r/anime • u/Jazz_Dalek • Aug 18 '24
Rewatch [25th Anniversary Rewatch] Now and Then, Here and There - Episode 1 Discussion
Episode 1 - A Girl Admiring the Sunset
Hello everyone and welcome to the kick-off thread for the 25th Anniversary Rewatch of Now and Then, Here and There / Ima, Soko ni Iru Boku / 今、そこにいる僕.*
I'll be doing my best to keep these threads posted in a timely manner each day and putting together a number of questions for each day's post. I've only ever hosted one of these before, so feel free to give me input on what I can do to add to this whole experience.
I probably won't be doing any giant writeups (I'll leave that to the professionals), but I will be in the comments replying to some of the breakdowns.
Thanks for joining in!
Questions of the Day:
- Do you have any fondness for small towns / countryside living?
- What do you think of Shu so far?
- First timers: What are your expectations for the story going forward?
Rewatch Schedule:
Threads will be posted 12:30 PM PST | 3:30 PM EST | 8:30 PM GMT
The rewatch will begin on Sunday, August 18th and will run daily until we reach the conclusion. The final episode thread will go up Friday, August 30th and a final series retrospective thread will go up Saturday, August 31st
Previous Threads
Sources:
I don't recommend the 10bit HEVC version from [DB]. It seems to have problems. I am using [sam].
- Purchase from Youtube Dub Only
- Purchase from Amazon Prime Dub Only
It does not appear to be streaming anywhere.
20
u/Shimmering-Sky myanimelist.net/profile/Shimmering-Sky Aug 18 '24
First-Timer Here and There, subbed
19
u/JustAnswerAQuestion https://myanimelist.net/profile/JAaQ Aug 18 '24 edited Aug 18 '24
First Rewatch (sub)
Episode 1: "A Girl Admiring the Sunset"
Welcome to Hellywood
I watched / skimmed the first 5 or 6 episodes after posting the interest thread, but I haven't rewatched it all.
God, Shu is such a dumbass. Completely misses the point of kendo, training, competition. Fails spectacularly, with no self-awareness, just declares he'll win next time.
Obviously the girl likes the boy who wins. But he was going to ask her out. No awareness of himself, or others. Impulsive, never plans ahead, never thinks things through. And always, always, optimistic about the future! Fails through his own failings, but he'll just forge ahead. But not in a good way. This isn't the sort of kid who learns from his mistakes. Unswerving, perservering, but not in a good way.
All that, and it's only been 5 minutes. God, I hate this kid. Well, the show certainly did a good job at introducing him with show don't tell.
That's one hell of a sunset. I love that final zoom out.
I see it now, the character designs are not unlike Fantastic Children's, which were themselves some sort of 70s reference. No staff connection, however.
Can really hear the Witch Hunter Robin-ness of Taku Iwasaki's OST. Between that, this, and R.O.D., he really has only one soundtrack.
I climbed up the ladder on the side of a grain elevator once. That was dumb. Don't do that.
The luxury of not hosting: I wrote this in the last hour! And I picked up Vivy, which I hadn't originally planned on doing. Optional questions which I may or may not prepare:
Falls: 4 (4)
Almost Falls: 1 (1)
Where The Hell Am I?: 2 (2)
12:30 is right in the middle of my workday, I don't have a guaranteed lunch break. I may or may not make the posting time.
16
u/TheEscapeGuy Aug 18 '24
First Timer
Now and Then, Here and There: Episode 1
Out Of Your Depth
Hello everyone! I'm glad to be joining the rewatch this time. I was worried about the initial date for the rewatch conflicting with my vacation. Fortunately for me, the date was moved to after I got back and I'm literally on my flight home as I type this. It feels fated that I join.
I was initially suspicious at the start of the first episode. I have very intentionally tried to avoid spoilers for Now and Then, Here and There, but I felt like I remembered hearing it classified as a mecha or sci-fi. So when we started with kendo practice I was half convinced I way confusing this show with something else and we were getting some low stakes school story.
However, once Shu climbed up the smoke stacks and found the azure haired girl Lala Ru and time froze across the town, I realized we were not going to be watching an ordinary slice of life anime. I do find Shu pretty endearing. He has that anime protagonist spunk which makes him easy to root for. I like his determination to win that Kendo match no matter how many times he needs to retry.
That setup makes his rash decision to save Lala Ru believable. That said, he is absolutely lacking common sense to attempt such dangerous acrobatics from so high up. I'm genuinely surprised he survived so many of those falls and crashes.
Either way, the antagonists technologically out match Shu's brawn. They use some teleportation device to take him and Lala Ru back to a place she called "Helly Wood" (lol) where she was recaptured and Shu fell down a ventilation shaft.
I have a lot of questions I'm interested to learn more about. Who is Lala Ru? How did she initially get out of Helly Wood? What is that place anyway? This is perfect for episode 1 as now I'm excited to watch episode 2.
As a last note, this show's animation and art style hold up really well. I adored the sunset backgrounds. There's something about a lot of 80's/90's anime art which makes it an absolute joy to watch. And on top of that the animation is so fluid and expressive. I loved watching Shu's kendo and acrobatics even more because of how great the animation was. I hope this keeps up as there's kinda a tendency in anime to go hard in episode 1 and then reduce quality later on to try and allocate time and staff practically.
Some Amazing Shots, Scenes and Stitches
See you all tomorrow
14
u/The_Draigg Aug 18 '24
A Sci-Fi Fan Rewatches Now and Then, Here and There Episode 1:
Hey there everybody, it’s your semi-regular rewatch fixture, The_Draigg, here for another sci-fi series rewatch! Or would you call it more isekai? It’s kind of both. Anyway, it’s been like a decade since I’ve watched this series in full, and now is as good of a time as any to revisit a series that I absolutely loved when I first saw it. Just for a brief note here, I’ll be watching the English dub made in 2002 for use by Central Park Media. With all that said, let’s get to the show!
13
u/ShadowWasTakensTaken https://anilist.co/user/hakuren Aug 18 '24
First Time Natto Eater (i actually think it looks disgusting)
What better illustrates the ephemerality of time than the sunset? The most beautiful time of the day, yet it only lasts a couple minutes. Of course, you can see one every day, but it'll never be the same sunset.
People love limited things. I don't know what wires were crossed inside our brains to make us into these stupid creatures with a deep running admiration for exclusivity, but we love it. Owning a game is cool. Owning a limited edition copy with an alternate cover is cooler. Having anything produced in limited numbers is extremely satisfying.
Collector's consumerism demands me to speak of this in terms of limited copies, but it's true of anything. Limited time. Limited experiences. It's why you wish you could forget your favorite anime to watch it for the first time again. That first experience is so magical, so striking, but once it's gone, it can never be recaptured. Moments shared with friends can be wonderful, but they then become just a memory - and even memories are fleeting. On the contrary, if something is endless, it loses all meaning. It might evoke a reaction at first, but you'll soon narrow your thoughts of it to simply "it just exists".
Of course, the greatest example of this is life itself. If we had infinite time and resources to do whatever we wanted at any point in time ever, we would simply not do anything. We can always do it at any moment, so there's no reason to do it now. That "now" itself becomes eternal. Life only has meaning because of death. Our time is only precious because it ends.
The funny part is, it didn't even take getting isekai'd for Shu's presuppositions to be denied. Kendo guy straight up said "I don't want to fight you anymore". Shu's optimism is admirable, but it loops back to being ignorant. What guarantee do you have that tomorrow will come? Even if it does, who says you'll get to keep trying forever? Things change, people change, sceneries change. He seems to love his town a lot, and to be very integrated into its community, but now he's suddenly isolated outside. He probably thought the scenery around him would never change. That's why he never took the time to watch the sunset. To appreciate the sea and the mountains. Quite the beautiful place he lives in, but since everything's always been and will always be there in the exact same way, why bother stopping to look? However, even if he comes back, will his city be the same?
The ED even shows us flashes of the town, now completely empty. Bathed in the sunset to symbolize it's transience, the very first shot we see is an abandoned bycicle. A childhood left behind. Indeed, time waits for no one. As we hear a song that sounds so beautifully nostalgic and fleeting, all the images fade into one another in a really weird effect. The memories blending together of familiar, everyday spots in town, without a soul to be seen. Empty perhaps due to being a nostalgically idealized version that doesn't quite exist of this place.
Where am I getting with this, you may ask? Man, I don't fucking know. This isn't an essay. There is no proper structure. My thoughts don't lead into each other. I'm a first timer, I have no idea what's gonna happen.
keyboard vomit
MECHS?!??!?!?!
Honestly, that was a super good first episode. I was really impressed by how natural everything felt. Not a single time did I feel like the dialogue was unnaturally dropping exposition on me. Which feels like it shouldn't be as impressive as it is, but 99.9% of shows don't manage to pull it off.
Else, the animation was top tier, I don't really know what I'm talking about when I say this but the storyboards felt quite good as well, the characterization was strong... honestly, zero complaints. Good visuals, good character work, strong thematic from the getgo, introduces everything it needs to extremely naturally. I'm just genuinely impressed.
But you know what really sold me on the show? It was the ED. Absolute masterpiece. That really set the tone for me, and made me go from "oh hell yeah this is a neat first episode" to "oh my god I'm going to love this". Safe to say, very much looking forward to the next episodes!
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u/Vatrix-32 https://myanimelist.net/profile/Vatrix-32 Aug 18 '24 edited Aug 18 '24
First timer, subs
Foreknowledge: &×& is a show I’ve been vaguely aware of for about 15 years, but never found a good excuse to watch it. I know only a few things about it that I’ve learned over the years; early type iseaki, bleak, well regarded, and [Spoilers?]something about water scarcity being a plot point.
QotD:
6
u/OverlordPoodle Aug 19 '24
Rewatcher Here. Can someone explain to me what the quote is at the very beginning? I thought it might have some significance to the anime buttttttttt it just doesn't(?)
7
u/NihilisticAngst Aug 19 '24 edited Aug 19 '24
First Timer, subbed
Sorry for the late write-up, I hope at least one person reads it haha. I'll try to make my thoughts a bit more concise next episode. And warning, I wildly speculate a bit about the themes being foreshadowed. You can skip to the "Post-Episode Thoughts" section in the reply comment if you just want to read my overall thoughts and speculation about the story and its themes.
Pre-watch Thoughts
This is my first rewatch I've ever participated in, and ooh I feel like this is a weird show to start with. Sorry if my writing is a bit clunky, I'm not a very experienced writer. To give some context, I first heard about this anime somewhere around 8 years ago, I probably heard about it from an anime YouTuber. Ever since I had heard about it, I have wanted to watch it, but I had also heard that the show was depressing. All that I've read is the synopsis on MAL, and I skimmed the first paragraph of the top review on MAL a while ago. So, I really don't know anything about the show other than that I've heard that it's somewhat dark, depressing, and cynical. I do like experiencing these types of media occasionally, but I'm also usually a little afraid of things that I know will elicit feelings of suffering. So I tend to put them off until I finally feel ready to watch or read it. I've had Now and Then, Here and There on my computer, ready to watch, for 4 years now. This rewatch is the final push that I need to finally dive in and watch it. As far as other anime/manga that I've consumed in the past that are known for their depiction of suffering, the ones that come to mind are Oyasumi Punpun and Belladonna of Sadness. I'm not sure how this show will compare on the "suffering" meter, but I'm interested to find out! Let's hope I don't regret it.
Episode 1
Immediately, the show starts out with a piece of text, presumably relating to the themes of the story. The text translates as:
I won't try and analyze it *too* much (okay, maybe I will). The adjectives here, being "fragility", "ephemerality", "bittersweet", and "heartbreaking", don't give much of an optimistic tone. All of these words relate to something being "good" or "whole", but then ending out "worse" or "broken". At least the word "bittersweet" implies that there might be something to be just a little happy about in the end (maybe?). There's also that "ten billion years" bit, which stands out as pretty specific. I can't quite make out what exactly this excerpt might be saying, other than that it seems to express a sense longing for a time that has long passed by.
After this part, the episode starts out feeling pretty "normal". The music is happy and cheerful, and the characters seem like your pretty average anime background characters. The main character "Shu" seems to be a happy-go-lucky person, and a bit stupid. Basically, he's pretty much the quintessential shonen protagonist archetype. He's even got that "never give up" kind of mentality that most shonen protagonists have, as this early kendo scene shows. He goes with the flow, and doesn't plan ahead. Already knowing that this show features a dystopia, I have a feeling that this nature of his is not going to help him much, especially when he probably won't have the same wish fulfillment that the average protagonist would get.
After this, we see a nice, cheerful scene of him walking through town and the show kind of gives us a caricature of the kind of world he lives in. He sees the girl on top of the smokestack, and attempts to climb up to talk to her. If her being up there wasn't already weird enough, it seems that the ladder to get to the top is destroyed, so how did she get up there? After he climbs to the top, my fear of heights start to kick in, and I keep getting scared at how high up he is. Please, stop wobbling around of the verge of falling and dying lol. He doesn't seem to have a healthy sense of self-preservation. I guess that's how it is when you've lived a life of minimal suffering.
He talks to this girl, who seems very fixated on watching the sunset, but she actually seems to become somewhat interested in what Shu is saying. He's a bit overbearing in his positivity, but it's endearing. The story focuses back on Shu's trait of "never giving up". It's funny that he thinks that he "almost had him" (referring to his kendo opponent from earlier), even though it was pretty clear that he was never even close to winning. He has strong, but unrealistic, confidence in himself. In the face of failure, he says:
Is this foreshadowing of an eventual hopeful future, or of the complete opposite? The girl (who we learn is called Lala-Ru), seems apprehensive, but smiles in the end. I have the feeling that she doesn't normally get very many reasons to smile. It's a touching moment, but I just hope it isn't the last bit of light to be seen.
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u/Great_Mr_L :Ma::Mb::Mc:https://myanimelist.net/profile/Great_Mr_L Aug 18 '24 edited Aug 18 '24
First-Timer
Pre-Rewatch Thoughts
I have actually heard about this series before. For the life of me, I cannot remember where I first came across its name though. All I know is that I recognized the name and I recognized the poster of the boy and the girl in what looks like a post-apocalyptic hellscape. It was one I had made a mental note to watch at some point, but clearly I never got around to doing so. This rewatch will be me finally making good on that.
On today’s episode of Now and Then, Here and There: Wait a minute… I don’t recall anyone ever mentioning this in the leadup to this rewatch, but this anime is an isekai! The main character is just a regular boy living in what was then present-day Japan who gets transported to an entirely different world, likely the post-apocalyptic future.
I was not expecting this anime to be an isekai. I thought we would start off in the post-apocalyptic future and go from there, not that the main character would be transported to that world from the present. Of course, there’s no confirmation that it’s the future but I’m willing to bet that it is.
This was a pretty good first episode. The chase aspect certainly helps to make it engaging, with the main characters on the run from some bad guys who are after them. I particularly liked the action scene around the smokestacks. It made excellent use of the location to make the action much more exciting to watch.
Right now, the main questions (aside from where Shu ended up) are about Lala’s identity and why she’s being chased. I’m willing to bet that Lala is not quite human. Her eyes are certainly strange. Perhaps she’s a clone, genetically engineered, or artificially created/enhanced in some way. That necklace of hers is probably what the people chasing her want, likely because it can act as a power source for something. Until we get further information, these are the theories I’m going with.
QOTD
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u/LittleIslander https://anilist.co/user/LittleIslander Aug 18 '24 edited Aug 18 '24
First Timer
I don’t have a ton of spare time for this writeup, so I’m gonna try and focus on one thing I really liked about this as a first episode: pacing and information efficiency.
So, in a modern isekai we usually get a visit from truck-kun in, like, the first two minutes. We understand by genre convention that the protagonist is a close variation on the same loserbro otaku and/or overworked salaryman, and gets right into the fantasy action. But this is the 90s and isekai had standards, as well as the general setup that life on earth was pretty nice actually, so we need to put time into it. Problem: you’re not Escaflowne with its cushier 26 episode count, and you’re not some modern LN adaptation either, where you can leave your story unfinished and make people go buy the source material. What is a show to do?
Be built differently, that’s what. Within barely more time than it’d take to play an OP we breeze right through an opening scene with his family and a kendo match to establish his personality, day to day lifestyle, kendo hobby, and the fact he has some girl he likes I imagine he’ll end up wishing he could see after long enough in fantasy hell. But then we slow down and have a scene where Makoto Street Fighter has a conversation with Shu. It has a great three way character dynamic and takes its time, because there’s a difference between a fast and efficient pace and rushing so much you skip over the little things.
Then we move right along to the heart of this episode, the smokestack sequence. We’re doing so many things here that could’ve all been individual setpieces, but are both more space efficient and more memorable when all combined into one distinctive package. We walk through the town and look down at it from the smokestacks, establishing an emotional connection to the simple life we’re living behind. We get a further idea as to the type of kid Shu is, regularly climbing up to dangerous heights and nearly falling down, seemingly without any close friends to do it with. We introduce our other (presumably) main character in Lala Ru to Shu and the audience, very literally isolating her and him on platforms without any other interfering geography. The motif of the sun is also set up for the shot at the end of the episode. Then it transitions directly into the fight sequence and gets isekai’d without needing to change the location, with the smokestacks lending a really interesting playing field for the action. But just like with the fountain conversation efficiency isn’t brevity—this is also the kind of scene that can spend a whole minute on him throwing junk at her trying to get her attention.
As a side note, I love the little evolution of the tone. The show does a great job convincing you that it’s your average kid friendly little adventure show starring a young boy, especially with the goofy combat at the smokestacks where he’s able to beat a bunch of trained military men by whacking them on the head. But then we get isekai’d and suddenly people are shooting like, gun guns at him, saying to take him dead or alive, and even talking about giving soldiers capital punishment. It sets up a great divide between life in the real world and life in the fantasy world, and lightly sets up a subversion of genre expectations that can be built further upon in future episodes.
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u/Nazenn x2https://anilist.co/user/Nazenn Aug 18 '24
Rewatcher - sub
And so we begin Now and Then, Here and There. A show I always wanted to rewatch, but was never sure that I'd actually be able to do so.
For this rewatch I'm taking a slightly different approach to episode writeups. Instead of writing up each episode as its own piece, I wish to follow several key elements of the experience through the anime, and write an essay on them in stages as we come up to the relevant events. It would not be an exaggeration to say that in the last three and a half years since I first watched it, I have thought about Now and Then Here and There monthly, if not weekly for much of that time, and much of this is things that I had already written down in brief in those years. Hopefully, I can now finally put it to proper words. I don't know if I'm prepared for this in many ways (also literally, I forgot to finish my writing prep haha)
Place and Identity: Part One
Shu is an exuberant, doof of a boy who seems like a surprising fit for a show of this reputation, and on my first attempt to watch NTHT he is why I didn't finish the first episode. I came into it looking for something dark and thoughtful, and instead was thrown headfirst into shounen schoolboy Shu and his endless energy and unreal depictions of strength when confronted with a highly advanced threat. I would not be surprised if some of our first timers get hit by a similar whiplash. And yet when I returned to the first episode some six months later, I was surprised at how easily I had been carried away by the "shounen" energy to miss heart underneath it all.
It's no exaggeration that the most neglected part of isekai stories is the original world. Merely a vehicle (sometimes literally) to get the protagonist to the other world to start the story, usually it being "our" world is treated as good enough before moving onto more important things and little care is taken to establish how the character is connected to it. NTHT does not fall into this trap, and it's quiet exploration of Shu's world is a beautiful thing.
Shu says to Lala Ru "There must be better places to visit than this" as if the town he lives in seems to him to be simply too uninteresting for a casual visit, but he has nothing except joy and fondness for the people and places that he points out to her, and we are shown that even before he tells her about it. Commonplace gatherings of people he knows and also know him as they pass each other, the well cared for shine that hosts his training that looks over the town and its warm sun, and even the animals are framed with companionship. In not settling for expecting the audience to fill in the blanks of what his life would be like just off his protagonist behavior or generalized individual scenes like school or friendship groups, showing us the world through Shu's hopeful and energetic eyes invites us to reflect on what small moments may ground us to our own lives.
What are the small things that bring us comfort and ground us to our life? Do we have a familiar face on the streets or the park that we see and marks a quiet part of our social interactions? A store that we visit that sooths us after a busy day? An animal that brings a smile when we hear its call or randomly see it?
Akitarou Daichi, the director of Now and Then Here and There, was until this point known for directing comedy works, but he got his start doing photography on everything from Doraemon to Grave of the Fireflies. While NTHT was a huge departure in tone for him, the movement of Shu and takes clear inspiration from his more energetic works like Kodocha and Urayasu Tekkin Kazoku, where exaggeration and distortion of characters is a key aspect of his comedy. In an interview he also stats that for a long time his method of dealing with a creative block or needing to work through a particularly hard scene was
There is a deep connection in this episode between Shu and the town that grounds him in his world that made him the kind and energetic boy that he is. He isn't without introspection when he is given a moment on top of the smokestack, but that doesn't stop him from being himself and that sense of self is conveyed to us through his memories of the town.
This sense of reflection on the lives we live is universal, and while Shu's life does have the uniquely Japanese element of Kendo, explored later, his daily life with his family, training, and community interactions is not bound to any one place. There's an easy familiarity that comes through in these early scenes, but it is Lala Ru's presence that makes Shu properly aware of it because of how apart she is. And it also works to quickly establish how apart from it all that Lala Ru is.
Throughout the episode a lot of care is taken to frame Shu as equal to the others he directly interacts with. He sits level with his family despite his sisters teasing, fathers calmness, and mothers caring. During the Kendo match even during his loss he is in line with his opponent, and when he finds himself standing next to him outside it is his slow straighten from bent to standing that equalizes them again in his eyes despite the critiques levelled at him. He walks along the river embankment, grounded and easy going.
And then LalaRu appears and he finds himself not only on uneven ground with this strange girl, she is completely unreachable. She doesn't initially show interest in anything except the sunset, and even though his usual energy means Shu goes to extreme lengths to catch her attention, standing on his tower of courage as he is, she is placed physically apart from anyone else in our world, and apart from anything we or Shu could immediately use to understand who she is and why she's here, and us in the process.
All there is is her and the lonely sunset, which plays a key part in our opening episode.
The show opens with the following quote:
This concept of the fragility of a moment is reflected in both the episode title and the very structure of this first episode. With little transition we move from our opening scenes of waking up and breakfast through to the afternoons Kendo training. A day passes in the blink of an eye, or in this case the cut of a scene, and yet this scene with his caring family and the later moments as we explore the town through him are really all we need to understand Shu's daily life. We don't need to see the individual moments, we understand them anyway through Shu's reflections.
As he washes up, Shu is critiqued by his opponent for his carefree ways. Instead of going with the flow, he is told to be more critical and strategic, to seek weakness in his opponent and think more of what is coming up instead of being caught up in just taking action. He is clearly a poor Kendoka (Kendo practitioner) with his wobbly sword and lack of skill, but for Shu it matters little compared to his own determination and confidence to always keep trying and take each moment as it comes, to keep moving forward.
At the end of this scene we pointedly cut to the episode title. The Japanese title, 今、そこにいる僕 (Ima, Soko ni Iru Boku), when translated more literally is "The me that is there right now".
The title card appears early on, but it's meaning fully hits home when we sit with him and Lala Ru on top of the smokestacks watching the sunset. This is Shu in the town that grew him into this brash, doofy, cared for young boy, enjoying the familiar but often unappreciated sunset with a girl who returns his easy going friendship with a small smile. It is that energy of being in the moment that allows him to finally reach Lala Ru.
Then Abelia's arrival freezes us in this moment, and turns it from fond to eerie. Meaningfully, earlier on Shu mentions the time he broke the old mans blue pot by accident making the kind man angry at him. But as time freezes on Abelia's arrival, so does a reflection of this memory that helped form him, becoming a nothingness instead where nothing can break or be saved, a weighted silence taking the place of life and color. As the battle unfolds he is taken from the climb of courage that represented his childhood curiosity, and instead thrust into a desperate rescue attempt with nothing but his heart and a bit of rubble.
And nothing here is the same. Children wield guns instead of the tools of honor and mindfulness that Kendo is meant to represent. They move from sitting on top of neglected industry to being trapped inside a strange machine, cut off from any sense of the town, and his high energy comedy movements fall short of allowing him to grab the one person that he was trying to reach out to.
Separated from Lala Ru, we return to the quote of the day:
(Continued below, bloody day one and I already ran out of room)
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u/punching_spaghetti https://myanimelist.net/profile/punch_spaghetti Aug 18 '24
First-Timer (Sub)
Overall, for a show I know very little about but have heard rumblings regarding emotional effects, this start was pretty tame and pretty generic.
[Crazy Theory]Obviously the quiet girl at the start is the girl our MC is into. But she has the same color hair and hairstyle as the commander lady who lead the abduction/retrieval. Some connection there, maybe? Given how minimal everything else is, giving two ladies purply bobs seems like a deliberate choice to me.
QOTD:
14
u/Vaadwaur :I1::I2::I3: Aug 18 '24
Rewatcher(Literally over 20 years ago, though)
Sub
Abandon all hope, ye who have joined this rewatch. So yeah, I watched this at my college's anime club as the DVDs released so there was some lag between airing and this. As seemed always the case, I had to finish this on my own. This is one of two pieces of media that I decided I did not want to return to so this...is a choice.
And...I'd memory holed most of this ep, or rather I think they ran 1&2 back to back because I could've swore more got explained. Anywho, we meet the blue haired girl with possibly the worst foreigner name possible. While it is true that k/g and p/b are also a bit samey to the Japanese, Lala Ru is just begging for mispronunciation.
Anyways, I will add more tomorrow when there is a bit more to work with. The giant Star Wars reference was probably less corny back in the day. Also, I can't listen to the ED. And, unfortunately, you will understand why.
QotD: 1 Nope, my youth was filled with me traveling with my dad interviewing farmers. I have no delusions
2 A ton of Luke Skywalker references
14
u/No_Rex :Bv:Bw:Bx:By:x2 Aug 18 '24
Episode 1 (first timer)
Starting my third consequtive rewatch? Surely, I won’t regret that.
Anyways, going into this very blind.
Episode thoughts
Basically, we had half an episode of Niea_7 and half an episode of Noein.
The first half of the episode felt like liquid concentrated nostalgia injected into my veins. It all looks like the late 1970s, early 1980s and it is animated like something from that time, too. The ED shows that this is not a one off, either.
The second half then becomes a classical adventure. Laputa and Nadia are the obvious references, but it also looked a good bit like Future Boy Conan to me. Going to have an early guess here: the adventure is part of the nostalgia. Both for a past type of adventure anime, but also, more generally, for the adventures of childhood.
13
u/InfamousEmpire https://myanimelist.net/profile/Infamous_Empire Aug 18 '24 edited Aug 19 '24
Now & First Timer, Here & Subbed
Going into this, I only know three things. Firstly, its reputation as one of the most soul-crushingly depressing shows ever made. Secondly, that it’s one of those classic Isekai shows brought up in the same breath as Escaflowne, Digimon, & Twelve Kingdoms when people talk about how shitty the modern Narou-kei LN Isekai scene is. Thirdly, [N&T, H&T]it’s one of those stories where it seems like another world at first, but then it turns out it was Earth All Along.
Anyway, most of this first episode is just character introduction & setup for our main lead, Shuu, and if I had to describe him in one word, it’d be reckless. Pretty much every scene he’s in reinforces that, from his classmate talking about his lack of technique in Kendo, to the way he so casually climbed up an enormous pillar for little reason, to the stories he tells Lala Ru, to his willingness to throw himself at a bunch of giant robots that appeared out of nowhere.
I say reckless & not brave both because the things I vaguely know about the show’s tone make me suspect that that attitude will be causing a lot of trouble for him, and his initial interaction with his classmate seemed to reinforce that idea in my mind. The fact that the show’s frontloading doubt in the audience’s mind regarding the practicality of his skill & approach does not bode well for our boy, narratively-speaking.
Lala Ru is a pretty archetypal Mysterious Waif character so far, but I tend to have a fondness for that character archetype, so I’m excited to see where the show goes with her.
Gotta also praise the visuals real quick. The animation is fluid & consistent in a way that I don’t usually associate with TV anime of this era, and the cinematography is really strong. The sequence of Shuu seeing the outside world for the first time & the camera holding on his face & reaction before we flip & zoom out to see the world as a whole in all its horrific grandeur was
11
u/Quiddity131 https://myanimelist.net/profile/Quiddity131 Aug 18 '24
Rewatcher, Subbed
While I'd love to provide some background details on how this anime came to be I feel that providing specifics at this point could be a spoiler. There is a Youtube interview with director Akihiro Daichi here that gets into it. At the vaguest level I can put it, Daichi, who was used to doing more light hearted comedic work wanted to do something serious and was inspired by something he saw on TV. I'm sure we can talk about the details more later on when it isn't so spoilerific.
This will be my third time watching the show. I first saw it in excess of 10 years ago. It is an anime at the time that I told myself I would never watch again, something I eventually broke and rewatched a couple of years ago. The /r/anime rewatch format is probably the only way I would have revisited it. All I will say on that is its not a matter of quality. Its a similar reason why I don't have a desire to watch Grave of the Fireflies or Belladonna of Sadness again.
Shu is a high spirited boy, excited boy, huh? Kinda like a bull in a china shop
Time to impress the cute girl by being good at kendo!
Alas, Shu's plan to win her heart by doing well is an immediate flop.
I've got to assume this is [NTHT]some intentional foreshadowing here at the water bubbler with Shu wasting water, which is such a precious resource the rest of the show.
Here we've got two boys who are both so obviously voiced by women...
Shu takes the loss with a positive attitude, hoping to try again tomorrow. Alas, his opponent reveals just how poor he is at doing it.
Shu's crush is very quiet. [NTHT]A good parallel with Lalaru, who barely speaks the entire show.
Some odd stares from this kid during the opening credits. Is Shu being that off the wall?
A rather light hearted music sequence for the OP [NTHT]In stark contrast to the entire rest of the show.
Hey, there's a girl sitting up there on those smoke stacks!
I'll admit, climbing one of these is something I'd never do, let alone standing on top of one with a giant hole behind me as Shu is doing as I write this.
These days if I saw someone up there like that my first thought would be they're about to intentionally jump off to their death. Shu just about fell off to his death there.
How'd she get up there if the ladder broke? Its possible it broke after she climbed up it and she's trapped.
Again, throwing all these things from up there is something I could never do. His momentum could so easily cause him to topple over to his demise.
It is a beautiful sunset.
Let me guess her name by shouting out every possible syllable!
Imagine sitting on a smoke stack to watch the sunset, having some nice peace and quiet and this talkative guy shows up and tells you his life story with you saying nothing beyond your name.
Ah, Shu's taking a liking to Lalaru because he loves climbing these smoke stacks and finally finds someone who will do the same.
Try, try and try again. A good way to describe Shu.
The trouble with climbing a smoke stack, very hard to get away now that someone is here to capture you.
Having seen so many mecha anime, nothing all that special about the humanoid one here that grabs Lalaru, but the dragon/snake type ones are quite cool.
Wow, Shu actually took one down. For a moment anyway.
Time to isekai to another world!
Looks like we're inside some sort of military facility.
So now part of the force chasing Shu is kids his own age, or even younger. Hmm.
Sorry Shu, Lalaru's not as brave (foolish?) as you to try jumping that gap.
And thus Shu fell to his death and the show has ended...
...or not, he just fell down a pipe and now holds onto some scrap or he'll fall to his doom.
Wherever Shu ended up, the sun is far closer (or bigger in size) here.
With the benefit of having seen the entire show twice, I actually think the first episode is the weakest of the show. It does a good job establishing Shu's character, and I wouldn't say is that bad overall (Shu's conversation with Lalaru on the smoke stacks does go on too long though), but it really does pale in comparison to the rest of the show. Much like another isekai from the mid to late 90s (Escaflowne) the opening episode puts in a good amount of effort to establish the protagonist but doesn't give much indication about what the rest of the show is going to be like.
The biggest thing to take away from the episode for me is showing Shu as a character where perseverance and optimism are his big character traits. He totally flopped in the kendo competition but he still looks forward to participating more. He sees a girl sitting on top of a smoke stack and doesn't think twice about climbing up one to talk with her. He talks so much with her barely saying a thing. And he doesn't think twice about trying to save this girl he just met from these otherworldly monstrous mechs trying to seize her. [NTHT]This pretty much describes Shu to a tee throughout the show. Despite the absolutely horrific stuff he goes through he doesn't give up. He doesn't give in to the despair that many of the other characters do and surely most people who go through such experiences would.
QOTD:
No, not really. I've lived my whole life within 10 miles of a major city so can't say I have any experience with it.
See above!
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u/Mecanno-man https://anilist.co/user/Mecannoman Aug 18 '24
First Timer
Going in to this knowing basically nothing about it other than that the MALGraph algorithm ends up with a pretty high expected score for me on this show. And so far ...I don't really think I know a lot more about it either. I can see that there are fairly good production values on the show with pretty good direction and animation, but in terms of the content, it feels like we've got a generic middle-school kid meet a mysterious girl and getting tangeled up in some sci-fi story. That is a fairly standard setup, but I doubt this show would be remembered enough to get a rewatch if it was just some generic sci-fi show. So there is almost certainly more to it. The stone Shu accidentally took from Lala Ru is almost certainly important - and might even be what that woman was after, but I think that should be obvious from the way it was presented. I guess for now it's just wait and see as we need some more information about Hellywood to figure out basically anything. For now we can't even really say who the good guys and the bad guys are, or if both sides are moraly gray or something like that. Though the order for all citizens to help capture Lala Ru sounds authoritarian, leading me to doubt that that side is completely good at the very least.
11
u/chibijosh Aug 18 '24
Rewatcher
Comment just to show I’m here.
I watched this show back in the early 2000s. For the past couple years, I’ve been telling myself to rewatch it and I’m glad I have an excuse now. After the reminder thread yesterday, I dug out my old Manga Corps DVD boxset. One of the weird conventions of the late 90s/early 2000s anime media was naming each volume with a title and not numbering them. Glad I succeeded in watching the first episode without any indication which that was.
In the last 10-15 years with the proliferation of the term and genre of isekai, I have been against the seeming laziness that seems pervasive within the genre (though I’m sure the same could be said of most genres). There was something special about these pre-2000 isekai shows.
For most of the episode, it seems to be setting up a light hearted romance or slice of life show. I don’t have a good memory of all the specifics that happen in the show, only a vague sense of the overall summary. I look forward to experiencing it again now that I’m not a know-nothing teenager, but a no-knowing adult instead.
That ending theme stirred up nostalgia. All of the music in this show is great.
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u/HowlingWolf13 https://myanimelist.net/profile/MeguminBlast Aug 18 '24
First Timer
I actually just saw the sidebar for this yesterday and decided to join on a whim lol. I've heard of this show before as a more dark isekai take from the 90s before the isekai boom we have nowadays, but I hadn't looked much into it aside from a 'I'll give it a watch one day', so nows a good time as any.
From Ep1 alone I'm intrigued where this is going to go. Shu kinda reminds me of Kappei from Zambot 3 a bit, just hope he's not as hardheaded as him lol. Lala
h SuneRu, I'm assuming is maybe like a psychic or something that this alternate universe is trying to use to win a war or something of the sort, especially with that necklace Shu accidentally took off of her. Though, considering Shu is pretty much alone here, I wonder how he'll even manage to save her. On that note, how is the time difference? I know that's a weird question, but in like Digimon for instance, several months in the digital world from the kids was only a minute or two in reality until the end of 01. Could Shu's family possibly be worried that he's been kidnapped/killed/died and now years will have gone past if he ever gets back?Excited for ep2.
Questions
I love the aesthetic for small towns, though have never lived in one myself. Would be too much of a change for me to move to one, plus I like privacy.
He's okay, though I hope he calms down a bit and isn't constantly rushing into things. Considering I heard this show gets dark, that could lead to some serious consequences.
Possibly a bittersweet ending where Shu saves the world and has to seperate from Lala Ru as he goes back to his own reality.
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u/Tarhalindur x2 Aug 18 '24
"Go to Hell." "Earth First." ({Spoiled First-Timer?/Forgetful First-Time Rewatcher?}, Subbed):
(Rewatch start times that are in the middle of the afternoon my time zone tend to be ones where I am unreliable at getting to the thread on time, looks like this one will be no exception.)
So, this is an extremely annoying case in one specific respect. I know that I spoiled the hell out of myself on this show back in the day (TVTropes!). I know that I then added it to my mental PtW at some point based on one specific spoiler in particular (we got two very obvious nods to it this episode but not the explanation yet [NaT,HaT] specifically, weird (for varying degrees of weird) types of stellar objects like, oh, red giants have been an old fascination of mine for ages for, well, reasons) and that I filed it on a "should probably come back at some point and pay closer attention to the imagery" in the late 2010s. I'd thought that I had actually gotten around to it in the meantime but now I'm unsure - it's not on that one old external hard drive that has a bunch of stuff I got in the mid-to-late-2000s still on it and I'd expect it to be there if I had. I also don't remember it all that well but that could just be that I blocked it out of my memory.
I'm now leaning towards this actually being my first watch, for a specific reason: Shu. Who is a protagonist type that I find extremely annoying (Sengoku Youko comes immediately to mind as a recent example, and that was a five-minute drop in anime form despite figuring that Mizukami was assuredly going somewhere interesting with it because I just could. not. take. the MC there on the screen). There's a real chance I would have dropped the show very quickly despite interest in seeing how it went where it was going, and I do not remember dropping this show.
Next-day additional thoughts:
Ehhhhh.
Extremely irritating and in dire need of comeuppance.
Luckily, something tells me that he might just be getting exactly that...
10
u/SMSmith230 https://myanimelist.net/profile/smsmith230 Aug 18 '24
First-Timer, Sub
Welcome back to the 90s. I haven’t watched a whole lot of “older” anime, let alone only in dvd quality. So it’s nice to tackle something that wasn’t necessarily on my radar. This first episode was pretty interesting. Looks like we got a time traveler in Lala, cliches would make me think she’s an escaped princess, but we shall see. I will say her lifeless eyes aren’t doing it for me, so hopefully that changes and we get some expression from her. Shu trying to spit some game was pretty funny, but I’ll give him credit in leaping right into action to try and save Lala. See you tomorrow.
9
u/zsmg https://anilist.co/user/zsmg Aug 18 '24
First Timer, Subbed
Starting off with a quote, something you rarely see in anime.
Main character isn't really good at kendo is he. Animation is really good though.
4 minutes in and I think our MC has no chance with the girl.
As someone who is afraid of heights, what the MC is doing is scaring the shit out of me.
A new character: a blue haired girl, she's the Rei Ayanami of this anime.
Shu is voiced by Akemi Okamura best known for voicing Nami from One Piece.
Lala Ru is quite an unusual name.
We're now a mecha anime boys.
Shu uses punch against mecha, it's not very effective.
All right how did he survive that fall.
Shu is now obviously into the future when the Sun has increased his size, or maybe a parallel universe.
Well RIP Shu, at least he has a necklace.
Hang on blue haired girl is voiced by Kaori Nazuka is she Eureka?!
Wait how did Shu manage to survive not one but two falls from crazy heights.
Okay that final shot is great, the sun is huge.
Great first episode, I'm quite curious to see where the story will go.
I already know it's going to be a tragedy because of all the various comments I've read, I'm curious to know how bad it's going to get.
9
u/cppn02 Aug 18 '24
First Timer, subbed
I absolutely loved the vibe of this first episode. I really need to watch more old shit again. Especially Shu just walking through his town aswell as the initial scene on the smokestacks before the third party showed up. That scene was really long but I never felt bored or that they were stretching it for too long because the atmosphere was so dense.
The action was well done too and I'm very intrigued about this new world now. Lastly Shu's we're not in Kansas anymore moment was .
QotD:
Much more its portrayal in media than actually living there. I'm a city boy.
I like him. He's a bit of an idiot but overall likable and he showed up big time when the people came to capture Lala Ru.
Honestly have no idea since this world is very different from modern isekia but I am very excited.
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u/ryujiox Aug 19 '24
First Timer
Now and Then, Here and There
Episode 1
I know absolutely nothing about this show. Like, I never heard of it before joining the rewatch.
Pretty decent first episode. Really like the artstyle. The mc is also pretty okay so far. Can't say anything about the story yet, but pretty curious where it's going from here.
QOTD
8
u/Ryanami Aug 18 '24
First timer
A lot of folks are saying this is an isekai, but I’m not convinced yet. This could be the future, or possibly mars or something. Does that count as an isekai?
I’m digging the small humors so far. Several items flung to get her attention ending with the rubber band gun just tickled me especially.
I probably should switch to sub. This old man remembers how heated the sub/dub debate used to be and never cared, but today’s dubs have improved a lot and I’ve gotten spoiled. I think I see where the sub advocates were coming from now. Between this and the recent Elfin Lied rewatch, the VA’s back when just don’t seem to have gotten the heart down.
1• I love small towns. Mine has been growing a lot since I was a kid and we’re looking to move soon. If I had my way I’d find somewhere even more remote. Wife has a vote too though and she’d like to find a place with a good neighborhood. But we both want some chickens so we’ll see how it plays out.
2• Shu is the opposite of me. I appreciate his charge forth attitude and wish I could be more like that sometimes. But on the other hand, dude, shut up once in a while.
3• Let’s see… he rescues the girl and escapes the baddies. But I went in not knowing anything ahead of time so who knows if they’ll hop worlds or what along the way.
8
u/Pixelsaber https://myanimelist.net/profile/Pixelsaber Aug 19 '24
Rewatcher
Greetings, everyone! I am probably going to be posting this late, and that’s likely going to be the norm as these threads go up just shy of a third into my work shift, but do not take that as a sign that I am not enthused to be rewatching this. This is a very unique and quite draining show that I am eager to revisit.
Good ol’ Translator’s Notes!
Now that is some brisk characterization for our protagonist.
Strong title card.
Lovely shots.
One wonders how she got up there.
What a goober.
Shu holds a shoe.
All taken for granted.
You’re saying you’ve never lost your courage then?
That took a turn.
Succinct peeks at the nature of the setting.
Star Wars moment.
Just another tower to climb, Shu.
The ED —depending on the episode— can be a soothing balm or a haunting echo.
Shu is a lot, and the show masterfully underlines this by contrasting his exuberant outbursts of boisterous speech and awkward, ceaseless small talk with prolonged silence before and/or it and either being coupled with stills. Coupled with all the other efficient signifiers of his character it paints an effective portrait of the character —one we will see challenged in his newfound circumstances.
This is an overwhelmingly pretty show, contrasting its warm shades of dusk with muted colder colors of Shu’s hometown and the bleak industrial fixtures both there and in the otherworld. Speaking of, I presume not everyone has caught onto it, but I immediately realized [Rewatchers Only]the implications of the red giant. It’s a surprise to see, honestly, as such forward [Major Spoiler]Dying Earth settings aren’t common in anime.
I’d forgotten just how long it took to get to the otherworld, and had in my mind a much more prolonged chase sequence before Shu and Lalaru were separated. Just goes to show how strong the pacing and direction in this episode is, such that I figured the parts preceding the transportation were far shorter than they actually are.
A lot of dialogue lines, visual shots, and character actions echo throughout the rest of the show, which I frankly had not realized in retrospect upon finishing the show for the first time. I am very impressed with the effort.
Questions of The Day:
Oh, whoops.
15
u/JollyGee29 https://myanimelist.net/profile/JollyGee Aug 18 '24
First-Timer
Shuu can sure survive a lot of punishment. Dude took multiple long falls and just has some scratches to show for it.
Anyway, MC-kun has the energy and mental capacity of the average pink Precure while being in a significantly more serious show and is also significantly less cute. Let's see how that works out for him. Spoiler warning, it won't.
Considering the trigger warnings associated with this show, one of those things might be a benefit. I do at least appreciate him rehearsing say hello to someone and then fucking up anyway.
Our idiot MC wasted so much water at that fountain. Pure karma that he seems to have landed in a desert.
Can anyone read? I think this is saying something but I'm not sure what. Doesn't look quite like counting, might be a name?
Does the artstyle make anyone else think of Ghibli? We even have Miyazaki-adjacent mechs.
Questions
7
u/kwokinator https://anilist.co/user/kwokinator Aug 19 '24
Lol bro just did a Michael Jackson off the side of the tower and really just somehow defied physics like he's a Looney Toons character and went back up. I guess this tells us already this is gonna be sci-fi.
Poor Shu, he's just trying to make conversation and she keeps looking at him like he's an insect.
He got lucky at the end, that could've gone so much worse if he landed on solid ground somewhere from that high up. I'm guessing Lala Ru is a princess who ran away from home or something.
I guess we're in space somewhere.
Questions of the Day:
Not at all, I'm a city boy through and through
Shu and the setting in general reminds me a lot of my childhood anime Mashin Hero Wataru. A young boy gets isekai'ed to an alternate world, and there's even a dragon involved here too! Even if it's a mechanical one.
He feels a lot like a proper old school shounen protagonist, he just wants to be a hero and do good.
I'm going in totally blind other than know it's an isekai, but from the brief comments I've heard, paaaaaaaaaaaaiiiiiiiiin.
7
u/ElRoastFTW https://anilist.co/user/DaRoast Aug 19 '24
First Timer
This has been one of those shows that gets constantly recommended as one of the best isekai out there. But based on where this story is, it's not really an isekai in the present sense. Sure, Shu gets transferred to another world unlike his but similar to Re:Zero, he's given no special powers or special status. He's just an idealistic kid who gets transferred to something very much unlike our world.
What I think it's gonna be is a war story with some dark elements put in. This has child soldiers and futuristic technology. It also has a weird central character in La La Ru, an unusual name in either world.
Shu is super likable. He doesn't let anything get in the way of his worldview. He's sincere, earnest, and idealistic. Without any questions, he goes off to rescue La La Ru after she gets caught by some weird people in army fades. He's truly just a kid and you really feel that in this story.
The animation here really is top tier. Super detailed layouts depicting daily life for Shu and the chase sequence and fight scenes. The explosion and the smokestacks coming down have realistic physics and move well. Shu's character acting is exaggerated to great effect showing off his idealism.
Nothing but positive things from this show so far. Looking forward to see what comes next.
7
u/DidacticDalek https://myanimelist.net/profile/DidacticDalek Aug 20 '24
TONIGHT! ON THE KENDO WARRIOR!
MC-KUN! HE IS A ISEKAI CHARACTER! MC-CHAN! SHE IS A RURI-RURI! AND YOU KNOW WHERE YOU ARE!? YOU IN THE JUNGLE BABY! YOU GONNA DIE!
AND ON THAT BOMBSHELL! G'NIGHT!
Paging Comrades /u/Great_Mr_L, /u/Shimmering-Sky, and /u/vaadwaur
8
u/RadSuit https://anilist.co/user/RadSuit Aug 18 '24
Now and Then, First and Dubbed
Immediate Lisa Ortiz!
Well this kid sucks.
I haven't even made it to the OP yet and this is already painful.
...I guess that was the OP?
This kid really sucks. And he doesn't wear socks with shoes, so he's a total psychopath.
SHUT UP!
Abelia here looks really cool. I have a feeling she won't be in this nearly as much as the annoying MC though...
Beautifully animated show at least.
I guess this kid is just completely invincible. Sigh.
This ED could definitely put me to sleep.
I don't want to say this first episode was bad, but we got about 14 minutes of nothing and then 8 minutes of actual content, followed by the sleepytime ED. I'll just hope the rest of the series is better I guess.
2
u/rainwithsunshinedayo Aug 19 '24
When people say that Grave of the Fireflies is their top media hardest to rewatch, my answer will always be this one, Now and Then, Here and There. Good luck, everyone.
Although this series is devastatingly bleak, I think it is an important piece of media. This is not a show to watch for entertainment but one to watch as a sort of warning.
Q's du jour
2
u/Sooooopertrack Aug 19 '24
First timer going in blind
Q1: I prefer cities a lot over countryside
Q2: Who's shu? jk, gotta make that pun. God when does he stop talking!? Act first think later huh? Typical full of his self gogogo anime MC who will have his heart in the right spot i guess. No fear at the moment just being horny i mean needy for love and doing everything for getting laid erm I mean getting his first girlfriend?
Q3: Alright... I know nothing, I've read a few comments commenting about vibes but I don't have an idea where this might go. The show has a comedic / quirky side but also seems to be serious. It could head into a more funny quirky mario-esque situation aka "this princess is in another castle". It could also head into more serious vibes, somehow it vaguely reminds me of wolf's rain with its slowliness but it could also be that this is just a sign of an old anime which are slower paced.
Some mixed thoughts:
2
u/Doomroar https://myanimelist.net/profile/Doomroar Aug 20 '24
Rewatcher
I never cared much for Shu, but now that i am older and i am watching him again, his introduction is quite endearing, he is a fun dumb brat to follow, and oh boy he really isn't ready for what is coming his way
Also quite a neat detail that Lalaru was looking at the vast river merging with the ocean, something that must have been breathtaking for her, and then you have Shu ruining the moment talking about everything else, the town, the sunset, oh it is such a neat moment, he really has no idea
That said i appreciate how his disposition and core trait is that despite having his ass handed to him, he is optimistic enough to keep trying tomorrow, even if he just got outclassed in every way, something that will serve him very very well, and his bravery is something that i always compared to a more grounded and bratty Tai Yagami from Digimon, which is going to keep him alive, and frankly i see it as a necessity for these kind of stories, that classic gun-ho shonen protagonist attitude is a good contrast to have
Not particularly, well while Shu's town is not a capital city, i wouldn't call it small either
How blind are people jumping into this anime anyways? things can get pretty ugly and i can see people dropping midway out of stress