and characters, you can appreciate analyzing the symbolic framing and thoughtful storyboards. But without a good story or characters, there's no point in symbolism. The issue for me was, I despised every character. Shu was an idiot and made illogical choices. His infatuation with Lala-ru creeped me out. Lala-ru could sacrifice her life to save others but chooses not to because charity does not suit her if she will eventually get exploited. In Sarah's brief scenes, she cries and/or screams; she is forgotten by everyone (including the writers) until she returns to be used as an obstacle for Shu to overcome. Consequently, the writers used her as a mouthpiece to spurt pro-life ideology.

Now and Then, Here and There left me empty, frustrated, and utterly disappointed. There's no reward for suffering through this exercise in nihilism. As someone who has seen most modern isekai anime, I can say this one does not belong in any 'best of all time' conversations. It is a relic of a bygone era of anime that’s best left in the niche corners of the community.

Reviewer’s Rating: 3

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	Why is everyone against Sara’s decision in the final episode? ShogunofSorrow12 - Mar 13, 2022	6 replies	by SuperLupinHero »» Jul 17, 3:37 PM
	Poll: Now and Then, Here and There Episode 13 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 ) Kayro - Apr 2, 2008	186 replies	by OneMoreFinal »» Jul 1, 6:08 PM
	Poll: Now and Then, Here and There Episode 1 Discussion ( 1 2 ) Kayro - Mar 31, 2008	50 replies	by Thorf »» May 2, 7:46 AM
	Curious about the title…. Eykosca - Nov 28, 2023	1 replies	by ErogakiPatches »» Dec 1, 2023 1:38 AM
	How good would you consider the ending and characters? Would you guys consider this wasted potential? _Arc4n1_ - Apr 25, 2021	10 replies	by Eykosca »» Nov 28, 2023 4:01 PM

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