Now and Then, Here and There Vol 3

Shu, Lala-Ru and Sara prepare for the biggest and horrific onslaught by Hando's Helliwood fortress. War and friendship brings together the last volume of Now and Then, Here and There and in my opinion, an overlooked anime classic.

Age Rating: 16+
Company: Central Media Park/US Manga Corps
Genre: Sci-Fi, War, Epic Drama
Running Time: Approx 100 mins
Region: 1



All is quiet in the village, too quiet..
Shu and Lala-Ru are content staying at Sis' place with her children - but trouble is brewing as extremists in the village are trying to recruit more members, to take on the might of Helliwood. Suddenly, a soldier from Helliwood is found injured outside the village entrance - IT'S A TRAP! But the humble villagers let him in anyway! Lala-Ru finds a bit of emotion within her cold heart as she joins in with the children. Who would have thought? Sis announces the return of one of her children - yes the best character is back, sporting even shorter hair than before! Sara!



She immediately spots Lala-Ru. The one whom she was mistaken for and how she ended up in Helliwood to get abused. Of course, Sara goes straight to the jugular on Lala-Ru and ends up giving her a good beating before Sis and Shu drag her off! How unfair! ;) Everyone is stunned at Sara - she beats up Lala-Ru for 'no reason' but we get to know that Sara is pregnant. So in an emo moment, she sneaks off to a hidden cavern in Sis' house. Shu happens to wake up from his slumber and follows her.
There's a huge lake at the end of this cavern and predictably, Sara throws herself in it. Shu runs after her and drags her out from the sucide attempt. Clearly upset about her pregnancy, Sara ignores Shu and picks up a heavy stone and hits her own stomach with it. Again, Shu intervenes and reaches out to her. "Something good is bound happen!" he says - yes, Helliwood is approaching!
The extremists in the village meanwhile, want to hold a meeting with Sis about Lala-Ru. They tell her to hand over this 'water god' to Helliwood so that they can live in peace. Sis knows her destiny and tells her children to lock themselves in the cupboard. Sis is then 'crucified' in front of the entire vilage as Helliwood soldiers land and attack!



Nabuca and Boo with the rest of the soldiers, are told to kill everyone in the village but the children. King Hamdo is enjoying his meaningless slaughter as Abelia looks over like the fool she is. Sis is still barely alive and when Shu and Sara return from sucidial despair - they are met with bloodshed. Armed with only his wooden stick, Shu vows to protect Sis' children...and then Nabuca and Boo arrive. I won't spoil this any further - let's just say the most powerful scenes in anime itself happen during this bloody battle. Needless to say the good guys 'win' but at a cost.



So what about the ending? Well, I'll leave that up to you to watch! I found it rather abrupt and compared to the rest of the anime, a bit unfufulling. Just don't expect a fairytale or any surrealness..it's 'realistic' in a sense. It's a fitting end to the series that ties up most of the loose ends.
I almost forgot to mention the great DVD extras: Art Gallery, Mechanical and Character sketches, Storyboards (it runs through all of the episodes!), Behind the dub, DVD rom content with a wealth of pictures and the actual scripts used! Plus the usual trailers and clean opening/close. Stunning episodes that show what anime should always be like!

Overall: 9/10

Final Thoughts
Now and Then, Here and There is a journey filled with emotion and unexpected turns. Sometimes it is cruel and at others points generally heartwarming. You don't get anime of this calibre that often, so do yourself a favour and pick this up. You won't regret it!

Series Overall: 9/10