Now and Then, Here and There – 3 [A Feast in the Dark] – Throwback Thursday

Welcome everyone to what is a very late episode of Now and Then, Here and There! The only excuse I have is Elden Ring which, in my defense, I have put 66 hours into since it came out. Such a great time. That said these posts wait for no man and have to get written eventually. So without further ado lets dive into the episode!

Starting off with a quick non-spoilery mention of the production: This week was largely fine. It seems this is going to be our standard level of animation for awhile. Episode 1 was probably an outlier to get us hooked in. That’s probably OK since Now and Then doesn’t seem like a particularly action heavy show, much more character, scene and atmosphere driven. However I do have one major bugbear that I’ve noticed across all 3 episodes: The backgrounds are way to dark. I get it, they want some stark contrast in lighting, and that does often look good. But more often than not it’s made scenes very difficult to actually see. Characters become hard to make out from the dark backgrounds, the slight differences in shade make it annoying to figure out what exactly we are looking at. They need to increase the contrast in their darks just a bit.

Getting into the actual episode, we have a lot to talk about and the best place to start is Sara. I skimmed over Sara before because of how late she was introduced. We had bigger things to talk about. I honestly didn’t think she would be more than a bit player either. Filing the gap until Lala Ru starts to become a character. So imagine my surprise when she ends up being from Earth! Not only that, but she becomes one of the primary focuses for the episode. Connecting Shu back home, further showing Hamdo’s ineptitude and even giving us a glance into Lala Ru through comparisons in their outfits, actions, situations, etc. It makes you wonder: Was Lala Ru kidnapped from Earth as well? Was she always like she is now with the dead eyes or did Hamdo cause that? What about Sara’s necklace?! And then it got dark.

I keep saying this, I really should stop being surprised, but I didn’t expect Now and Then to get this dark. Not this quickly at least. We jumped right from Sara’s introduction to her being used as a pleasure slave by soldiers, showing they truly have no intent of returning her home. And what made it even worse was how matter of factly it was presented. Nothing was shown, it wasn’t drawn out for fanservice, a cheap laugh or anything like that. She was just dropped off and we were left to figure out for ourselves what happened until the end. And the way her eyes looked… She’s just like Lala Ru is now, bringing me back to what I asked before: Was Lala Ru abused like this as well? If so I think Sara and her “fall” could be a compelling way to tell Lala Ru’s story through proxy.

Speaking of Hamdo, we continue to see just how much of a depraved and unstable person he is. The way he flips on a dime when talking to Lala Ru, his treatment of Abelia, the complete disregard for his soldiers lives, even how he randomly smashed those flowers. I almost called him pitiful but after everything he’s done, in just two episodes, I don’t think that works. As far as the story goes, I actually really like him so far. Not as a person but as a character. I like how consistently present he has been since his introduction. How Now and Then weaves his presence into almost every scene, whether it be the trainer mentioning him at the kids practice or his voice on the speakers. A good villain needs to be established early and often so we can get to know them before the finale. Just like this!

This brings me to the kids! We got to see a fair bit of the world of Now and Then this week. Taking a peek outside the tower we see what a day in Nabuca life is like. Suffice to say, it’s not great. Fighting and training all day in case enemies appear. And when they do getting sent out to war despite being, what, 13? I generally liked this look into their lives. But what really tied it all together for me had to be the story of their instructor. This guy appears in only two scenes, but if you pay attention you notice the scar on his hand during their early training segment is the same hand we see thrust out of burning rubble at the end. I appreciate these small details left for viewers to find, rather than being called out and shoved in our face.

The big thing this section of the episode did though was setup Tabool. Previously I suspected he would become an early antagonist. Someone low on the totem poll threatening Nabuca, Shu and Lala Ru. What this episode does though is that it established, for all his bluster and anger, that he is just as much a victim as the rest of them. He’s doing the best he can to survive in this tower. Looking for any opportunity to rise up and get out of their child-soldier unit. But when it comes down to it, he’s being sent out to kill and die just like everyone else. And we see that in his facial expressions and body language throughout their defense against the attacking ship. I really like this! It once again moves the focus, our ire, to Hamdo. Making Tabool still an obstacle, but a sympathetic one.

So yeah, all in all what did I think of the episode? It was a nice, worldbuilding-rich episode. I say nice despite it being incredibly tragic but I love this shit. Like I said above, the actual narrative didn’t get moved forward that much. Shu is still in prison, Lala Ru is still captured and Nabuca is still working with everyone. But what we did get was time to actually experience and live in this world. Time for Shu’s situation to settle in, for Nabuca to start to doubt, for Lala Ru to begin to fight back. All these smalls things that are together building up to a greater whole. Like I said, a good episode. A lot of series can’t manage that. They either go to fast and don’t setup anything or they spend a lot of time doing nothing but call it setup. This is a good balance.