(L) To Terra.. (TV Series!)

[ZippyDSM]

Originally Posted by zalem

I just created a new sig of Soldier Blue. We need to promote Terra.

Heroic Age was fun enough, but it's not a favorite of mine. I think the beginning was a bit sluggish. I did like the latter half a lot though.

Beginnings are either rushed or take their time...or mender with the rest of the storys until the end..

I can;t stand meandering and I'll take cute/simple plot/character dev over rushed for ze action bits any day.

IMO Both HA and TT are fcking awesome they both have issues here and there but over all they do justice to their characters and storys and that's the most important thing for me.

[blue skies]

Bump for great justice.

I just finished re-watching Toward the Terra, and I think I loved it even more the second time around. As close to perfection as an anime can get, imho. I don't think I've ever been so attached to characters before, nor have I ever bawled so embarrassingly hard during a series. Even though I knew what was coming this time, it still hurt.

I do have one (silly) question regarding Physis though.

Spoiler for Physis:

Did the other Mu always know that she was just a normal human who got her powers from Blue? Either I haven't paid close enough attention or it never got mentioned.

Still don't understand how I missed this series when it first aired. Seriously, what.

[Shiroth]

Originally Posted by blue skies

Still don't understand how I missed this series when it first aired. Seriously, what.

Back when the show was airing, there was only a handful of us talking about it. Truly a huge shame --- so many people missing out on easily the best show from 2007 (i can't believe it's been a year and a half already..).

[Sean_Hiruki]

I've read abit of the manga. AWESOME! I think Best Buy is selling the new show.

[OpenDoors]

Just finished watching this series... wow one of the BEST I've seen! One of the biggest shock to me was how I can empathize with the reason behind the SD system and the totalitarian rule of supercomputers.

[signorRossi]

I am at episode 14 now and pleasantly surprised, the show is much better than I had anticipated. What a relief after watching Gungrave, which was utterly disappointing.
Rec from my side so far for Terra E, at least for up to episode 14. ;-)

[Shiroth]

Glad you're enjoying it. Toward the Terra was easily the best 2007 show, and has one of the best scores i've ever experienced. Brings quite a smile to my face seeing new people enjoy it like i did.

[signorRossi]

Hmm, the final third was somewhat weaker than the first two thirds. It felt somewhat rushed and the solution of the story was somewhat over-convoluted. Still liked the whole series, though. :-)
Oh, and because you mentioned the score I realized that it was done by Takanashi Yasuharu, I really liked his Ayakashi-Japanese Horror Tales (Koigokoro, Kanashimimi, Tsunehigoro are great)/Mononoke (Samishige, Kanashige) soundtrack, it is just a pity that there aren't any fleshed out versions of these tracks around, ala Juuni Kukoki Kokyu/Piano albums.
BTW, I even discovered by accident that you are in my last.fm neighbours, Myung Theme rules.

[JMvS]

God, after coming by the manga a while ago I finally got interested in Terra-e and just finished watching the anime. All I can say is that it's a superb story.

Soldier Blue...

Spoiler for events:

Regarding the adaptation, I felt that the modifications and additions in the first half of the serie were a real plus. Albeit something puzzles me: when Keith meets Shiroe, was it really said he saved his life? because it wouldn't make any sense as Shiroe is 3-4 years younger and couldn't have been on the same ship as Suena.

But in the second half, all the Suena related things felt a little contrived. It was kinda weird how they watered down the SD system: were is the absolute control seen and adult/children separation seen in the first half??? The 7s were also quite diminished, as well as Jomy's sorrow (and impact). I also feel that the original confrontation with an aged Keith was more powerful.

[Archon_Wing]

Mm... so I picked this series up to watch with a friend. The production values are great, and the soundtrack is masterfully done. The premise seems interesting, with a dystopian atmosphere and a series of events spanning over many years; it's nice to be expansive as opposed to like say Sci fi dystopias like No.6 that have a narrow focus. Towards the Terra actively goes on about the lack of freedom and choices people have, and have their memories constantly mutilated.

Unfortunately, I'm about 15 episodes in and while I can appreciate these things, I can't keep up with all these time skips; the main problem with them is that I can't really attach myself to any of the characters because they come and go like it's a revolving door. The ones that I do remember aren't really notable in my mind.

The one guy I do remember is Keith. Keith's a fucking badass, fighting against clearly superior perfect beings that can create waves that wreck entire ships with ease. But here's a problem; aren't the humans/Keith antagonists? But here I'm rooting for Keith to pwn the shit out of them even though they want to portay the Mu as innocent people that just want to find their way. It doesn't help that I want to punch Jomy in the face. In fact that's a recurring theme-- I'm siding with Keith constantly. For example, when Keith was killing that little snot Shiroe, I was once again cheering, because Shiroe was a stupid little shit.

So, yea they seem to be passing humans and Keith off as terrible people, but at the same time I can't find the Mu sympathetic except in the episode where they want to have kids. Otherwise the Mu are mostly people who don't really seem to have much common sense and frequently go super saiyan when they turn emo.

Anyhow, anime's not bad, but it hasn't been that engaging enough for me to care about the plot or characters save for GAR Keith. And yea, I've been realizing I've missed a lot of things since I start laughing every time someone has an emo fit.

[Ledgem]

Originally Posted by Archon_Wing

Mm... so I picked this series up to watch with a friend. The production values are great, and the soundtrack is masterfully done. The premise seems interesting, with a dystopian atmosphere and a series events spanning over many years; it's nice to be expansive as opposed to like say Sci fi dystopias like No.6 that have a narrow focus. Towards the Terra actively goes on about the lack of freedom and choices people have, and have their memories constantly mutilated.

Unfortunately, I'm about 15 episodes in and while I can appreciate these things, I can't keep up with all these time skips; the main problem with them is that I can't really attach myself to any of the characters because they come and go like it's a revolving door. The ones that I do remember aren't really notable in my mind.

The one guy I do remember is Keith. Keith's a fucking badass, fighting against clearly superior perfect beings that can create waves that wreck entire ships with ease. But here's a problem; aren't the humans/Keith antagonists? But here I'm rooting for Keith to pwn the shit out of them even though they want to portay the Mu as innocent people that just want to find their way. It doesn't help that I want to punch Jomy in the face. In fact that's a recurring theme-- I'm siding with Keith constantly. For example, when Keith was killing that little snot Shiroe, I was once again cheering, because Shiroe was a stupid little shit.

So, yea they seem to be passing humans and Keith off as terrible people, but at the same time I can't find the Mu sympathetic except in the episode where they want to have kids. Otherwise the Mu are mostly people who don't really seem to have much common sense and frequently go super saiyan when they turn emo.

Anyhow, anime's not bad, but it hasn't been that engaging enough for me to care about the plot or characters save for GAR Keith. And yea, I've been realizing I've missed a lot of things since I start laughing every time someone has an emo fit.

Hooray for discussions of older series! I really liked this one, although my memory of the smaller details are a bit fuzzy.

I didn't get the impression that the standard humans were supposed to be portrayed as bad. In my mind, it was a commentary on human nature, about how society reacts to people who are very different. I think that when you get to the end, you'll see that humanity wasn't supposed to be portrayed as totally evil.

I felt sorry for the Mu. They're harassed by society (or were they killed if they were caught? I can't quite remember), and all that they want to do is live peacefully. They're not perfect, as Shiroe (and to an extent, Tony) showed, which further indicated to me that the Mu aren't being passed off as some godly perfect race. They're human, too - just with something a bit extra.

Keith is an interesting character for sure, though. Just wait 'til you get to the end...

Regarding the time skips, they made the series really stand out. When the first time skip occurred, I was a bit miffed. It seemed like a cheap way to get out of making a longer series. I felt that it worked, though. It felt as if we hadn't really missed out on too much, and my mind could fill in the blanks if it really wanted to. It ultimately made the series feel rather epic for something that was only 24 episodes. I wouldn't want it to become a fad for all series to engage in something like that, but I wouldn't mind seeing it used again in other series.

Enjoy the rest of the series!

[Archon_Wing]

Originally Posted by Ledgem

Hooray for discussions of older series! I really liked this one, although my memory of the smaller details are a bit fuzzy.

I didn't get the impression that the standard humans were supposed to be portrayed as bad. In my mind, it was a commentary on human nature, about how society reacts to people who are very different. I think that when you get to the end, you'll see that humanity wasn't supposed to be portrayed as totally evil.

I felt sorry for the Mu. They're harassed by society (or were they killed if they were caught? I can't quite remember), and all that they want to do is live peacefully. They're not perfect, as Shiroe (and to an extent, Tony) showed, which further indicated to me that the Mu aren't being passed off as some godly perfect race. They're human, too - just with something a bit extra.

Keith is an interesting character for sure, though. Just wait 'til you get to the end...

Regarding the time skips, they made the series really stand out. When the first time skip occurred, I was a bit miffed. It seemed like a cheap way to get out of making a longer series. I felt that it worked, though. It felt as if we hadn't really missed out on too much, and my mind could fill in the blanks if it really wanted to. It ultimately made the series feel rather epic for something that was only 24 episodes. I wouldn't want it to become a fad for all series to engage in something like that, but I wouldn't mind seeing it used again in other series.

Enjoy the rest of the series!

Yea seriously! Hate it when people refuse to talk about anything that's more than a year old.

I viewed humans and their representatives in this show as evil because they are actively suppressing those that are different from themselves (the Mu), and tampering with people's memories so they act a different way as a gross act that is unethical. It doesn't help that most of the humans are going mwahahaha most of the times. Keith is the closest we have to a person that's not an asshole the series.

Of course, I felt that this was laid on a bit too thick; the Mu to me were supposed to be victims, but while I can view their group and their "society" as such, I simply cannot really feel for any individuals.

There are series I feel that do better at giving a more "grey" perspective (neither side is really wrong, they're all just cogs that do things because of the nature of conflict.) The standard I use for this is the UC Gundam series, and Gundam in general has taken the concept extremely well. This, well, I'm trying to think they're getting the same thing in but it's not working.

I think it's a bit hurt with the overacting. AnoHana had severe overacting too and actually I like hammy stuff, but they didn't go too far overboard constantly. In this, nobody can express emotions normally when distressed; they have to scream. (And these guys are supposed to be telepathic!)

So I felt the concept was good, and that's why I'm watching this in the first place, but it's these things that make me take it less seriously.

My favorite parts are of course, the space battles and planning, so that will always go fine for the remainder.

[Ledgem]

Originally Posted by Archon_Wing

I viewed humans and their representatives in this show as evil because they are actively suppressing those that are different from themselves (the Mu), and tampering with people's memories so they act a different way as a gross act that is unethical. It doesn't help that most of the humans are going mwahahaha most of the times. Keith is the closest we have to a person that's not an asshole the series.

While the series does make it fairly clear that the Mu are supposed to be the "good guys" and humanity (backed by their social structure system) are the "bad guys," they throw enough bones to keep it somewhat gray. For example, consider the very beginning of the show: Jomy fails the adulthood test (or what ever it was called), yet his parents stick up for him. I can't recall the specific dialog, but I seem to recall that they claimed that they didn't care if he was a Mu or not. And he wasn't even their biological son - they were never supposed to get attached to him.

(If I'm misremembering anything, feel free to correct me - but I think I'm doing pretty darn good for not having watch this series in over four years )

Is what humanity did to itself evil? Hard to say. There's always that balance between social order and total freedom. To a certain extent, I can understand what might lead to their creating the structure that they did. Being westerners in the modern world, we're generally brought up to value freedom and despise strict controls over people's lives, so of course it comes off as seemingly evil initially. But in a twisted sort of way, it is its own utopia.

Of course, I felt that this was laid on a bit too thick; the Mu to me were supposed to be victims, but while I can view their group and their "society" as such, I simply cannot really feel for any individuals.

Hmm... how fast are you watching this series? I don't remember how quickly I went through it, but it's possible that you're watching too many episodes per day. Even after all this time, I can't necessarily remember their names, but I remember quite a few of the characters. But they're not memorable in the traditional anime sense, where they either have some hot designs or some mega quirky personalities. It's a bit unique in that manner.

[Archon_Wing]

Originally Posted by Ledgem

While the series does make it fairly clear that the Mu are supposed to be the "good guys" and humanity (backed by their social structure system) are the "bad guys," they throw enough bones to keep it somewhat gray. For example, consider the very beginning of the show: Jomy fails the adulthood test (or what ever it was called), yet his parents stick up for him. I can't recall the specific dialog, but I seem to recall that they claimed that they didn't care if he was a Mu or not. And he wasn't even their biological son - they were never supposed to get attached to him.

(If I'm misremembering anything, feel free to correct me - but I think I'm doing pretty darn good for not having watch this series in over four years )

No, you're right. I just somehow never count people's unfortunate parents as characters. Damn that anime tendency to marginalize parents. But yea, I know these things are there, but suddenly I get flown somewhere else.

Is what humanity did to itself evil? Hard to say. There's always that balance between social order and total freedom. To a certain extent, I can understand what might lead to their creating the structure that they did. Being westerners in the modern world, we're generally brought up to value freedom and despise strict controls over people's lives, so of course it comes off as seemingly evil initially. But in a twisted sort of way, it is its own utopia.

Well, the show is about the Mu trying to find another home from people that won't accept them and use force to these means.

Hmm... how fast are you watching this series? I don't remember how quickly I went through it, but it's possible that you're watching too many episodes per day. Even after all this time, I can't necessarily remember their names, but I remember quite a few of the characters. But they're not memorable in the traditional anime sense, where they either have some hot designs or some mega quirky personalities. It's a bit unique in that manner.

It's been a few months; lately I've been watching several episodes per week but yea there are lapses in my memory most likely.

But hey, at least it's actaully sci-fi, unlike some other shows that mix crappy fanservice and it happens to contain sci-fi.

[Archon_Wing]

As an update, I have 2 episodes left, and I must say, I'm not too obsessed yet, but this series made quite a run towards the finish line. The battles are intense and the emotions real. The feel kinda reminds me of Zeta Gundam though of course that's a high standard to hold Terra too. I wonder if it's gonna end like it though.

[Poetic Justice]

I watched this a few years ago, The ending was kinda meh but i enjoyed the series overall.