Some time back, I read an editorial about how the Japanese government was trying to `cleanse' their past by editing certain facts out of textbooks about the Japanese occupation of Korea (among other things), which included the capture of young Korean women and girls, who were then forced to be prostitutes for the soldiers. The writer condemned Japan for this, saying that if nobody remembers, the crimes will occur again and again.
It is works like the series `Ima, soko ni iru boku' (`Now and Then, Here and There'), the comic `Kaze no Tani no Naushika' (`Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind'), and the movies `Jin Roh,' `Grave of the Fireflies,' and `Seven Samurai' that convince me that, if nothing else, the Japanese literary world won't let the nation forget, and proves that many Japanese have in fact learned from their past.
NAT HAT, unlike such anime as `Urotsuki Doji,' is disturbing without being shocking or intentionally repulsive, which actually makes it even more unsettling (it doesn't allow the comfort of saying the villains are demons, either). In fact, I can't think of very many anime that were as powerful as this (basically, the ones above, Neon Genesis Evangelion, and Perfect Blue).
I went into this series with absolutely no knowledge about it, except that it was supposed to be the best thing since Serial Experiment Lain. I didn't even realize that it was done by AIC until the credit popped up. In some ways, NAT HAT is like another AIC series, El Hazard: a `modern' Japanese boy (read: pacifistic) is transported to an alternate Earth (one close to being consumed by the sun) when he tries to rescue a girl from robot-riding kidnappers. Honestly, at that point I was beginning to regret the purchase of the series, since I was wanting something serious, and almost the entire first episode showed how much of a klutz our hero, Shu, is.
After he arrives in Helliwood (a sometimes-floating city reminiscent of Bespin-there's even a bit of a parody of Luke's battle with Darth Vader, which ends about the same way), forget about Shu's bumbling-ness and the robots. There still there, but they play such a minor roll in the rest of the 300 minutes that I'm almost tempted to call the first episode a waste of time (it's not, however, as by the end, everything including Shu's klutziness are twisted into the character-driven drama).
I don't want to spoil anything else about this series, but I must say that the 16+ warning on the back of the box is there for a reason. The world portrayed is one where young boys are captured and forcibly drafted into a Hitler's Youth-kind of army and young enemy girls (one is an American girl from Shu's time) are subjected to sexual slavery and are forced to give birth to children who will grow into future soldiers or prostitutes for the cause of a mad, cowardly dictator who bears a striking resemblance to Adolf Hitler with a bowl cut. Though there is no nudity to speak of, beyond seeing one girl in a slip and panties, the show is unflinching, especially in its portrayal of violence. These themes are both a reference to Japan's past and (inferred by the title) a reference to the fact that these things have and can happen anywhere, anytime, Now and Then, Here and There.
The animation appears to be done digitally (which is to say, it was drawn by hand, digitized, and then `painted' on a computer, which makes the colors a little flat), and the character designs take some getting used to (they are totally different than the artwork shown on the package, and even the characters who are supposed to be in high school seem to be around eleven or twelve), but it looks amazing, and only rarely does it ever seem cheap or rushed, which is pretty impressive considering this was supposedly made for Japanese television. While not as visually creative as Neon Genesis Evangelion or as beautiful-looking as AIC's Tenchi OAV's, NAT HAT is truly a must-see anime for adults.
It is works like the series `Ima, soko ni iru boku' (`Now and Then, Here and There'), the comic `Kaze no Tani no Naushika' (`Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind'), and the movies `Jin Roh,' `Grave of the Fireflies,' and `Seven Samurai' that convince me that, if nothing else, the Japanese literary world won't let the nation forget, and proves that many Japanese have in fact learned from their past.
NAT HAT, unlike such anime as `Urotsuki Doji,' is disturbing without being shocking or intentionally repulsive, which actually makes it even more unsettling (it doesn't allow the comfort of saying the villains are demons, either). In fact, I can't think of very many anime that were as powerful as this (basically, the ones above, Neon Genesis Evangelion, and Perfect Blue).
I went into this series with absolutely no knowledge about it, except that it was supposed to be the best thing since Serial Experiment Lain. I didn't even realize that it was done by AIC until the credit popped up. In some ways, NAT HAT is like another AIC series, El Hazard: a `modern' Japanese boy (read: pacifistic) is transported to an alternate Earth (one close to being consumed by the sun) when he tries to rescue a girl from robot-riding kidnappers. Honestly, at that point I was beginning to regret the purchase of the series, since I was wanting something serious, and almost the entire first episode showed how much of a klutz our hero, Shu, is.
After he arrives in Helliwood (a sometimes-floating city reminiscent of Bespin-there's even a bit of a parody of Luke's battle with Darth Vader, which ends about the same way), forget about Shu's bumbling-ness and the robots. There still there, but they play such a minor roll in the rest of the 300 minutes that I'm almost tempted to call the first episode a waste of time (it's not, however, as by the end, everything including Shu's klutziness are twisted into the character-driven drama).
I don't want to spoil anything else about this series, but I must say that the 16+ warning on the back of the box is there for a reason. The world portrayed is one where young boys are captured and forcibly drafted into a Hitler's Youth-kind of army and young enemy girls (one is an American girl from Shu's time) are subjected to sexual slavery and are forced to give birth to children who will grow into future soldiers or prostitutes for the cause of a mad, cowardly dictator who bears a striking resemblance to Adolf Hitler with a bowl cut. Though there is no nudity to speak of, beyond seeing one girl in a slip and panties, the show is unflinching, especially in its portrayal of violence. These themes are both a reference to Japan's past and (inferred by the title) a reference to the fact that these things have and can happen anywhere, anytime, Now and Then, Here and There.
The animation appears to be done digitally (which is to say, it was drawn by hand, digitized, and then `painted' on a computer, which makes the colors a little flat), and the character designs take some getting used to (they are totally different than the artwork shown on the package, and even the characters who are supposed to be in high school seem to be around eleven or twelve), but it looks amazing, and only rarely does it ever seem cheap or rushed, which is pretty impressive considering this was supposedly made for Japanese television. While not as visually creative as Neon Genesis Evangelion or as beautiful-looking as AIC's Tenchi OAV's, NAT HAT is truly a must-see anime for adults.