Now and Then Here and There - Discord and Doom -Vol. 1-

Product Description Dragged through a time warp, Shu is thrust into a hellish future of slavery and war. There he is captured by an army of kidnapped children. Caught between reluctant soldiers and the madman who has stolen their innocence, Shu fights to save the future! Episodes 1-5. Amazon.com Shu, a spirited schoolboy and overeager kendo student, is whisked off to a galaxy far, far away by an alien SWAT team on snakelike ships. The lovely images of Earth are replaced with the grand and imposing designs of a military world, and Shu's happy-go-lucky life turns much darker. He's hunted, interrogated, tortured, and finally drafted into a sadistic king's army of lost boys kidnapped from worlds all over the galaxy. The initial five episodes of this 13-part manga series from Akitaroh Daichi ( Jubei-Chan the Ninja Girl) are strung together as a two-hour interstellar adventure (though the opening and closing credits of each episode remain intact). New characters and intriguing ideas are layered in with each installment, but it all feels like a setup for the coming story of galactic war and brewing revolution. A slow start to a promising epic. Rated 16 and up. --Sean Axmaker