#now and then here and there

[mushi-shield]

people on tumblr really is sleeping on those great anime

wolf rain

Blue gender

Monster

Now and Then, Here and There

Big O

s-CRY-ed

Witch Hunter Robin

Paranoia Agent

Samurai 7

Gankutsuou: The Count of Monte Cristo

Trinity Blood

Blood+

Moribito - Guardian of the Spirit

Ristorante Paradiso

[roseillith]

[doyouknowthisanime]

Do You Know This Anime?

[evilsoup]

so like i know isekai is primarily associated with stories about how some nerd gets hit by a truck and the reincarnated into a d&d-derived fantasy world where people literally have "levels" and skill points but the protagonist has some cheat superpower that lets him beat up the bad guys and accumulate a harem of questionably of-age catgirls, elves, etc, at least one of which refers to him as "big brother" -- and deservedly so -- but there are actually some real gems in the genre, like the short and sweet 1999 series "now and then, here and now".

This is the story of Shu, a headstrong shonen protagonist (big-hearted, quick to charge in to fight for someone who's asked for his help, a bit simple but makes up for it with enthusiasm and fearlessness) who is living an unremarkable and comfortable life as a child in a small town in japan with conflicts like "my friend is annoyed at me because i don't take our kendo club seriously enough". He comes to the rescue of a quiet blue-haired girl who is being attacked by bad guy with futurey robots, and gets transported to a vast desert dominated by a bloated sun in which water is scarce, and gets forcibly recruited into an army of child soldiers (after being tortured for days, maybe weeks, to determine that he doesn't have the information the army needs).

The brutality of the world he finds himself in is a remarkably real-feeling depiction. There's a recurring "protector-protected" character dynamic of in which the protector character takes on the role of sheltering another and so is able to cope with the horrors they have experienced; we also see implied former relations of this kind which the "protected" character clearly chafed at and acted to get out of, as well as an example of the total failure of the protector-character who therefore can only long for revenge (and this is portrayed sympathetically), and of course the making-use of these relations by the army.

Unmarked spoilers from here, and trigger warning for child abuse including rape, as well as pretty unflinching depictions of massacres.

If you speak to any enlisted soldier you'll find that they actually fight for the men in their unit more than the official ideology -- though the latter remains important as it sets the boundaries of what one is allowed to say and do -- and if you read the operation manual of any army you'll find that the officers understand this perfectly and rely on it. This is depicted well here, and disturbingly: one of the sympathetic secondary-protagonist characters, nabuca (about 14), has a sidekick boo (i'd guess 9) who he tries his best to protect (along with the rest of his unit of children, of which he appears to be the NCO). Protecting Boo and the rest means ensuring that everyone follows orders and acts diligently -- including by escorting another character, Sara, to her rape and forced impregnation by another soldier at the order of the high-ups.

This is another strong theme -- the moral degredation of conditions of war, which often present situations in which there are no good responses.

The part that has stuck with me most is actually in the middle of the story, after Shu and some other characters have managed ot escape and found themselves at a hidden valley where there's a peaceful farming community -- made up of survivors of attacks from the army they've escaped from. There's a conflict within this comnunity as to what they should do in relation to the aggressors, Hellywood: Sis, who looks after a number of orphans, wants them to do nothing in the hope that they can remain hidden and provide a space for healing and in which the children can live as children; Elamba, who lost his entire family to Hellywood, wants revenge -- and to prevent any more victims in the future. Sis is the nicer person and Shu sides with her, but he can clearly see Elamba's case too: Shu was present for a Hellywood raid, in which they attacked a village and took the boys to be soldiers and the girls ot be impregnated to produce future soldiers; and for half the episode we follow Sara as she first tries to kill herself and then tries to induce an abortion by smashing her gut with a rock. I think it's impossible to see the depiction of the depths of her despair and not have a desire for revenge. To see that suffering and not seek justice is a moral horror. To endanger a rare space in which children are able to grow in safety into members of a functioning community is a moral horror.

The tension is ultimately unresolved -- it turns out that Hellywood is coming for them shortly in any case, and before that Elamba takes some rather unsympathetic actions that muddy the moral waters. But there's bravery in really sitting with the tension, as this show does.

There are only two real faults: i think it needed about one extra episode to deal with the immediate aftermath of the climax -- there's one character who makes a decision for which the bones are there, but for which there really needed to have been a bit more time to put meat on those bones; and the fact that there's a time machine in Hellywood is not properly addressed -- why do then have to stay in this shitty dying world rather than fleeing elsewhen..? But neither of these fundamentally doom the project, in my opinion.

I might write more about this, honestly -- it's a pretty obscure show, with exactly five entries on AO3 lmao (i mean, fair enough, it's a daunting one to write about) and i'd like to think i could help bring some attention to it. There's more that can be drilled into on this one i think.

Go watch it -- the entire series has been uploaded onto youtube. You need to watch it. You need to.

[x-heesy]

𝗡𝝝𝗦𝗧𝝠𝗟𝗚𝗜𝝠𝗟𝗘𝗫 (2008 - 2024) 🤡

„The most beautiful thing to me is watching life grow and interact with other life“. (Except dickheadz)

(Semi professional fooling arounder)

Memories by Waldeck from Austria 🇦🇹 🎧

[hatingfromacrackedscreen]

TW: sexual violence

Finished Now and Then, Here and There and my head is buzzing. I think the most upsetting thing was the pro-life bent to Sara’s storyline. Still scratching my head about that because. Genuinely what the fuck ???

Sara, like other girls/women Hamdo captures, is subjected to forced rape by the soldiers for breeding. This is horrifying, and the writing thankfully treats it like the horror that it is, and is never gratuitous. It’s not needlessly there, it’s there to reflect the real world genocides and brutality the series was based on, and fits in with the grim realism the series depicts of war.

Sara kills her would be attacker, escapes from prison hood on her own, and starts a life in Zari-Bars (I can’t rmbr the name of this place sorry😭) All of this would be fair I think, but things get off the rails very fast. In Zari-Bars she’s revealed to be pregnant, which is absolutely horrifying. Sara, a child, seriously struggles with the trauma of being kidnapped, raped, and now pregnant. All of this is VERY serious and distressing subject matter, and the anime really drops the ball in handling it.

The anime shows her in desolation over her trauma, but has a big emotional lesson where she tries to crush her abdomen with a rock and Shu repeatedly puts his hand there to save the baby, after slapping her for saying she wishes she and the baby were dead? The scene paints Sara in the wrong for wanting her baby to die. Then when Sis, the maternal figure who took her in, is on her death bed, her dying words to Sara are not to hate the baby. There’s such a pro-life bent to this storyline, prioritizing the babys life over Sara’s trauma and body autonomy? If she WASNT a child and got pregnant through consensual sex, it would still be weird as fuck for everyone to be going on about saving the baby!!! now factor that in with it was through rape, and she’s also a child!!! What the fuck were the writers thinking?

What makes this all EVEN weirder?? The doctor OFFERS an abortion in the very scene he reveals she’s pregnant. It’s not like she has no access to any safe or healthy abortion methods, and so aborting the child would be a threat to her life. It’s presented to us as existing in this world. Which makes the pro-life stuff, even fucking worse/weirder/more misogynistic.

Ultimately the Sara pro-life bent is the biggest stain on Now and Then, Here and There, and is what I think prevents it from being elevated to top echelon of anime. It’s very disappointing because of the incredibly serious and delicate subject matter, and the severity of the content and themes presented. Everything else in the series about war and violence is done very well, making this even more awful. I also read the anime’s director sexual harassed Sara’s voice actor, who I’m so sorry for, so sexist awful men making sexist awful writing choices. Shame because of how much else the series has to offer. Sara deserved so much better.

[mossrat-art]

Lalaru from Now and Then, Here and There.

[kimbappii]

Now and Then, Here and There (今、そこにいる僕, Ima, Soko ni Iru Boku)

[fuckingshutup]

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[kenapiece-main]

Can you believe I'm having to make this meme even after successfully finishing up taxes and applying to job

[kochei0]

I turn to Ares.

Thanks to Tyler Miles Lockett who allowed me to draw inspiration from his ARES piece for page 2! Look at his etsy page it's SICK

⚔️ If you want to read some queer retelling of arturian legends have a look at my webtoon

[roseillith]

[jottingprosaist]

told my cabbie for the 3am airport trip that I was feeling a bit nauseous and he immediately took my bag away from me and said "Trip to the airport is 12 dollars. I'll drive slow." and then he did-- no fast corners, very gentle stops at the lights. and I was willing to pay the extra few dollars for it, but when the meter hit $12 he clicked stop and let me ride the rest of the way free. and it might just be the insanity of waking up at 2:30 after 4 hours of sleep but I was really emotional about it. Like ok Mr Sandeep, the world is still good actually.

[hotcinnamonsunset]

The Tiger (from the poem by Nael, age 6)🐅

[lesbianralzarek]

"life doesnt get better, you just get stronger" does NOT include ages 11-17. life does in fact just get better from there. those years are dogshit. like, you do get stronger but its mostly just a factor of not being 11-17 anymore. positive thinking helps but it doesnt fix whatevers going on at 15, you have to brute force through that one raw