Salutations, traveler of The Internets! Welcome to William's Bloody Hell, so named after our founder, Sir Bloody William.
He is seen in the likeness above in a rare, 19th century woodcut. This
image was rumoured to have been
commissioned after a bout of unpleasantness
in the White Chapel district of London. Do enjoy your stay and peruse our many, varied offerings, much of which cannot be found elsewhere!
:: Now and Then, Here and There ::
by William the Bloody
On his way home from kendo practice one day, Shu passes by the run down factory like he always does, only this time when he looks up, he sees a girl sitting on top one of the smoke stacks. The one she's sitting on has a broken ladder and Shu has no idea how she could have gotten there, so he climbs the next smoke stack over to ask her. Once at the top, Shu starts making conversation with girl, who doesn't really say much, only that her name is La La-Rue and she's there to watch the sun set. Suddenly out of seemingly nowhere, these soldiers arrive in battle suits and start to grab La La-Rue, who asks for help, so Shu being Shu, decides to rescue this poor girl. Then, everyone and everything within a certain distance gets teleported out of there, the soldiers, La La-Rue, Shu, the smoke stacks, everything, are sent inside a mysterious military base of another world. La La-Rue is taken to the king who she had run away from and Shu is put in a cell, where he meets Sarah, a girl from Shu's world who was kidnapped by the soldiers because of her remarkable resemblance to La La-Rue. When it has been determined that Shu doesn't know anything about La La-Rue's escape, he is released from his cell and forced to join the king's military against his will. Shu discovers from his immediate superior, Nabuca, that water is rare here, so much so that nearly the whole planet is a desert and that La La-Rue isn't just a girl, but a supernatural being who has access to water, which makes her an invaluable asset to the king and his thirst for power. Can Shu rescue La La-Rue and himself from the clutches of the insane and evil king?
The Good: I have to give this series props for its great characterization. Everyone has a unique out look on life and their situations: Shu with his unrelenting optimism and determination to do good, La La-Rue's detached and indifferent point of view on humans, Nabuca's lingering attachment to his old village and protection of his subordinates, King Hando's malicious and paranoid perspective at the world at large, his second in command Abelia and her unwavering obedience no matter how ridiculous her orders are. I'd also like to give this series credit for not being afraid to "go there". Now and Then depicts a world ruled by a madman who is always questing to expand his power by any means necessary, which includes "recruitment drives" where villages get raided not for men to serve as soldiers, but for its women and children (the children get trained to be soldiers and the women get raped by accomplished and loyal troops for more soldiers down the line), also many characters wind up dying, even the good people who do good things and the ones you maybe liked. The use of violence is not what I'd call graphic by any means, but the point does get across. And I really got to appreciate the opening theme music after a few episodes; it really fits the feel of the show well.
The Bad: I was not impressed by the animation. The way Shu is drawn just doesn't do it for me, really. Everyone else looks okay. Well, except for La La-Rue. Her eyes kind of freaked me out. There are times in this series when Shu yells "La La-Rue!!" so repeatedly that it gets annoying.
Overall, this show came so highly recommended to me that I was a little disappointed as to how I wasn't blown away by it. It's not a bad little series (only 3 DVDs long) and I did appreciate some of the points it made, but it wasn't incredibly awesome. A good one to rent, but I can't see myself really getting the urge to watch it again.
B
