"Now and Then, Here and There" borrows too much from Miyazaki's Future Boy Conan and has too many plot holes to be considered a classic. First, a list of characters copied from Future Boy Conan:
Hamdo = Lepka on steroids. A one-dimensional crazy tyrant without any back-story, Hamdo is simply there to be hated. He commands the evil fortress Heliwood, a.k.a. Industria.
Lala Ru = Lana on horse tranquilizers. Very apathetic and unlikable, Lala Ru behaves like a wise goddess among mortals, except she had the opportunity to destroy Heliwood a thousand times early on, but doesn't do it until the very end, after a lot of people have died.
Shu = Conan with a stick. Take away the spear, the strength and a lot of Conan's character, and you're left with Shuzo Matsutani - a boy with a lot of empty optimism, who doesn't really do much for a main character.
Abelia = Monsley without the depth. Unlike Monsley, she remains one- dimensional to the end and stands by her king without evolving as a character.
There are several things that bothered me about the plot. First, as I mentioned before, Lala Ru has many opportunities to do exactly what she eventually did in the end - to flood Heliwood and destroy it. However, she only decides to do it after a lot of people have died, and also kills a lot of people in the process. Not only that, she decides to overdo it by so much, that she floods the entire Earth and kills herself in the process. Couldn't she have only flooded half the Earth and remained alive for a while? She probably doesn't care. Another strange element in the story is this whole "time travel" thing. If Heliwood has the power to send people through time, why didn't Hamdo use that feature more often? Why didn't he grab some water from another time to fuel the fortress?
I must admit that the story is still engaging and I don't regret watching all the episodes, but it's still not very original, and the ending is pretty unsatisfying. One original thing the author did is to include a lot more tragedy and despair; and oh yes, some of the main characters get raped and are tormented by thoughts of abortion and suicide. Oh well, I'm sure Conan, I mean Shu, is a lot better at Kendo after the whole ordeal.
Hamdo = Lepka on steroids. A one-dimensional crazy tyrant without any back-story, Hamdo is simply there to be hated. He commands the evil fortress Heliwood, a.k.a. Industria.
Lala Ru = Lana on horse tranquilizers. Very apathetic and unlikable, Lala Ru behaves like a wise goddess among mortals, except she had the opportunity to destroy Heliwood a thousand times early on, but doesn't do it until the very end, after a lot of people have died.
Shu = Conan with a stick. Take away the spear, the strength and a lot of Conan's character, and you're left with Shuzo Matsutani - a boy with a lot of empty optimism, who doesn't really do much for a main character.
Abelia = Monsley without the depth. Unlike Monsley, she remains one- dimensional to the end and stands by her king without evolving as a character.
There are several things that bothered me about the plot. First, as I mentioned before, Lala Ru has many opportunities to do exactly what she eventually did in the end - to flood Heliwood and destroy it. However, she only decides to do it after a lot of people have died, and also kills a lot of people in the process. Not only that, she decides to overdo it by so much, that she floods the entire Earth and kills herself in the process. Couldn't she have only flooded half the Earth and remained alive for a while? She probably doesn't care. Another strange element in the story is this whole "time travel" thing. If Heliwood has the power to send people through time, why didn't Hamdo use that feature more often? Why didn't he grab some water from another time to fuel the fortress?
I must admit that the story is still engaging and I don't regret watching all the episodes, but it's still not very original, and the ending is pretty unsatisfying. One original thing the author did is to include a lot more tragedy and despair; and oh yes, some of the main characters get raped and are tormented by thoughts of abortion and suicide. Oh well, I'm sure Conan, I mean Shu, is a lot better at Kendo after the whole ordeal.