Retrospective-Now and Then, Here and There (1999-2000)

Now and Then, Here and There isn't for the faint of heart. The setup is deceptively generic.



There's a boy, a girl, and a macguffin. Said boy is transported to the girl's world (time?), his first step into something greater than himself and the simple life he led before. This world is run by a mad king and his oppressive armies who at all costs are after the girl and her macguffin pendant.
So far it sounds about as typical as any post-star wars adventure story. But very quickly it becomes clear that this isn't some escapist fantasy with a magical universe the audience wants to inhabit.

Women are somewhat rare, so any that do surface are relegated to round the clock rape from various able bodied men in the corps.
The "mad king" is beyond mad, he is a child. He doesn't take responsibility, he cowers away from threats, abuses and depends on women, and fights battle after battle for some unattainable goal, callously throwing away the lives of those who serve him.

Of course, if their ranks are always depleting then that means they are always recruiting. This is why they systematically raid and pillage nearby villages, kidnapping children and indoctrinating them into a service that they won't be able to leave until they die. And then the cycle repeats itself.
This isn't your typical anime. While the futility of war isn't exactly an alien concept, the harsh, relentless assault of these all too familiar and down to earth evils hit very close to home. It's kind of a cruel joke that the reality in many places in the real world reflects the kind of situation that the kids in this so-called faraway land suffer through.

For this alone I heavily applaud it. All too often just as in any other kind of media we never see the kind of story where characters aren't just acting out wish fulfillment fantasies. The truth is that it definitely limits viewers and profits if something has a point instead of being entertaining. As important as a film like Schindler's List is, it just isn't the sort of thing people can consume very easily.

And neither is this.