Reviews for Terra e... (2007) (8.19)
irohma
Yamasaki Osamu
Well, this is one of the shows that reassures my statement that the releases of 2007 and 2008 were some of the best japanese industry have had, perhaps only losing to those of the very ealy ...
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19.10.2012 18:32 - direct link
(rs8823)
Well, this is one of the shows that reassures my statement that the releases of 2007 and 2008 were some of the best japanese industry have had, perhaps only losing to those of the very ealy 2000's. Terra e... comes from nothing, a retelling of an old movie of the long lost year 1980. This means this date almost as old as the original Gundam, and well... we all know how different the taste from audiences can be between a couple generations. This could end up as a stupid show that looked old, or just be spoiled by the most recent childish elements. But hell no, this turns to be a very strong show and one of the leading party of its year.
Art & Animation
So what can you expect from a remake of an old show? Old art style with new animation? Well, to be sincere, you'll be gifted here with a very different and unique visual experience, and suprisingly not created by any of the super big budget studios we have around. The character design feels quite unique, emanating an oldschool feel, but also looking sharp and modern. Their clothing can be a bit stupid looking for today's standard, but they also help to make it more easily distinguishable from other shows. The backgrounds are not much varied, mostly space stuff and typical futuristic building designs, but they are nicely detailed and colored. What can be more easily marked as a flaw are its not-so-fluid animation and the fairly simplistic special effects. But they never harm the show and are good enough for its age, so overall we have a very solid work in this area.
Sound
Terra e... has quite a different sound direction as well. The voice-acting is mature and decent and the sound effects are quite amusing, but the themes and background music are perhaps a bit different from the dramatic atmosphere built for the show. We have tons of talks about prejudice, racial conflicts, fight for survival, society problems, and many other serious threads, yet the music gives us a more happy-go vibe, like this would be all about super mutants fighting each other with giant beams and techno-gizmos. Sure it has as much fighting and shounen parts similar to a Macross, but its talks about racial conflict is even more heavy and focused than Gundam Seed's natural versus coordinators for example. So they could do good use of a heavier and more dramatic soundtrack.
Story
The Mu are a new race, born from humans to perhaps fit the vastness of space. They first appeared years after humanity's left the ravaged Earth behind, but they didn't fit the current standards of the government, ruled by one big computer network that reached the emptiness of space. To avoid disorder, the system has destroyed the Mu whenever it could, but a few of them escaped, dreaming of the blue and beautiful Earth and hoping that one day they can return there and move out of their endless hidding. Within this strict society lives Jomy, an appearently normal looking boy until he is detected as a Mu by the computer system and is fated to removal. He is saved by Blue, the Mu's leader, and his fate is perhaps leading these lonely mutants to their dream, to Earth.
Character
Much like the story, Terra e...'s cast is very powerful. It's certainly helped by the time skips in the show, meaning we can see the characters in different stages of their lives, but it's also a consequence of their more complex personalities and interesting personal dramas. For a cast as big as what we have here, the job in this section is simply superb.
Value
Well, let's resume. "A show about space, with an utopia society ruled by one big computer". This certainly was dealt with many past scy-fy shows that tried to preview the future in the 70's, 80's, and even before this. "Humanity evolves and a few mutants are born to adapt space". A mix of X-Men with the Newtypes, nothing new. "A journey to long lost Earth that humanity left behind after destroying its environment". A teaching about taking care of our planet? Nothing new as well.
So, it's a big merge of space-drama ideas, joined with an oldschool art style filled with bishounens and super powers! Hell, this would surely go wrong if released after 2010. But what we have here is an almost perfect execution. Terra e... manages to bring all this elements, some of them which don't even fit with each other, and create a space drama that even most Gundams have failed to do. It's void of fillers, uses time skip very well, never resort to fanservices, lolis, shy girls, lame romances, etc. It's an all serious space shounen with the power to please even a few girls! That's awesome!
Enjoyment
This is a show every scy-fy fan needs to watch. It's one of the best of the genre and still manages to mix more shounen stuff to make it pleasing to fans of Gundams and those who like bits of super powers in their tales. It can even please a few girls with the bishounen characters and a nice character development. However, if you're looking for something funny or light hearted you better keep away.
Comments
Well, I've watched this right after the release, and only later I tried the original old movie, so most of the impact its tale had on me was because of the TV show. It's a superb show, one of the few that I truly appreciate as a way to tell a big epic long story. Heroic Age did something similar in the same year, and it failed because it lost itself to the super powers and those epic giant beings fighting each other. Terra e... keeps itself grounded all the way, focusing more on the issues of the Mu, how they deal with society, their long dream, their doubts, fears, everything a solid show needs to grow bolder and more mature.
Art & Animation
So what can you expect from a remake of an old show? Old art style with new animation? Well, to be sincere, you'll be gifted here with a very different and unique visual experience, and suprisingly not created by any of the super big budget studios we have around. The character design feels quite unique, emanating an oldschool feel, but also looking sharp and modern. Their clothing can be a bit stupid looking for today's standard, but they also help to make it more easily distinguishable from other shows. The backgrounds are not much varied, mostly space stuff and typical futuristic building designs, but they are nicely detailed and colored. What can be more easily marked as a flaw are its not-so-fluid animation and the fairly simplistic special effects. But they never harm the show and are good enough for its age, so overall we have a very solid work in this area.
Sound
Terra e... has quite a different sound direction as well. The voice-acting is mature and decent and the sound effects are quite amusing, but the themes and background music are perhaps a bit different from the dramatic atmosphere built for the show. We have tons of talks about prejudice, racial conflicts, fight for survival, society problems, and many other serious threads, yet the music gives us a more happy-go vibe, like this would be all about super mutants fighting each other with giant beams and techno-gizmos. Sure it has as much fighting and shounen parts similar to a Macross, but its talks about racial conflict is even more heavy and focused than Gundam Seed's natural versus coordinators for example. So they could do good use of a heavier and more dramatic soundtrack.
Story
The Mu are a new race, born from humans to perhaps fit the vastness of space. They first appeared years after humanity's left the ravaged Earth behind, but they didn't fit the current standards of the government, ruled by one big computer network that reached the emptiness of space. To avoid disorder, the system has destroyed the Mu whenever it could, but a few of them escaped, dreaming of the blue and beautiful Earth and hoping that one day they can return there and move out of their endless hidding. Within this strict society lives Jomy, an appearently normal looking boy until he is detected as a Mu by the computer system and is fated to removal. He is saved by Blue, the Mu's leader, and his fate is perhaps leading these lonely mutants to their dream, to Earth.
- Newtype Super Power!
Perhaps because the original work was released all the way back in 1980, it shares a concept very similar to the original Gundam, which means people mutating to adapt to space and earning psychic abilities. Things are a bit different here because these "newtypes", called Mu in the show, are not just psychic users, they are freaking super-power heroes who can blast big rays, create impregnable force shields, and performs all sorts of miscellaneous activities with their minds and bodies. They look more like a group of X-Men ready to fight against the conservatives area of society, represented here by a big computer system that rules all adults and make sure to make everyone hate the Mu and label them as a galaxy-level threat.
Passage of Years
Here's a plot moving device that I love and that most shows use it right. Much like Legend of Galactic Heroes, Berserk, Beast Player Erin, and Gurren Laggan, the show has a few time skips, meaning we'll start with Jomy as a teenager and end with him as a full fledged adult leading the Mu's with Blue's help. Not only this helps to make the protagonist more likeable, but also gives the cast a chance to change and show us different aspects. We see kids growing to be hateful, others to be happy, permanent deaths, issues with the passage of time, society managing to expand and change in order to fight the Mu, etc. Its a well used plot device here and help to make the show feel more mature and belieavable even with all the super power stuff.
A Long Social Journey
Terra e...'s main objective is reaching Earth as initially presented. However, this is not the only goal of the show. It's full of conflicts born from greed, fear, and other human instincts. It deals with lots of heavy topics, especially the one about how the Mu are feared by others and how they can manage to live by themselves. The show moves from cat-and-rat play to a space-school part, later to a more established society's problem, then to a long journey, space war, and pretty much everything a good space drama needs. And it manages to do all of that while still having super powers around and giving the shounen fans lots of exciting action moments, nice fights, talks about who is more powerful, etc.
Fanservice? Bishounens?
Fortunately, the show is very low on stupid japanee elements that usually spoil the seriousness of shows. But it doesn't mean it's void of it. What we have here are lots of handsome guys with girly features, which translates to bishounens. It's pretty much like what happens in Gundam 00's character design. They even act a bit in the way a bishounen fan can expect, but they never harm the seriouness of the show or hamper the progression of the steady and vibrant pace the show has.
Character
Much like the story, Terra e...'s cast is very powerful. It's certainly helped by the time skips in the show, meaning we can see the characters in different stages of their lives, but it's also a consequence of their more complex personalities and interesting personal dramas. For a cast as big as what we have here, the job in this section is simply superb.
- The protagonist shines
Watching a protagonist grow from a crying baby to a mature man is always a pleasure. We don't see this quite often, and perhaps the best we have in such style are Lohengran, Guts, and Erin. Jomy is not as great as those, as his problems are far too focused on big-scale things, but he's still superbly developed through the show. He learns quite a lot in the first half in both his maturity and his powers, and his fears and dreams slowly start to get shape and move from his initial very typical shounen-lead persona. At the later stages he becomes a bit stagnated because the focus change to other characters, but he still remains a great lead anyway.
Story Fronts
The show is not solely focused on Jomy. It shows how the whole Mu, and some of their enemies from humanity's computer-ruled society, act. What we have here are other story fronts, showing the army's side and as well as how the new generation of Mu deal with their elders. This grants screen time to the whole cast, and a great deal of it uses this shining time exceptionally well, evolving and changing as they suffer from events around them, and also influencing other characters.
But they lack impact
The cast is huge, the characters are fairly well developed, they have nice bishounen designs, we even have some permanent death to important characters, but they lack something else to be remarkable. This happens for a few reasons, but mainly because there's a lot of them. And I mean really a LOT. And we don't have only one time skip, we have many. As a result you won't remember all of them besides Jomy, Blue, and another one you may identify yourself with. This is a issue typical of shounens, but at least we have have a good content. Forgetable, but great while it lasts.
Value
Well, let's resume. "A show about space, with an utopia society ruled by one big computer". This certainly was dealt with many past scy-fy shows that tried to preview the future in the 70's, 80's, and even before this. "Humanity evolves and a few mutants are born to adapt space". A mix of X-Men with the Newtypes, nothing new. "A journey to long lost Earth that humanity left behind after destroying its environment". A teaching about taking care of our planet? Nothing new as well.
So, it's a big merge of space-drama ideas, joined with an oldschool art style filled with bishounens and super powers! Hell, this would surely go wrong if released after 2010. But what we have here is an almost perfect execution. Terra e... manages to bring all this elements, some of them which don't even fit with each other, and create a space drama that even most Gundams have failed to do. It's void of fillers, uses time skip very well, never resort to fanservices, lolis, shy girls, lame romances, etc. It's an all serious space shounen with the power to please even a few girls! That's awesome!
Enjoyment
This is a show every scy-fy fan needs to watch. It's one of the best of the genre and still manages to mix more shounen stuff to make it pleasing to fans of Gundams and those who like bits of super powers in their tales. It can even please a few girls with the bishounen characters and a nice character development. However, if you're looking for something funny or light hearted you better keep away.
Comments
Well, I've watched this right after the release, and only later I tried the original old movie, so most of the impact its tale had on me was because of the TV show. It's a superb show, one of the few that I truly appreciate as a way to tell a big epic long story. Heroic Age did something similar in the same year, and it failed because it lost itself to the super powers and those epic giant beings fighting each other. Terra e... keeps itself grounded all the way, focusing more on the issues of the Mu, how they deal with society, their long dream, their doubts, fears, everything a solid show needs to grow bolder and more mature.
