The Art of Being Bad at Life

Review: Now and Then, Here and There/Ima, Soko Ni Iru Boku

Anime/Fandom

Reviewed by: NotHayama

Title rating: R

-13-episode anime, complete

Ima, Soko Ni Iru Boku, or Now and Then, Here and There is not your average anime. If I had to explain it in a paragraph, it would probably include phrases such as "girl with magic pendant," "trapped in another world," "flying fortress," "battle mechs," and the statement that it's a unique and creative series you should definitely see. No one would believe me because they'd be completely turned off by the ridiculous collection of clichés, though, right? And that would be a bad thing. The bad RPG (role-playing game)-esque premise of Now and Then, Here and There is an unimportant background to a story that treats its subject matter like never before.

Anime

Now and Then, Here and There has been brought to the States by U.S. Manga as all 13 episodes on 3 DVDs. Some moron decided that listing episode numbers on DVDs is for suckers, so here's the order: 1.) Discord and Doom, 2.) Flight and Fall, 3.) Conflict and Chaos. They also come in a box set with a bonus DVD that has some decent extras, most notably the entire last episode with storyboards and interviews with the English voice cast. The extras on the DVDs themselves are pretty lame, except for the storyboard clips from each episode and a surround sound option for the English audio track--but then you'd have to actually watch the show in English. Y'know. And just to warn you: this series is rated 16 and up. Don't let the cute little characters fool you because it's not a show for kids; there are some disturbing scenes that I know would have given me nightmares when I was little, and adult themes run rampant. Keep your younger siblings out of the room when you're watching this one.

What makes Now and Then, Here and There so good despite all its clichés is that it never falls into the cheap, unrealistic tricks that are so common in anime and sci-fi/fantasy in general. There's no posing. There are no snappy one-liners. When the writers and directors decide to deal with a difficult issue, they never do a half-assed job--thinking in a shounen (boys' comics), good-guys-beat-the-bad-guys kind of way simply isn't going to cut it here. As much as those qualities can make an anime entertaining, they start getting old after you've seen them a billion times. It's nice to see a series that ignores the conventions of the average fantasy action formula for once.

 


Shu prepares to kick some robot ass. At least, that's the plan.

Another thing this series has going for it is its main character, Shu. In a lot of ways, he's a typical shounen lead (although he's missing the spiky hair): he's not too smart, but his kindness, morals, and energy make up for it. His personality and cute character design seem like they would be more at home in Shounen Jump, deep within a happy manga about ninja or soccer. Instead, he ends up in a world full of war, cruelty, and difficult moral decisions. Obviously his character has to change over time to accommodate all this, but despite all the garbage he goes through he never loses his optimism and good nature. This is what makes Shu such a great character to root for, and what keeps the show from becoming an annoying angst-fest. There are also some excellent side characters: Hamdo is an entertaining main villain because he is completely and literally insane, Nabuca is a subtle character and a good foil for Shu, and Sara's freaking out is quite realistic and well-done. But this series, for the most part, is still Shu's one-man show.

The animation in this series is generally good, and fairly simple. The character designs are disturbingly and appropriately cute. The characters never go super deformed (midgeted) because it wouldn't make sense in the context, but Shu does make some odd faces with that round head of his. It also has some really fun, well-choreographed action scenes; because there's no posing or pauses for catchy phrases, the action is intense and fast-paced. The action scenes are also more suspenseful than most anime fights are, for the simple reason that the audience doesn't know how they're going to end. Shu's definitely not one of those invincible warrior types--his most effective strategies in battle are catching people by surprise and running the hell away--and, while nobody believes Shu will actually be killed in episode two, his being hurt or captured is a very real possibility. There's also a degree of realism to Now and Then, Here and There's fights that tends to be missing in other anime titles. When a character is injured in a fight, they don't get over it immediately--getting grazed by a bullet hurts quite a bit, and if you get a knife in the gut, you're probably going to die. It's not perfect realism, but it's definitely a step in the right direction.

The Japanese voice cast is quite good. Akemi Okamura, who plays Shu, is of particular note; Shu is constantly surrounded by quiet people, so half the time he's carrying on a conversation with himself. Koji Ishii is also quite good as Hamdo, as the number of abrupt mood changes he has to do, not to mention the screaming in general, is impressive. The English cast, as usual, is less good. Most of them are at least decent actors, but many of the young characters sound far too old, and they tend to speak in a tone of voice that screams "Listen to this, kids! This is an important moral statement!" This is not a show where you can get away with talking down to the audience. Several of the main voice cast worked on Pokemon, so maybe that's carrying over a bit. Anyway, if you really want to enjoy this show, watch it in Japanese.

If I have to complain about anything in this series, it would be the pacing of the second half. For a while the show loses some of the momentum that kept it so intense in the beginning, and it falls a little bit into angst as it focuses more on Sara and other twentieth-century Earth citizens stuck in the other world. If anyone has a right to angst, it's Sara, but that doesn't keep it from getting a little annoying and less interesting than when the action only follows Shu. The pace picks up again during the last two episodes, but it's like they're making up for lost time. The last episode is crammed with so much death and destruction that I lost track of which minor characters were dead and which were still alive. The ending is also one of those abrupt ones that leaves you feeling vaguely disappointed; the part of me that appreciates art thinks it was fine, but the fan in me still wants to know what happens next. Also, while I really enjoyed most of the music in this series (particularly the opening and some of the fighting music), I just wish the animation studio had one more BGM (background music) piece appropriate for sad scenes. This anime is full of depressing moments, but it seems like they're using the same sad violin theme every thirty seconds.


Giving firearms to a bunch of hormonal preteens is definitely a bad idea.

Fandom

There is no fandom. It's ridiculous how little info there is on the web about Now and Then, Here and There--even one of the websites advertised on the back of the DVDs makes absolutely no mention of the series! The official site is here, but it's hardly worth going to; there's very little content, their character section only has half the major characters on it, and their latest news has to do with the first DVD coming out in January 2002. If you do decide to check it out, make sure your speakers are turned down because it starts playing loud music. As for fanpages, the Anipike only has four links, two of which are broken or down and the other being just a review. The sole remaining link is this fairly basic fan page which hasn't been updated in about a year, though it does have some decent general info, song lyrics, and screen caps. I found another site somewhere in the dregs of Google with some pretty good screencaps, but I think it used to be part of another site that I can't find. Plus, there isn't a single fanfic on Fanfiction.net. For some reason, this is one of those shows that everyone gives good reviews to or says she liked, but no one makes any pages for it.


Take a good look at this picture, because it's the happiest screenshot in the entire show.

Overview

Now and Then, Here and There is not for everyone. It's not for the young and impressionable; it's not for people looking for a good laugh, or people who want something with lots of pure entertainment value. If you want to watch something that makes you think and quite possibly cry, definitely give it a shot. For awesome characters, difficult subjects done with honesty and tact, and some very cool action scenes, Now and Then, Here and There gets 4 stars.