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Ima, Soko ni Iru Boku
myanimelist.netShuuzou "Shuu" Matsutani lives his ordinary life in peace. He has friends, a crush, and a passion for kendo. Dejected after losing to his kendo rival, Shuu climbs a smokestack to watch the sunset where he finds Lala-Ru, a quiet, blue-haired girl wearing a strange pendant. Shuu attempts to befriend her, despite her uninterested, bland responses. However, his hopes are crushed when a woman, accompanied by two serpentine machines, appear out of thin air with one goal in mind: capture Lala-Ru. Shuu, bull-headed as he is, tries to save his new friend from her kidnappers and is transported to a desert world, unlike anything he has ever seen before. Yet, despite the circumstances, Shuu only thinks of saving Lala-Ru, until he is thoroughly beaten up by some soldiers. As he soon finds out, Lala-Ru can manipulate water and her pendant is the source from which she is able to bring forth the liquid, a scarce commodity in his new environment. But now, the pendant is lost, and Shuu is the prime suspect. Ima, Soko ni Iru Boku is the haunting story of a dystopian world, and of Shuu, who has to endure torture, hunger, and the horrors of war in order to save the lonely girl he found sitting atop a smokestack. [Written by MAL Rewrite]
There’s nothing quite like it really.
The closest comparison I can think of is Drifting Classroom, but it never got an anime adaptation.
Bokurano is similar in some notable ways, but it’s an ensemble and set in (more or less) our world.
Casshern Sins is sort of oddly similar - broadly similar setting and tone and a lot of the same themes, though a much different story.
I guess Noein is sort of similar, insofar as it’s a cast centered on children, the stakes are much bigger than they initially seem and tragedy lurks around every corner, but it’s different in most details.
And Kaiba is actually sort of very broadly similar too - much different setting, artstyle and story, but a similar downbeat tone and broad subject of people, and mostly children, at the mercy of a screwed-up world.
And I can’t think of anything else even vaguely similar.
Thank You. I remember watching Bokurano in high school and remember the story being messed up, been trying to remember the name for a while. Also the opening is opening is amazing, I prefer old school anime music.