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Warning: this title is a serious look at what happens when society breaks down. It contains images of children in the front-lines of war, violence, implied rape and torture. While it is by no means exploitative of such images, it is not for the faint of heart.
Now and then, here and there is a grim, but compelling, action-filled drama that demonstrates anime's capacity to be a serious art form concerned with serious issues.
Shu is a nice young fellow who often acts before he thinks, but is possessed of a sense of decency and a tremendous strength of will. Admiring the sunset (from atop a smokestack of a crumbling factory) he meets Lalaru, moments before time-travelling marauders appear to carry her away. Shu, of course, leaps to her defense, and gets dragged into a bleak and dying future world governed by a madman.
The society is technologically advanced, but impoverished nonetheless, and is totally militarized, sending young children off to serve as soldiers in a lunatic war of conquest. Shu struggles to rescue Lalaru and struggles to retain his decency as he survives in this world.
The animation is solid, the story-telling brilliant. The fact that this series was made by Akitarou Daichi, the director of manic comedies like Jubei-chan: the secret of the lovely eyepatch and Kodomo no omocha is just a testimonial to the true depths of his directorial talent.
