Toward the Terra (TV)

As long as I live, I'll probably never understand those people who rave about Terra e as if it were a great piece of literature, or indeed, good enough to be considered a piece of literature at all. For something that whose source material won the Seiun Award, and whose manga won the Kodansha Award, Terra e manages to be.... I'll be honest here. It's really, really bad. Setting Terra e is a sci-fi piece. That is about all one can describe, because the setting is indeed quite plain. Although earlier episodes would have you believe that it takes place in some sort of... Orwellian nightmarish environment,for all intents and purposes, Terra e has a vanilla sci-fi setting. Humanity has polluted the Earth to a state in which it is uninhabitable. Humanity has taken to the stars, colonizing and terraforming planets to live on, all the while trying to terraform the Earth back into a liveable state. As a result of the crisis situation, a fascist government has managed to seize power, and their administration seeks to cement their control over humanity, through, for example, destroying rogue elements such as the mutant "Mu", and engaging in a vaguely 1984-like system of population control. Taking inspiration from 1984 would, generally, inform one that the show would have dystopian elements, but strangely enough, all effects of the fascist actions of the government be waived as convenient for the plot. The psychological effects of having a heavily controlled and totalitarian populace never strike the main characters, while the main characters will also never lose any information relevant to the plot, mind-wipes to ensure obedience be damned. As a result, any serious message the show tries to convey is simultaneously undermined and made into a laughing stock. I do not know if the director seeks to destroy his own show, but this is a disturbing trend that permeates this show in general. Humanity is supposedly controlled by supercomputers, yet humans are still shown to make the relevant decisions when necessary. Everyone is brainwashed to follow the SD government, but there are characters who still elect to dislike the government, and rebel, and they are not dealt with until they commit serious crimes, and expose state secrets. People are raised like sheep, yet the cast seems to undergo a normal schooling environment, and even military academies bear more similarities to modern day education than differences. I could go on, but I fear that I am belabouring the point. Other instances of this undermining (for it is far too common) will no doubt show up as I go on. Plot The main plot of Terra e concerns the "Mu", a race of psychically endowed mutants exiled from humanity, who seek to find, and recolonize Earth. They do this all the while evading attack from the dictatorian "SD" government, who seek to destroy rogue elements that threaten their control over humanity. The main character, Jomy, is one such (young) Mu. While the Mu are initially peaceable, after some time, the frustration of the new generation of Mu born in exile boils over, and under the leadership of Jomy, they elect to wage a war against the SD government and the humans under its jurisdiction, to claim Earth as a homeland for themselves. They do so by obliterating SD ships with overwhelming firepower, taking entire planets hostage, and being every bit as cruel as the humans which they supposedly despise. If I didn't sound very sympathetic to the cause of the Mu, I do not apologize. While the director undoubtedly wants us to side with the Mu, I must find that his message often works in reverse. Terra e shows us the cruel side of humanity, espoused in its finest agent Keith Anyan, a cold, callous man captured by the Mu who has no qualms taking hostages to ensure his escape, and killing them when he has no further use for them. The Mu call him a monster, but yet just days later they indulge in monstrous behaviour on a much larger scale, destroying entire fleets while accepting no surrenders, and taking an entire planet of civilians hostage. The new generation of Mu, especially Jomy, do this without batting an eyelid, and indeed, they even revel in the bloodshed. The new generation are revealed, in the end, to be power-crazed, psychotic, and ruthless to those who they perceive to be beneath them, even other Mu who are less powerful psionically. Yet, the viewpoint is constantly with the Mu; we see how the Mu struggle to survive and build a homeland for themselves in an abandoned colony in deep space, we see the conflicts and disputes between different Mulian factions firsthand, we are shown how humanity tries to destroy the adopted homeland of the Mu through orbital bombardment, all the while in a sympathetic light to the Mu. We are left in doubt just what the director wants us to feel. Are we to pity the Mu for their depraved state of affairs, brought about by persecution? Are we to hate the Mu, for their cruelty and inhumanity? Niehter interpretation can be supported, due to the conflicting messages that the director sends us, that undermine either intepretation. Aesthetics The most striking artistic decision about this show, I would think, would be the decision not to tell a chronologically smooth story, but rather to have the plot move in a series of jerky timeskips. While novel, this idea is nonetheless again undermined (yes, again) by the scriptwriter and art director. Little indication is given as to the length of time that has elapsed, leaving the viewer to pick up the pieces. As a result, many episodes, especially early on, feel rushed and disjointed, and a nagging feeling surfaces that there should have been additional episodes to fill in the gap, or at least, changes in the way characters and the backgrounds are drawn to reflect the time gap. When a 14-year old looks exactly the same as he does when 26, the audience is left pondering just what the art director was thinking. Nonetheless, the rest of the art is drawn surprisingly well, from the beautiful clips of deep space, to still shots of nebulae and celestial objects, to wonderfully detailed and realistic spacecraft. The character designs may be dated somewhat, which may be quite jarring at first, but after a few episodes they grow on the viewer. Sound is nondescript. It's used when appropriate, but is nothing to rave about. Characters ... Just, ... Half the cast are idiots, the other half of the cast are assholes, and all of them, in all honesty, had much room for improvement. While many characters do develop as the story progresses, it is usually to their moral detriment, and attracts the audience's disgust. You have cold cruel hypocrites like Jomy and Physis, power-crazed berserkers like Tony, arrogant and beastly snots like Shiroe, disgusting psychopaths like Karina, naive and temperamental youths like Kim and Sam, and old men rooted in the past like Zel and Harley. To be fair, some of these characters aren't as bad as I make out, Sam and Harley notably, but by and large, most of them are. Blue, Keith and Matsuka, the only main characters worth a damn, are not able to carry the show due to the amount of screentime they are given.The amount of sympathy the rest of the cast attracts is basically 0. When main characters die, complete with a death montage, flashbacks, and insert songs, I don't shed tears out of joy. I shed tears out of happiness, because I do not have to see that idiot again. The voice acting is a mixed bag. While the main characters, especially Keith and Blue are voiced pretty competently, many side characters, Physis being a prime example, have horribly grating voices. But at the very least, they do not get enough screentime to get the viewer overly annoyed. It's still nothing to rave about, of course. Overview To be succint, Terra e is what I would term: wasted potential. Given its unique setting and novel storytelling method, if handled competently, it could have been a deep and cutting look into the human psyche. As it is, it is merely a glaring example of how not to do it: make a contradictory, meaningless, unenjoyable trainwreck of a show, with no coherent message. I've heard some people describe it as en epic anime, and must respectfully disagree. While Terra e strives to be an epic anime, the total lack of sympathy that the audience feels for any character, as well as the lack of a coherent message gives it an extremely different, in fact almost entirely opposite kind of mood - Nihilistic.

Title: Toward the Terra Manga, Movie, Anime: Toward the Terra (known as Terra E in Japan) was originally a manga created by Keiko Takemiya (famous for her work on Andromeda Stories), and originally ran in Asahi Sonorama's Gekkan Manga Shoen from the January 1977 issue to the May 1980 issue. The manga was licensed Stateside by Vertical (who also licensed Tezuka's Ode to Kirihito and Buddha), and the third and final volume was released on June 26th, 2007. Toward the Terra won the Seiun Award (a Japanese sci-fi award) in 1978, and won the Kodansha Manga Award in 1979. Fumino Hayashi did aspinoff called Terra E... ~Aoki Kobo no Kiss~ that centers around one of the main characters, began running on September 27th, 2007, and is ongoing in Square-Enix's GFantasy magazine. Toward the Terra was adapted into an animated movie in 1980 that was produced by Toei Animation (famous for their work on all seasons of Sailor Moon and Dragon Ball) and directed by Hideo Onchi. The Right Stuff International licensed it Statesdie, and released a subbed version in 1994. This will not be covered in this review. Toward the Terra is a twenty-four episode anime that was produced by Minamimachi Bugyoushou (famous for their animation assistance on Jyu-Oh-Sei and Mushishi) and Tokyo Kids (famous for their work on the Sayuki OAV and Gakuen Heaven), and directed by Osamu Yamazaki (famous for... y'know, I can't really find anything). It ran on Japanese TV from April 7th to September 22nd of 2007. Bandai has licensed it Stateside, and has yet to announce a release date. Story: Toward the Terra takes place a few thousand years or so from the present, in a time where humanity's screwed up Earth and has colonized other planets, and is more or less controlled by supercomputers. Psychics called the Mu are being born, and humanity, as is always the case with these sorts of series, fears them and attempts to destroy them at every turn, and the Mu attempt to rescue children when they awaken, at risk of their otherwise being destroyed. All the Mu want to do is go back to Earth. And into all of this steps Jomy Marquis Shin, a dormant Mu who is rescued by their leader, Soldier Blue. This sounds like your standard sci-fi story, no? Well, here's the thing -- it's not. And the main reason for this lies in how they choose to tell the story. The story is undeniably centered around young Jomy, and driven around his development and experiences. But at the same time, there's an extremely extensive cast that all gets some degree of development, and actually ends up playing a major role in how events play out. Characters who you think are only going to be involved in minor ways end up playing major roles in the show later on. And the sheer range of the story can be best summed up as freaking EPIC. Not only does the story cover the happenings surrounding individual characters, it also focuses on the Mu and human races as a whole, AND the interactions between the two races. As if this wasn't enough, this entire series covers about two or three decades of all of this; you get to watch character from when they are kids up till they're adults, and watch them through the whole span of their life. And the story itself starts out light, but steadily gets darker and darker throughout the series, with lots and lots of death and conspiracy and all sorts of lovely things. All in all, several kinds of amazing. Art: The animation for this series is pretty high-quality. The 2D animation is fairly smooth; however, the CG tends to stand out some when it's used (but, then again, it's only used on its own, and never blended, so that works out pretty well). Music: There are two OPs and EDs each for this series, and none of them particularly stands out; the OPs and second ED are your standard upbeat pop numbers, and the first ED is the standard female ballad. The background music for this series, though, is some of the first that I've actively noticed for a while. Ethnic instruments are thrown in with the standard Western orchestra, and the music is just awesome in general. Seiyuu: This show has a lot of talent that I recognize and love -- Sanae Kobayashi (Lucy/Nyuu of Elfen Lied and Daedalus of Ergo Proxy), Tomokazu Sugita (Mayama in Honey and Clover) and Takehito Koyasu (Hotohori of Fushigi Yuugi and Touga of Revolutionary Girl Utena), most notably. All the other performances in this show are pretty good, as well. Length: Perfect. There's no filler whatsoever, and the story moves along at a good pace. The only thing I would want would be an OVA to explain what happens between the end of the last episode and the bit that's shown after the credits, because it just begs for explanation, how things went from the way they were to that, to be vague at risk of spoilers. Overall: An excellent, epic sci-fi story with an excellent focus on characters, beautiful background music, and good animation and seiyuu. Another one of my top picks. Watch this. NOW. Story: 10/10 Art: 9/10 Music: 9/10 Seiyuu: 9/10 Length: 9/10 Overall: 46/50; 92% (A)

This anime shocked me in many ways. Firstly, it's a freaking 1977 manga story which already leaves a big generation gap between us. Secondly, it's omg science fiction which I have never liked before. Thirdly, what's with that weird drawing. Little did I know that all the above factors matter not at all. The superbly crafted storyline coupled with that awesome character development easily let this anime to be one of my top favourites. Gotta mention too that the opening and ending songs for this series were well-chosen and fitted the story nicely. It's therefore very hard not to let your emotions be tugged along.Before I knew it, I was hooked onto the fast pace of the story and it ended in a blink of an eye. The after thought lingered for quite some time because the ending, or rather, the story itself keeps you thinking. In particular, the development of the main protagonist enticed me so. He was such a wimp to begin with but during the course of the story, he developed such a notable charisma that you can't help but feel for him and the Mu. I'm very sure that everyone who have watched this is equally drawn to him as I am. To cut it short, I've only got one word to say about this series - Awesome!!

Watching nowadays' anime, many tends to forget, what sci-fis really are. It's not just something about future, about robots or mechas, about time travel or the twin paradox. Terra e is a real sci-fi - I can assure you - it's the anime this genre should be proud of. Indisputably Terra e is one of the best science fictions ever made. What makes this anime good or bad, will be discussed in this review and I would like to warn you, that the review contains a good amount of spoilers, so try not to read it, if you haven't finished the series yet. Story: The storystarts off with a dystopia. Humanity is ruled by a programmed computer system, children are brainwashed at their age of 14. Since the adults are all brainwashed and the bad children are to be disposed of, there is noone to resists, but the Mu. The Mu, the only rebels, they, who wield telekinetic powers and want to get to the mother planet, Terra. Our protagonist is Jomy Marquis Shin, a boy, who suddenly awakens his powers and becomes the leader of the Mu with the help of Soldier Blue. The antagonist is Keith Anyan is the artificial human, created by Grand Mother with genetic engineering. This story is about the the fight between these two, and between the Mu and Humans. In the Seki Ray Shiroe arc, the story reveals the significance of the past, the memories. It explains why the system is wrong. It also introduces the real personality of Keith Anyan. The arc contains lots of Peter Pan references, symbolizing the importance of childhood memories. In the Nazca arc, a harmony is tried to be created. This arc shows us the dispute between two generations. It tries to settle an ideal society, and then reveals its errors. The feud between the elders and the young, the newborn babies, the terrible accidents, all forces Jomy to make his own decision to whether continue the journey to Terra or not. In this case we could say it was lucky to be attacked by Keith and the megido. The death of the comrades creates a resolution inside Jomy which completely changes his personality. The last part of the anime picks up a rather fast pace. This is the most dramatic and intense part. This is the last chance for the Mu's survival. Most of the standpoints are seemed to be disproved. People start to realize that Humanity and Mu has the possibility to live together. The last decision should be Keith's decision. But the supercomputer system, Grand Mother misinterprets Keith and starts to rage. People start an uprising against the system by destroying it, and this way, saving the Mu. This shows that destiny is not formed by a single person, but by all the people. Music: The first OP and ED were brilliant, and tolerable, however I cannot say the same to the 2nd ones. The first ED was much more dramatic compared to the second one, which had a rather calming effect I think. The soundtrack was fascinating. They perfectly fitted the given scenes and they are also decent on their own. Whenever I just hear them, they send chills down my spine. Just listening to the OST equals to rewatching the series. Animation & Art The creators perfectly revived the art of the 1970s. I think this is a fitting style for a space opera. It is unique, but might not be appealing to everyone. However one can accustom to it and later might like it as well. The animation was also tolerable. It superbly mixes 2D and 3D graphics, but the minor problems might not be liked by demanding people. Characters: I think this is one of the most interesting parts of the whole anime. Most of the philosophies' standpoints are represented by a character each. In this anime it is typical for a character to have 2 or more personalities. A surface, an outer side, and an inner self, which sometimes is completely different, or even contradicting. Sometimes these contradictions lead to illogical results. Jomy has the strangest character in the story. His rapid change of opinions are sometimes not quite well explained and I think it's practically impossible for someone to do this so quickly. He is a very naive child in the first part of the story, but somehow he changes his mind for the second half, although he can't fully erase his naivety. Keith is a person who always stays even-tempered. He is often cold-blooded and indifferent to feelings. He is described as a machine by Shiroe. But this is the surface only. Shiroe, Sam, Matsuka and later Physis too are the ones who affect Keith's inner part. His other half is much more sensitive. These two feelings of his have the main role later in his final decision. Enjoyment: The series does not lack on the entertaining part either. Although it does not contain much comedy, the show is full of feelings and emotions. The harmonic and disharmonious parts are well-proportioned and take turns in a perfect pace. The huge amount of deaths gives us much drama and the ending gives you a cathartic feel. Overall Although the Mu win at the very ending of the anime, Keith does not completely deny the old system. Also the anime reminds us to care for our mother planet, the Earth. Terra e is a profound anime with lots of entertainment. I don't think the actual story is unique at all, although there are not many animes with similar settings. In my opinion this lovely anime is something that everyone should watch. And not just for the fun itself, but it is also for its philosophical thoughts. I tried not to give a perfect score to the anime (it's really hard, believe me!) so I wouldn't look so narrow-minded. I hope you found my review helpful and informative. ^^