Toward the Terra Review - 94/100
Those who’ve been frequenting my blog for the past few months probably have seen me ramble about the “big three” of the spring-season: Bokura no, Kaze no Shoujo Emily and Toward the Terra. While a lot more excellent series have been released in the past Spring and Summer-season, these three form the cream of the crop, they’re all consistently outstanding in their own way and are without a doubt my favourite series of the past half year.
Today the first one has ended: Toward the Terra. It’s an epic science-fiction series about outcasts with psychic powers called the Myu. The storytelling is incredibly fast-paced. You hardly run into an episode that doesn’t have some kind of climax. While most other anime need aftermath- and introduction-episodes for fleshing out the characters, the episodes in Toward the Terra flawlessly combine the quiet moments along with the tense ones, and it works like a charm.
It’s clear that the writers have talent, because not only do they write some of the best action-scenes (which finally are more about the characters than the action itself) I’ve seen the past year, they also excel in the character-development department. If you watch the first few episodes, you might wonder why such a beautiful tale can come from just teenagers, but don’t worry: around episode ten, we see countless of time-leaps, and the real meat of the series happens when around ten years have passed since then. This provides countless opportunities for character-development, and Toward the Terra grabs all of them. Because of this, it features one of the best antagonists I’ve seen in anime, just because the guy gets such an incredible amount of development. Around the middle of the series, the plot-twists become so mind-boggling that you won’t be able to predict them, and watch out for episodes 21 and 22: they’re quite close to the best and most emotionally charged episodes I’ve ever seen for the past year.
In terms of production-values, Toward the Terra also delivers. While it’s impossible to beat El Cazador’s soundtrack in the past season, it easily grabs second place with a bunch of epic tunes, perfect for the fast and slow pacing. The graphics also look awesome, but be aware that the character-designs are different from usual. If you’re used to the character-designs of series like Kanon or Shakugan no Shana, then you’re going to have to get used to the character-designs of Toward the Terra a bit (see the screenshots).
Regarding the bad points, for me the quieter episodes near the beginning and the ending that weren’t as good as their preceding ones were a tad disappointing. I expected to be blown away by the episodes, and while some did with a huge force, others didn’t. The first few episodes also might be a bit hard to get into, due to the fact that the main character gets a bit whiny at times, but don’t worry: he’ll change into someone much better.
THIS IS MY FAVOURITE ANIME EVER!
There are lots of awesome and touching episodes that totally catch my heart,esp. Matsuka’s death. But I have to admit that some quite episodes are not as good as those exciting ones. The ending is a good and harmony one,that’s not bad.
Comment by Hoshia — September 23, 2007 @ 6:42
This is one of the few animes I can honestly say is a winner all the way around. While my inner fangirl wanted some things to be a different, I can say I’m pleased with the way they wrote this one. It doesn’t suffer from the wild ups and downs in terms of quality and pacing that many animes do.
Comment by Mythophile — September 25, 2007 @ 1:13
I love this tv show a lot. the ending I waited for and watched all at once. it was one ofhhte best I have ever seen. thanks for blogging it.
Comment by sovayfox — September 30, 2007 @ 1:23
Thenk you for blogging this series.
I looked for this anime’s blog in English, but I could find few though I believe this series is owesome, so I was happy. Episode21&22 was very very good, I think so, too!!!
Thank you for reading my poor English.
Terra he…DAISUKI!!!
Comment by Aya — October 5, 2007 @ 9:43
Hoshia, don’t put spoilers in your comment please *rolleyes*. some people want to read the reviews to know whether it’s worth watching or not
Comment by monta — January 10, 2008 @ 12:50
I totally agree…I just watched this two days ago and stayed up until 3am in the morning. It was that captivating. The only real critique I have of it is that sometimes the series took itself too seriously, especially in the beginning when I wasn’t quite into it completely yet, and the ending was a little too rushed. But still, I think everything else overshadows these flaws.
For one thing, I thought to myself, “finally, a sci-fi anime series which actually focuses on the characters for once, and not how many things can be blown up.” Alright, I’m not giving enough credit to those other series. They do attempt to have character development, but it almost always ends up shallow with the characters being simple and two dimensional. I mean, I don’t care about action scenes unless I care about the characters first; then I’ll be really into the battles, wanting them to win and not get killed and whatnot.
I also praise the character design for Blue. When I saw him, I was like, wow he is beautiful. And damn, the writers can really do sad scenes because I cried at the end; there was such an emotional impact with this series for me. I began watching Macross Frontier today and it’s sad that, although the budget is obviously larger and the animation is higher in quality, Toward the Terra beats it by miles. Or at least I think so.
Anyways I think I’ve said enough. Sorry. I rambled but I don’t think this series gets enough recognition, and while it’s not my all-time favourite, it’s still up there.
Comment by Sarah — May 19, 2009 @ 1:23
it is so facinating how similar this series is to battlestar galactica [reimagining] all the main beats of both shows are verry different but the bases is their. myus fleeing to find the paridise of terra[aka :earth] a place they can call home. [galactica: the colonists fleeing with the human race away from the cylons to find earth their new home] [p.s mild to big spoilers ahead incase anyone havent seen galactica]
and in the middle of this series the myu’s find a planet and start living on it until the humans find out and they have to escape and leave.
in season 3 of galactica the colonists find a planet they name new caprica and start on it until the cylons apear and inslave humanity until they escape.
and for the ending.
terra: everyone finally finds earth but is broken hearted to find the once beautiful paridise is a beautiful waistland.
galactica: almost the same happends here. the colonists reach earth. everyone is overjoyed until they land and a broken adama picks up a dead peace of earth looking at the baron waistland that sarounds their feet. they find that earth was destroyed in a nuclear hollicost 3′000 years ago.
many of the themes are similar too abeit galactica is MUCH more complicated and tackles human emotion in proberly the most realistic way ive ever seen in tv. powerful stuff.
Comment by edward — July 21, 2009 @ 12:02
Ok I must admit I let lose a few tears at the end of this series, the soundtrack compliments the story well, and the characters are well thought out. There are no characters that any amount of reasonable time was spent on that did not play a part in this. I love how the story comes back to the nature of human beings to be basically sheep doing what they are told but when confronted with the reality they take action. long story short its a good series touching and moving definite recommendation.
Comment by Montel — September 3, 2009 @ 12:33
I just finished the series.
Fuck. Just fuck.
Just fucking awesome.
Comment by Tan-Tan — December 24, 2009 @ 6:07
A very special thank you to the author of this review for introducing one of the most epic and brilliant animes I’ve ever feasted my eyes on!!!
To be honest, I was juggling whether to watch this anime for weeks… to me, the animation designs turned me off a bit, and when I googled the anime, the screenshots and pictures didn’t seem all that exciting, and the design of the characters seem to be quite poor.
Boy, was I DAMN wrong. I watched the WHOLE anime in 30 hours.. sleeping only 3 hours. I’ve never been so intrigued with an anime before.
Now I rarely swear, but I echo the comment by Tan-Tan above… this anime is “F*CKING” AWESOME!
Comment by Nichokiu — December 25, 2009 @ 10:31
I’m four episodes in, and I can’t stand this show so far. There is no suspension of disbelief; everyone is a one-dimensional idiot, led by more idiotic one-dimensional characters. I will try to stick through past the first time skip, because I really do want Terra e to impress me, since everyone rates it so highly. But so far it’s really tough to muster up the will to do so.
Comment by temperus — December 26, 2009 @ 7:59
Trust me temperus, this anime goes no where but up, up and up from episode 4..
Comment by Nichokiu — December 29, 2009 @ 1:00
Alleluia, Nichokiu.
Comment by Tan-Tan — January 10, 2010 @ 12:33
I just got to finally watch this anime. oh my gosh. How is it that I miss top 5 of all time shows like this? Just wow…
Comment by jho — January 20, 2010 @ 9:26
This anime is so damn good I come back here to post even after a month’s time. Geez, I probably rewatched it 20 times already! >.
Comment by Nichokiu — February 13, 2010 @ 14:05
Ahh I just started watching Terra again for the like… billionth time… and I have to say it still ranks way above animes like Macross Frontier, Gurren Lagann, (both of which I could not stand) and a lot of other high budget, popular franchises.
It’s still without a doubt my #1 heartbreakingly awesome choice.
Comment by exuver — March 8, 2010 @ 5:37
Second that so whole-heartedly exuver!
It saddens me that so many out there are missing out on such a brilliant gem!
Comment by Nichokiu — April 1, 2010 @ 10:26
Jeez, after a year since my post I came back to check this blog JUST to read the praises people have been writing for Toward the Terra. That’s how much I love this…I’m such a goner for this series >
Comment by Sarah — April 18, 2010 @ 1:05
well Ive seen the first 6 episodes and have not been impressed. i think my standards were to high, not bad but definitely not awesome
but ill keep watching for a couple more episodes hopefully it gets better
Comment by Matt Glatz — August 22, 2010 @ 18:54
Thanks for blogging about this show, as I would never have watched it otherwise. It truly is an amazing series. Now excuse me, I need to go buy the dvds!
Comment by Kurage — August 27, 2010 @ 5:02
I keep watching Terra again and again and again.And each time I watch it I shed tears. Its my favourite anime
Comment by shreyasee — May 9, 2011 @ 13:47
I keep watching this anime again and again and again.And I just love it!
Comment by shreyasee — May 9, 2011 @ 16:53
this is the heck of an anime.without doubt all those who watched it were stricken with emotions.I couldn’t sleep for a few nights after i watched it
Comment by anusha — July 9, 2011 @ 7:48
it’s good, interenting and enjoyable
really worth ur time
but the plot logic flawed… imo.
Comment by arzamond — July 27, 2011 @ 17:05
nichokiu,,i totally agree with you, ‘ya know..i’ve watched a lot, and i mean a LOT of animes, but Toward the Terra is just one heck of an AWESOME anime!!and i echo your comment, “it saddens me that so many out there are missing out on such a brilliant gem!”..it’s just sooo amazing, but why can’t other people notice it?..whatever..what’s important is that i got to know this fantastic anime!!yeahhh….!!!
Comment by cRystaL — September 29, 2011 @ 14:35