now and then, here and there: animation - 6, story - 4, characters - 2, enjoyment - 4; 4

Plot:  Shu is a typical Japanese boy, but has an unbeatable, optimistic and determined attitude. However, when he sees a mysterious girl with strange eyes named Lala-Ru up on a smokestack, he is soon pulled into a strange desert world. Shu soon discovers the true terrors of war, which includes genocide, brutal torture, hunger, thirst, and child explotation. Now Shu is trying to save Lala-Ru, as well as his hard earned, and often relunctant, new friends from the insane dictator, Hamdo. Whether Shu can possibly accomplish saving those he cares about while still holding up to his values remains to be seen.

My review:  this is a depressing anime so depressing that I didn’t want to see anymore..The animation though is pretty good. This was one of those where the 1st episode didn’t answer a lot of questions and the characters are just I guess weird to me?