Now and Then, Here and There

Started by Feign December 2nd, 2009 11:30 AM
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  • 13 replies

Feign

Clain

Seen January 24th, 2023
Posted March 12th, 2011
4,293 posts
14.4 Years
Now and Then, Here and There is an anime, a very dark one (rated 16+) and deals with many questions about humanity and identity and innocence etc. If you feel like watching it, there are 13 episodes, totally about 7.5 hours. Now for a quick plot overview in spoilers:

Spoiler:
Shu, the main character is a resolute person, he is also a pacifist. On his way home, he encounters a girl watching the sunset, he attempts to talk with her as they both watch the sun setting. Suddenly out of nowhere a military like group appears, attempting to capture the girl. Shu decides to defend her and ends up getting transported (as the same way they appeared) to some where and perhaps even some time else. In his confusion he manages to save the girl, and only ends up being captured (whilst loosing the girl's pendent in the confusion). He is tortured for information and eventually made to be a soldier, with others, of which are also young children. They are forced to carry out the orders of the insane ruler of a device called Hellywood. In this place there exists very little water, it is like a desolate area...


I'd like to continue on with the spoiler but would really encourage people to watch it instead (or if they must, use wiki).

Now the real question:

If you were put place of Shu, and experienced the same events (from the damge and yet hope of the world of theirs), what would you think, after being transported back home at the same time you had left (that is to say you never missed any time in your own world but experienced those several days in the other).

While this show was sci-fi, elements of the story do occur today, such as the child soldiers in Africa, and the eccentricities of the leader, akin to that of Hitler...

Could life for you be the same? Some characters in the anime had hope afterall.

Discuss! XD

Chikara

ʕ´•ᴥ•`ʔ

Age 31
Female
Missouri, why? ◉◡◉
Seen April 11th, 2021
Posted March 27th, 2021
8,284 posts
18.6 Years
That sounds interesting, actually o_o I saw it on the guide on Sci-fi, but didn't watch it.
Kind of a used concept, but STILL, COOL.

I dunno what I'd think. It would depend on how different the place is from where I am now. What I CAN tell you is that I'd probably ask around and figure stuff out, because I'm just that kind of curious child.

Interesting question, even if I couldn't fully answer it for myself |D!

Feign

Clain

Seen January 24th, 2023
Posted March 12th, 2011
4,293 posts
14.4 Years
I suppose during the whole ordeal it would be easier to react to the situation at hand, like Shu did in many instances... But what does one do after it is all over, and they are no longer a part of it? (as in being in the same world)

Even the characters Sara and Nabauca (sp) had some very interesting character changes.

Feign

Clain

Seen January 24th, 2023
Posted March 12th, 2011
4,293 posts
14.4 Years
Yeah... it is indeed interesting... The human condition...

Like we are reintergrated into the normal society, and you see all these people, what would you think of them? If they all had to be saved, would you help them?

Also another question, what character would you most be like? Of course this presents some further thoughts, as lets say you would most be like Boo. One can't really ascertain their will power in these situations unless if they've been through them. Like if you were forced to join a child army and made to fight, and told that once the war was over you could be free... You'd want to believe...

William Blakes (I believe it was) wrote a couple poems, I think one or two of them was about chimney sweepers (back in the early days usually boys were forced into child labour to clean chimneys, because they were so small), of course the job was dangerous and the kid would end up dying early (black lung), and the poem goes on to say something like "If you work hard enough, you will get to see the Lord (God)" - Basically worked to death, and as though doing the chimney sweeping is a good deed...

Esper

California
Seen June 30th, 2018
Posted June 30th, 2018
If I were a child soldier I'd probably be suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and Stockholm syndrome at the same time, would probably be unable to reintegrate into society, and would go down some self-destructive path of violence and never feel human again.

Depressing though. I'll pass on the show, thanks all the same.
Age 29
California
Seen May 29th, 2011
Posted February 4th, 2010
275 posts
14.9 Years
I think I would not be able to function properly someplace I am not supposed to be, ie someplace that is not supposed to exist at which I arrived by means that defy all the sense and logic of the world as I have known it. At least not at first.

But I would go on functioning, because that's what humans do. I would do, I wouldn't think because everything would become unthinkable. Do you know what I mean? I'm pretty sure I wouldn't lay down and die unless extreme physical pain or exhaustion necessitated it, because I am an animal built to survive and go on surviving until I can't anymore. I'm not 100% about any of this, I'm just conjecturing. It's fairly hard to imagine anyway, which is part of the reason I think the higher-functioning parts of my brain wouldn't be able to handle it.

I haven't even seen the anime lol perhaps I am picturing something far more bleak or not bleak enough

I know not all that may be coming, but be it what it will, I'll go to it laughing.

Feign

Clain

Seen January 24th, 2023
Posted March 12th, 2011
4,293 posts
14.4 Years
I'd say it is pretty bleak, especially if you look at it at a wide angle...

Even one of the girls in the show (Sara) is sexually abused often, and even ends up becoming pregnant as a result of it.

I suppose it just depends on how we decide to function. Could our own will power save us, or would we break down as a result of our predicament?

Especially in how much we can control. In the anime Shu (after being captured) wasn't able to take control of the situation until after he became a soldier. And even then he endured punishment for what he believed in. Even we have our own breaking points, where we abandon our own morals etc. And yet Shu was able to overcome them (hardships not withstanding of course). However, is that the grace of entering in a new world? Being born into that kind of thing, only makes for an indoctrinated soldier it would seem.

Since everyone else is... I'll speculate myself.

I know that I have a strong will, and whilst it hasn't really been tested (not like I've been in an adverse situation) I know I'd go for the most proper outcome... Though perhaps unlike the show, my time would be short lived. :S Like that if I decided to rise up against the commander or someone, that I would be immediately shot down by someone else. Though it would be bittersweet, that while I was unable to save anyone else, I had saved myself from having to experience this traumatic event.

That is another thing though... If you were a prisoner at a concentration camp during WWII, would you take the first chance to revolt? Even to the very end some prisoners obeyed the Nazis, some survived, and most did not. And as a result, living through that, they incurred the trauma and were able to come out of it... I wouldn't be surprised if most Prisoners contemplated suicide (during and after the ordeal). And nowadays, some of them, only have the idea of spreading their story, which has become important to them, so as not for the same mistake to occur again.

EDIT: I see it got moved XD that's okay, I too realized it was one of those teetering subjects... On the one hand we're talking about themes and life, and on the other, of an anime... (though I'm not sure if here will garner as much interest).

txteclipse

The Last

Age 32
Riverside
Seen March 23rd, 2023
Posted November 2nd, 2016
2,322 posts
15.7 Years
what would you think

I'm one of those people who is simultaneously hopeful for the future of humanity, and jaded as to what the reality will probably be. What it comes down to is that there is both good and evil, and the side that is fed most will grow. In NaTHaT, evil ran wild and led to the future depicted. It's possible that we'll go the other direction, but I personally doubt it.

Of course, just because the world is mostly evil doesn't mean the individual has to be. This was highlighted well by Boo's character. So basically, no matter how extreme the world gets in either direction, there will always be that other side.

Feign

Clain

Seen January 24th, 2023
Posted March 12th, 2011
4,293 posts
14.4 Years
Now that would beg for the question, would it be because Boo (and those like him) are still innocent?

But yeah, I do agree, there will always be good and bad... (Ying Yang)

©ereal Killer

Illusions or Real Illusions ♥

Seen July 4th, 2011
Posted October 24th, 2010
311 posts
14 Years
Dang... i'll always remember this show...
Mr.Hamdo... god, i hate him...

Okay lets see... If I were Shu, after witnessing all that... deaths... especially the part *spoiler*
Hehe, not going to spoil it for ya people!

I think i'll be traumatized for the rest of my life...
"within the truth hides the lie... within the lie hides the truth"
That is the Mist

parallelzero

chelia.blendy

Age 32
The capital of Canada (not Toronto)
Seen May 11th, 2015
Posted May 20th, 2013
14,627 posts
19.3 Years
Incidentally I just bought the boxset for 10$ online. Should be an... interesting addition to my collection from the sounds of things.

SKY GOD SLAYER: CHELIA BLENDY
twitter + raptr + myanimelist + tumblr

Feign

Clain

Seen January 24th, 2023
Posted March 12th, 2011
4,293 posts
14.4 Years
$10? Nice.

At retail value I found it to be $33 CAD at work, though I can get it at cost, so I will find out soon, how much it is.

Feign

Clain

Seen January 24th, 2023
Posted March 12th, 2011
4,293 posts
14.4 Years
Haha so I already received it at work, took like about 2 weeks, when it should have taken 4-6 weeks (I have other orders waiting that are over 8 months old).

All 13 episodes, I had at first been watching it in English subtitles, but decided to try the dub, and was surprised that the characters started to sound older than they looked, so I was a bit disappointed in that front. Though the English of Hamdo was very well done. It cost me $20 CAD