Indeed the movie is amazing. Although cramming such a long storyline within only 2 hours really made it a bit disjointed at places, methinks.

I don’t really like how Tony is Jomy’s son in this version though- there isn’t enough significance placed on it. At least with the manga and anime, even though he isn’t Jomy’s son, one can see that Jomy’s affection [no, not in the yaoi sense] towards tony, yet in the movie very few interaction between is shown.

The epilogue of the movie, I have a suspicion that I haven’t seen it… Does it follow the credits? Because my version ended with both humans and Mu watching the Sun rise on Terra.

I read that you think Keith’s villany began with him shooting Shiroe. Interestingly enough I think the exact opposite, that he only starts to question the Mother system because of Shiroe’s death.

All in all, sorry for the sudden comment, but I’m too excited to find other fans of this series [and there really aren't enough people appreciating it;]

Honestly at first glance I thought it was another pointless anime, the title didn’t ring the bell, the art was old… but I gave it a try.
The character development was wonderful. Everybody is just unique.
Jomy, who was always afraid, turned out to be a strong leader. Blue was just cool, I don’t think he had any change…but too bad he had to die early. OH yes, the elders who died in order to let the next generation live on, because they were a bunch of blockheads before. Keith, who I thought was cold as ice, but was choking in his tears deep inside (but the fact that he killed Shiroe and obeyed Mother just made me go woah!). I want to talk about other characters too but I think I’m typing too much heh. Also… The story was deep enough to make us think about the whole SD system, the Mu, the Mothers, unlike other any anime nowadays (what I’m trying to say is that anime nowadays have no meaning to the story), and it’s so moving and truly sad (I cried).

It’s sad that Toward the Terra isn’t recognized…
I’m very happy to find a blog about Terra~ If if there were a way to get people interested into this! I miss Terra already~

i dont really know the story that well having seen only the first episode, but i didnt really find it that cheesy…but then again i do love me some space-melodramas, and i love the screenshots you posted…im a sucker for that old school look and feel, and also the depth that may or may not be around these days

although maybe i ought to put this off till i finish a few more seasons of Gundam…

either way pretentious futuristic sci-fi FTW!

@Kim: Given what’s popular amongst anime fans today, I think I’d rather not bother to understand their tastes. The funny thing is Toward the Terra was actually airing in the same timeslot as FMA and Gundam 00, so Japan obviously thought it had an audience, but it just never caught on with the international scene, while at the same time, something as stupid as Code Geass was constantly attracting attention. Thinking about that makes me die inside.

Anyway, good to know you found this blog through that review of Terra. When I wrote it, I wasn’t expecting to find many other people watching but it turned out there were a fair few of us out there! Also, I take it you had a good holiday in Israel?

@Martin: I guess because anime was still a relatively young concept in Japan at the time, we frequently see odd mixtures of wonderful beauty – no doubt through an animator or director just being brave and trying something new – and almost amatuerish naivety in terms of awkward characterisation or humor. The anime industry has changed so much in just a few decades as generation after generation build up experience, the only side-effect being that once the rules have been established, we start to see waves of generic trash and an almost inbred distillation of what works, to the point now where we have character designs and so on that all look the same and all conform to the same formula.

You’ve definitely hit on an important point with how the ‘old school’ stuff differs – after watching the ‘Do You Remember Love?’ Macross feature film, I was acutely aware of how it’s clumsier in storytelling when placed alongside the more mature and assured directing of Plus. On the other hand, it’s still a great story and for its time the animation is actually quite impressive.

I am really surprised the series was so under the radar. I would think epic sci-fi would be right up anime fans alleys. I guess I don’t understand anime fandom at all.

The funny thing about Terra e is that it didn’t immediately strike me as a fantastic story or anything like that. I went into it expecting some kind of bishonen nonsense, but the story gradually sunk its claws into me and the more I saw, the more I liked, to the point now where I’m still thinking about it some 3 to 4 months after I finished the TV series. May be it’s just one of those quirky personal things, but I just adore the story, the characters and the way everything unfolds over entire decades of time.

It seems they developed Jomy and Karina’s relationship in the animated versions, because I don’t really remember it being a big deal in the manga.