Now and Then, Here and There: Difference between revisions

{{quote| ''"All the good people of this world are already dead."''}}

'''''Now and Then, Here and There''''' (aka ''Ima, Soko ni Iru Boku'' or "The Me That's There Now") is a grim piece by Akitaroh Daichi, the director responsible for such manic comedies as ''[[Kodomo no Omocha|Kodocha]]'' and ''[[Fruits Basket]]''. Only this time he put the laughs away in a lockbox for a future project.

''Now and Then, Here and There'' takes the old anime plot of being transported to another world and turns it on its head. Shu, our hero, is on his way home from kendo practice one day when he sees a strange girl sitting atop a smokestack. Curious, he goes up to meet her. The girl's name is Lala Ru and as Shu is introducing himself and talking to her two strange machines warp in and attack them. Shu attempts to defend the girl but is easily brushed aside and Lala Ru is taken. Shu renews his attack as Lala Ru calls for help but everyone ends up getting transported back to where the machines came from.

** To be fair. They put in the briefly shown "Converters" which allow the water to be used as fuel.

* [[Death Glare]]: You wouldn't guess her capable of it, but Lala Ru managed one when Hamdo had Abelia shoot Shu. For half the series, he bribed, cajoled, pleaded, and threatened her without so much as getting her to look at him. After the shooting? ''"Why are you looking at me like that?... Stop looking at me like that!"''

** Actually [[Averted]]. While the world is brutal, "realistic", and plausible in his apocalyptic mindset, it isn't a ''true'' [[Deconstruction]] because it doesn't actually follow the tropes in [[Trapped in Another World]]. Most works are done in the [[Medieval European Fantasy]] setting, with [[Black and White Morality|White and Black Morality]] or at least [[Black and Gray Morality|gray]] ([[Crapsack World|"All the good people of this world are already dead."]] indeed), [[Heroic Fantasy]] conflicts and following the [[The Hero's Journey]]... which this work doesn't. It would be like trying to deconstruct the [[The Lord of the Rings]] using the [[Dark Sun]] setting by [[Terry Goodkind]].

* [[Did Not Get the Girl]]: Arguably she wasn't up for grabs to begin with.

* [[Expy]]: [[Tenchi Muyo!|Tenchi? Tenchi who?]]

** Also {{spoiler|Nabuca}} in the last episode. {{spoiler|[[HeelDeadly Face Door SlamChange-of-Heart|It's a bit late for him to do much though]].}}

** Tabool is none other than [[Crispin Freeman]]. '''[[Code Geass|STORM]] [[Memetic Mutation|OF]] [[Undying Loyalty|LOYALTY]]''', my foot. On the other hand, Shu is [[Ted Lewis]], otherwise known as [[Pokémon|Giovanni, Tracey]], [[Yu-Gi-Oh!|Bakura]], [[Kirby: ofRight theBack Starsat Ya!|King Dedede]], and [[Yu-Gi-Oh! 5 Ds5D's|JACK ATLAS]].

* [[Kill It Withwith Water]]: {{spoiler|Lala-Ru drowns Hamdo and takes Hellywood with him at the cost of her life in the last episode.}}

* [[MacGuffin Girl]]: Lala Ru. Deconstructed in that she gets a speech about how being one sucks. People only want to use her, and eventually kill each other over her.

* [[Now Which One Was That Voice?]]: Completely averted. The opening theme begins with a ''[[Dramatis Personae]]'' showing the main characters with their names in English and Japanese, pictures, and the names of both their ''seiyuu'' and English VA. The end credits also show both actors for each character.

* [[Rape Asas Drama]]: Sara; also hinted with Lala Ru. More tragic than usual in that they're both children.

* [[Rock of Limitless Water]]: Lala-Ru's pendant is sought after for its ability to produce large amounts of water.

* [[Rule of Symbolism]]: Shu's kendo stick, arguably. {{spoiler|Kendo is taught to Japanese youth primarily as a means of instilling respect, integrity and honor, ideals that Shu attempts to spread all around him, yet he fails miserably given the circumstances of the new world. The significance of this is that regardless of how much abuse the stick takes or how many times it changes hands, it never seems subject to any degradation whatsoever, parallel to Shu's [[Wide -Eyed Idealist|wide-eyed idealism]] throughout the series -- until he finally snaps and uses it to trigger what he knows will turn into a violent jailbreak and ''smashes it to splinters'' over the back of a cowering Hamdo.}}

* [[Smite Me, OhO Mighty Smiter!]]: Partially subverted at the end of episode seven, where (during the previews for the next episode) King Hamdo has a conversation with God, calling him a "tease" for presenting him with so many problems.

* [[Spell My Name Withwith an "S"]]: Sara's name becomes Sala in the French dub, which particularly does not make sense because [[Did Not Do the Research|she's supposed to have an everyday American name]]. Hellywood/Helliwood/Heliud, Tabool/Tabur, and Zari Bars/Zali Barth also suffer from this depending on whether you watch the original, fansubs, the English subs, the English dub, or the French dub.

* [[Took a Level Inin Badass]]: Shu in the last episode, {{spoiler|prompted by Nabuca's death.}}

* [[Training Fromfrom Hell]]

* [[Used Future]]: The futuristic {{spoiler|flying}} fortress Hellywood is crumbling and can barely {{spoiler|get off the ground}}. Guns appear to be held together with tape.

* [[What Measure Is a Mook?]]: Brutally averted. Hamdo's sacrifice of his troops is presented as senseless tragedy. His army is made up of people forced into it at gunpoint and with the {{spoiler|empty}} promise that if they're obedient, once the war is over they can go home. Some are children.

* [[Wide -Eyed Idealist]]: Again, Shu; see [[Take My Hand]] example above.

[[Category:NowThirteen-Episode And Then Here And ThereAnime]]