Now and Then, Here and There

Meet happy-go-lucky boy Shu. He lives the typical life of a kid, until one day on the way home from Kendo practice when he sees a mysterious girl admiring the sunset from the top of a factory exhaust pipe. While Shu tries to coax her into a conversation, a time warp suddenly opens to reveal Lady Abelia, who immediately identifies the mysterious girl as "Lala-Ru." As Lady Abelia tries to capture Lala-Ru, the whole lot is transported into the future. It's the action-packed opener to the series that Anime News Network calls "…one of the best newer shows [they’ve] seen."

Lala-Ru is captured by Abelia's men, but her magical pendant escapes with Shu at the last moment. Meanwhile, Shu is discovered and captured by Nabuca, one of Abelia's men. Shu is then questioned by King Hamdo, and the truth behind why Lala-Ru was arrested is revealed.

While imprisoned, Shu meets a fragile blue-eyed girl named Sara who found her way to this hellish future under similar circumstances. Meanwhile, King Hamdo confronts Lala-Ru, desperate to find the location of her pendant. Just when Shu thinks things couldn't get worse, Lady Abelia's cruel interrogation begins. Then, in the dead of night, a shining light of hope appears…but is it the help that Shu has been praying for?

The young soldiers have their marching orders: Search the entire ship from top to bottom for Lala-Ru's missing pendant. Shu recovers, and is forced to join their ranks as a soldier of Hellywood. He learns that all the soldiers are actually kidnapped children who are promised release upon the end of the unjust war their king is waging. Meanwhile, Sara's condition worsens as the perils of imprisonment take their toll.

Sara continues to suffer unspeakable horrors as a prisoner turned concubine. King Hamdo's frustration reaches a boiling point as the mission to recover the pendant continues to be fruitless. An assassination attempt on the King only enrages him further. Meanwhile, Nabuca and Shu spar in a training exercise, which seems to bring them closer rather than further apart.

After suffering from horrible brutalities for too long, a hardened Sara breaks free from her prison shackles. The young soldiers are now faced with a tour of duty as they leave Hellywood to seek more soldiers. When Shu realizes the atrocities that his corps must inflict on harmless villagers, he lashes out, but to no avail.