is a Japanese

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel uni ...

manga series by Keiko Takemiya. It was originally serialized in Asahi Sonorama's ''Gekkan Manga Shōnen'' magazine, between January 1977 and May 1980. In 1978, it won the first

Seiun Award The is a Japanese speculative fiction award given each year for the best science fiction works and achievements during the previous calendar year. Organized and overseen by , the awards are given at the annual Japan Science Fiction Convention. ...

for manga, and in 1980 also won the

Shogakukan Manga Award The is one of Japan's major manga awards, and is sponsored by Shogakukan Publishing. It has been awarded annually for serialized manga and features candidates from a number of publishers. It is the oldest manga award in Japan, being given since ...

for shōnen/ shōjo manga (along with Takemiya's ''

Kaze to Ki no Uta is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Keiko Takemiya. It was serialized in the manga magazine '' Shūkan Shōjo Comic'' from 1976 to 1980, and in the manga magazine ''Petit Flower'' from 1981 to 1984. One of the earliest w ...

''). In 1980, it was adapted into an anime movie, produced by

Toei Animation () is a Japanese animation studio primarily controlled by its namesake Toei Company. It has produced numerous series, including ''Sally the Witch,'' '' GeGeGe no Kitarō,'' '' Mazinger Z'', '' Galaxy Express 999'', '' Cutie Honey'', '' Dr. Slu ...

and directed by Hideo Onchi. In 2007, the manga was adapted into an anime television series, co-animated by Minamimachi Bugyōsho and Tokyo Kids, and produced by

Aniplex is a Japanese anime, music production and anime licensee company owned by Sony Music Entertainment Japan. Established in September 1995, Aniplex has been involved in the production and distribution of several anime series, such as both '' Fullm ...

SKY Perfect Well Think is a Japanese content production and development enterprise, owned by SKY Perfect Communications, established on July 29, 2004. It is involved in the production, development and distribution of several feature films, anime series, television progr ...

, and Mainichi Broadcasting System. Directed by Osamu Yamazaki and featuring character designs by Nobuteru Yuki, it premiered in Japan on MBS- TBS's Saturday 6:00pm '' doroku'' time slot (previously occupied by other notable anime series such as '' Mobile Suit Gundam SEED'', ''

Fullmetal Alchemist is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Hiromu Arakawa. It was serialized in Square Enix's ''shōnen'' manga anthology magazine '' Monthly Shōnen Gangan'' between July 2001 and June 2010; the publisher later collected th ...

'' and ''

Blood+ Blood is a body fluid in the circulatory system of humans and other vertebrates that delivers necessary substances such as nutrients and oxygen to the cells, and transports metabolic waste products away from those same cells. Blood in the ...

'') on April 7, 2007, and ended on September 22, 2007, replacing the cancelled

Bones A bone is a rigid organ that constitutes part of the skeleton in most vertebrate animals. Bones protect the various other organs of the body, produce red and white blood cells, store minerals, provide structure and support for the body, a ...

series '' Tenpō Ibun Ayakashi Ayashi''.

Plot

The story takes place in the distant future sometime after the 31st millennium where humanity exists under the rule of the political order controlled by supercomputers known as ''Superior Dominance'' and the carefully selected humans known as the ''Members Elite''. Centuries before the story begins, the human race came to the conclusion that war and pollution rendered life on Earth unsustainable. Using warp travel the decision was made to leave a supercomputer

artificial general intelligence Artificial general intelligence (AGI) is the ability of an intelligent agent to understand or learn any intellectual task that a human being can. It is a primary goal of some artificial intelligence research and a common topic in science fictio ...

and caretaker humans behind and colonize distant stars. Under the rule of ''Superior Dominance'' all humans are born in vitro and given to carefully selected parents. At the age of 14, all children are put through brainwashing where their memories are wiped by ''Superior Dominance'' and overwritten to produce functional adults. A race of advanced humans with psionic abilities called ''Mu'' (pronounced myuu, μ) has evolved, and the supercomputers that control Superior Dominance make every effort to exterminate them. Led by Soldier Blue and then Soldier Shin, the Mu make every effort to locate and rescue as many ''Mu'' children as possible before the children are discovered and eliminated. The ''Mu'' have only one wish, to return to what they see as their promised land, Terra. The series spans a large number of years, jumping back and forth multiple times, from Soldier Shin's life on Ataraxia, the various events on Station E-1077, Soldier Shin's founding of a ''Mu'' colony on a habitable planet, Neska, the Superior Dominance war of extermination on the Mu, and finally to the Mu's return to Terra.

Media

Manga

The manga series, written and illustrated by Keiko Takemiya, was serialized by Asahi Sonorama in '' Gekkan Manga Shōnen'' between January 1977 and May 1980. The chapters were collected in five bound volumes, which was reissued in August 1980 with the release of the movie. In 2007, on the day before the TV series began airing, the manga was reprinted by Japanese publisher Square Enix. In 2007, American publisher

Vertical Vertical is a geometric term of location which may refer to: * Vertical direction, the direction aligned with the direction of the force of gravity, up or down * Vertical (angles), a pair of angles opposite each other, formed by two intersecting s ...

released the manga in three print volumes in North America under the title ''To Terra...''
Manga Planet
re-released the series digitally in 2019 under the title “Toward the Terra.” The series won two awards: the

for best manga in 1978 and the

for best shōnen in 1979.

Movie

In 1980, ''Toward the Terra'' was adapted into an

animated Animation is a method by which still figures are manipulated to appear as moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Today, most ani ...

movie, produced by

and directed by Hideo Onchi.

Rightstuf Right Stuf Inc. (formerly known as The Right Stuf International Inc.) is an American video publisher and distributor of video programming that specializes in Asian entertainment (anime and live action films). The company since 2022 is owned by ...

released a

hardsub Subtitles and captions are lines of dialogue or other Writing, text displayed at the bottom of the screen in films, television programs, video games or other visual media. They can be transcriptions of the screenplay, translations of it, or ...

bed version of the movie in North America. It was titled ''Toward the Terra'', and appeared on VHS in 1994 and on laserdisc in 1995. At

Anime Expo Anime Expo, abbreviated AX, is an American anime convention held in Los Angeles, California and organized by the non-profit Society for the Promotion of Japanese Animation (SPJA). The convention is traditionally held annually on the first w ...

2008, The Right Stuf International announced that its Nozomi Entertainment division had licensed the ''Toward the Terra'' film for the North American market.

TV series

''Toward the Terra'' was adapted into an animated TV series in 2007, co-animated by Minamimachi Bugyōsho and Tokyo Kids, and produced by

and Mainichi Broadcasting System. It was directed by Osamu Yamazaki, written by Satoru Nishizono and featured character and conceptual designs by Nobuteru Yuki (''

Vision of Escaflowne is a 26-episode Japanese anime television series created by Shōji Kawamori and Sunrise Studios and directed by Kazuki Akane. It premiered in Japan on April 2, 1996 on TV Tokyo, and the final episode aired on September 24, 1996. Sony's a ...

'') and

Yutaka Izubuchi is a Japanese anime designer, screenwriter and director. Izubuchi is credited for designing costumes, characters and creatures, but most of his designs are mechanical (both robots and other vehicles). He created and directed the ''RahXephon'' se ...

(''

RahXephon is a Japanese anime television series created and directed by Yutaka Izubuchi. The series follows 17-year-old Ayato Kamina, his ability to control a mecha known as the RahXephon, and his inner journey to find a place in the world. His l ...

'') respectively. The first opening theme, spanning episodes 1-13, was "Endscape", performed by the band

UVERworld Uverworld (stylized as UVERworld) is a Japanese rock band consisting of six members and originating from Kusatsu, Shiga. They have released eleven studio albums and over thirty singles and have sold over three million records worldwide. "Uverwo ...

, while the first ending theme is "Love is", performed by

Miliyah Kato (born June 22, 1988), better known by her stage name of is a Japanese pop and urban singer, songwriter, fashion designer, and author. In 2003, Kato started her career as a singer when she provided vocal to Reggae Disco Rockers' song "Cherry Oh ...

. These were replaced from episodes 14-24 onwards, with the second opening theme being " Jet Boy Jet Girl", performed by Hitomi Takahashi, and the second ending theme being "This Night", performed by Chemistry. The series premiered in Japan on MBS- TBS's Saturday 6:00pm time slot on April 7, 2007. That time slot was previously occupied by other notable animated series, such as '' Mobile Suit Gundam Seed'' and ''

''. It was replaced in this timeslot by ''

Mobile Suit Gundam 00 is a Japanese anime television series, the eleventh installment in Sunrise (company), Sunrise studio's long-running ''Gundam'' franchise comprising two seasons. The series is set on a futuristic Earth and is centered on the exploits of the f ...

'', which premiered in October 2007. The series was also aired in Japan on the BS network

Animax , stylized as ANIMAX, is a Japanese animation satellite television network, dedicated to broadcasting anime programming. The channel also dubbed other cartoons in Japanese language. A subsidiary of Sony Pictures Entertainment Japan, it is headq ...

, who also subsequently aired in its English language network in

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical south-eastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of mainlan ...

and

South Asia South Asia is the southern subregion of Asia, which is defined in both geographical Geography (from Greek: , ''geographia''. Combination of Greek words ‘Geo’ (The Earth) and ‘Graphien’ (to describe), literally "earth descr ...

Episodes

Reception

The 2007 anime adaptation received mostly positive reviews from critics. Theron Martin of the Anime News Network gave the series several positive reviews concluding, "''Toward the Terra'' is not a top-rate series, but it tells a good enough and engrossing enough, and acceptable enough, story to be worth a look. It never much more than toys with the serious underlying issues it touches upon, and has definite flaws elsewhere, but through this span of episodes it is still less shallow than most typical series." Anime review website Nihon Reviews gave the series a 9 out of 10, with a rating of "fantastic".

References

External links

Official website of anime television series

Right Stuf/Nozomi's Official film website
via

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...

* *
Movie review
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