Welcome everyone, to another week of Now and Then, Here and There! This week Lala Ru stumblse upon paradise, Hamdo escalates the situation and Shu learns that war is complicated. So without further ado, lets dive in!
This week Now and Then’s overarching theme really begins to unveil itself. What do I mean by that? Up until now, Now and Then has cast a wide net with its theming. We’ve seen how the older generations problems and actions can trickle down and effect the younger generations, perpetuating the troubles that came before. How war damages and brings down everyone, even those at the very top like Hamdo, benefiting no one. Even how it can destroy the land! And while all of these revolve around war in some way or another, I’ve been curious where Now and Then would choose to go with it. Would we get an idealistic, but ultimately naïve and hollow, happy ending? After this week, with the nuanced way Now and Then presents both sides of the argument, I don’t think we will. And I’m kinda excited for that.
Now this kind of story isn’t anything new. We see it a fair bit across all forms of media, from literature and movies to other anime. But what I like about what Now and Then is doing is how it’s portrayed both sides of the conflict for us. It gave us a chance to really get to know these characters, to see their side, before it dropped the question of which is right. We cannot deny that Nabuca and Tabool are working for the “bad guys”. Yet we have also seen how they are victims of this world just as much as Shu and Sara are. How they were taken, conditioned and ultimately told to die for a man who doesn’t even know they exist. To use a real life example, in a way it reminds me of how Czech soldiers were drafted in WW2 against their will.
On top of all of that, Now and Then also doesn’t ask the question in a leading way. If anything, when Shu is asked “Which is right”, everything in the scene points towards revenge. Even Shu himself comments on this, saying he doesn’t think the man is wrong to seek revenge. I really like that! I’m glad that Shu isn’t just the idealized protagonist, saying that peace is right regardless of your reasons. That he isn’t sure, that he’s examining both sides and recognizing that what has happened to these people is wrong and they are right to want justice, makes the conversation much more interesting. The simple truth is that the violence wont stop as long as Hamdo lives. And yet, it’s also true that violence only begets further violence, as we have seen with Hamdo focusing on Zari Bars because of the assassination attempt. It’s a cycle.
Now the question becomes: What will Now and Then’s answer be. Will it go for the tried and true “Peace is always the answer even when its hard”? Or perhaps we will get a more doomed approach, one where everyone loses and dies, to show us the consequences if we are unable to reach such a resolution. With how grim and open Now and Then has been regarding the subject so far, I honestly don’t know. And either way with how much more we have to cover, I don’t see Shu making it home by the end of the show. It seems like him and Sara are both going to end up trapped here. Living with the consequences of whatever decision they make. Wherever Now and Then goes though, I’m interested.
This brings me to one character I haven’t really mentioned yet: Lala Ru. I’m really curious what her role in all of this is going to be. Will she come to be Shu’s emotional rock, comforting and supporting him? Or will Now and Then turn her into a martyr at the end, despite her stated desire to be left out of it all. Maybe she will even end up as our audience surrogate in a way, the only person to survive what is to come, giving us closure once the dust settles. Now and Then has a lot of options here! Personally, my hope is that she see’s what Shu is doing and what is happening and starts to open up with him more. We’ve already started to see this a bit, I just want it to continue.
Finally I want to take a moment to talk about some of the visuals. Now and Then has had a lot of held still shots in its run. Some of these were pretty bad, like the dark shots in the cell that lasted forever! But other times… Other times they work really well. I am of course talking about the long held shots on Shu in the aftermath of his argument. And the reason the long held shot worked here, where it didn’t work elsewhere, is because of what the moment mean’s for Shu in that scene. We aren’t just filling time and saving budget, Shu is contemplating. He has subtle shifts in expression as he thinks over what was said. The frame is still, but its contents are not. And that’s what makes it such a better shot than many of the still frames we have had before.
So yeah, all in all I would call this another good episode. Shu and Lala Ru are progressing, Hamdo is pushing us towards a final conflict, and Now and Then has begun to directly address themes of war, revenge and children present since the start. Hopefully this means that, in the remaining 4 episodes, it can bring it all together to a compelling conclusion. I don’t really care if Now and Then ends happy, sad or somewhere in between just so long as it gets to that ending naturally. I’ll only have a problem if like… Shu manages to save the day, get the girl and get home in the span of a single episode with no consequences or sacrifices. And I have enough confidence in Now and Then’s writing to know that won’t happen.
P.S. Some things I forgot to mention but that I thought were cool in reinforcing this weeks messages: Lala Ru wearing Shu’s shoe, a sort of symbolization of how she is starting to come over to his side of the argument regarding good people. I also liked how Shu’s “MEN” chant along with his kendo form, something he learned while practicing Kendo and fighting, was being used for farming and childlike play. It’s interesting to see these remnants of war/battle become useful in much more peaceful pursuits.
