Manga Monday: To Terra...

(Usually I have lots of scanned images to accompany my review, that I scan myself, but Manga releases are smaller than bigger American comics, and it gets harder to scan them without horribly damaging the binding, and since all the comics I review are ones I have spent money on...I don't want them damaged! Sorry guys! Check out the free preview on the To Terra page linked below!)

This Manga Monday is going to cover To Terra..., a Shonen Sci Fi Manga from Shoujo Manga Master Keiko Takemiya. To Terra... is a three volume release from Vertical Inc. Which for my money is one of the best Manga Publishers to date. Each Manga volume they release is handsomely designed, faithfully translated and printed on beautiful paper. They have been releasing a lot of work by Osamu Tezuka, the God of Manga, and Takemiya's work can stand proud next to any volume of Tezuka's work. She was a pioneer of Manga drawn by women, and was among the first women to actually draw Shoujo comics as we know them.

To Terra... is set in a future world far in space. The human race has surrendered the management of their lives to all powerful telepathic computers, since they had depleted their natural resources and damaged their home planet. Most humans went to space, while the machines and computers stayed on Terra to clean up. Children are created artificially and raised by foster parents on other planets. Around age 14 all children are subjected to a maturity check, where the computers deem them acceptable to move onward to adulthood and make the journey to the mother planet, Terra. If they are not deemed acceptable they are killed. Unacceptable children may have emotional problems, have disabilities, or even have ESP. Children with ESP are eliminated, as they are not human, but MU, a race of physically weak beings who have powerful psychic powers. Humans and the computers try their best to eliminate the MU, but the MU fight on and rescue as many children as they can from the maturity checks, in the hopes that one day they will be strong enough to return to Terra and live there side by side with humans, without the will of the computers. Enter Jomy Marcus Shin, a Human who is rescued by the MU, and is heralded as the new leader of the MU, who possessed strong Psychic abilities and a strong body, unlike most MU. Jomy has to lead the MU against the Humans in his quest to return to Terra, and suffers many hardships along the way.

I don't want to give anything away, so I will keep the description at that, but these volumes are gripping, and are fine examples of how good Manga can be. This is great science fiction. There are robots, other worlds, aliens, space ships battles, cities in space, questions about humanity, technology and all those great things that make a good sci fi story. There are a lot of tense moments here, and characters live and die in terrible battles all the time. It is a gut wrenching work at times, but there are moments of humor throughout, much like how Tezuka would throw in a little joke here and there to relieve tension. The art is nothing short of spectacular, the heavy ink lines, appealing characters and amazingly designed space ships make these volumes a feast for the eyes. My only complaint is that at times the word bubbles are hard to follow, but its nothing too egregious. Being Manga, these volumes are read from right to left, keeping the artwork unflipped. Most of the sound effects go untranslated, but that doesn't really detract from what is going on. Looking at these volumes you can see where Clamp got a lot of their influence, but I feel Takemiya is still the master.

You can find these in comic shops and book stores like Borders and Barnes and Noble, and if you do, I would say pick them up! If you like science fiction, buy these! If you like shonen manga, buy these! If you like shoujo Manga...Definitely buy these!!!! If you like comics buy these!!! Vertical Inc. is a great company that needs our support, their manga releases are of a high quality, and the average manga reader doesn't give 2 craps about old manga like this, but it is amazing stuff! The stuff Vertical Inc. puts out is a little more expensive than the usual manga fare, but you get it unflipped, you get titles other companies don't have the balls to release, you get beautiful covers and excellent print quality and paper quality. Check these out!!!!!

Verticals Website

To Terra Page

Check out the free Preview on the To Terra page!
-Eamon