Imagine a future of slavery and war, a place where water is so scarce, a man will kill for it, a place where children have learned to become killing machines. It's a bitter future and the subject of an emotionally charged new video from Central Park Media Now and Then, Here and There. Akitaroh Daichi, director of Jubei-Chan The Ninja Girl, brings anime lovers the first blockbuster release for 2002 and the ending will leave you wanting more.

     The cover of the video box had me interested in this anime title. It looked rather gloomy and surreal, and at over two hours long, this five-episode video, Discord and Doom is definitely the beginning of something big. But the first couple of episodes were a little dry.

     The main character of this story is Shu. Shu is a hot-tempered child who fights without thinking. Depressed, he climbs a tower and watches the sunset; there he meets Lala Ru. Suddenly, time stops and a time warp opens and an army kidnaps the girl. When Shu tries to fights back, he is dragged through the time warp into a nightmarish world.

     It turns out that the evil King Hambo has been kidnapping children and bringing them to the future, and Lala Ru was his latest victim. Once there, King Hambo turns the children into his own military machine.

     After that, things get a little stale. We learn that the reason Lala Ru has been kidnapped is because of a special locket she posses that is full of water, a scarce commodity on this King Hambo's world. But Shu, in his attempts to save the Lala Ru, accidentally becomes the holder of which only Lala Ru can open.

     This is a character-driven story, from the two soldiers Nabuka who is noble, to Tabul who has been hardened by war. Right down to the Lala Ru look alike Sara, everyone plays an intricate point in bringing this story to a cliffhanger which will make you fully appreciate the story as a whole and forget about the tape's slow beginning.

     Overall I really liked this series. While I felt some of the humor was unnecessary, it actually adds to the drama of it all; almost a sad kind of humor preparing the viewer for what is about to come: beautiful animation, prophetic writing and a good cast will leave you waiting for more. The ending is a must-see with a death scene so brutal and shocking, you will be sad and uncomfortable, but excited. Now and Then, Here and There is here and now. You'll never look at your future the same way again.

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