Creator: Keiko Takemiya
Publisher: Vertical, Inc.
Age Rating: Older Teen
Genre: Sci-Fi
RRP: $13.95
To Terra v1
Reviewed by Michael Aronson

“The future. Having driven Terra to the brink of environmental collapse, humanity decides to reform itself by ushering in the age of Superior Domination, a system of social control in which children are no longer the offspring of parents but the progeny of a universal computer. The new social order, however, results in an unexpected byproduct: the Mu, a mutant race with extrasensory powers who are forced into exile by The System. The saga begins on educational planet Ataraxia, where Jomy Marcus Shin, a brash and unpredictable teenager, is nervously preparing to enter adult society. When his Maturity Check goes wrong, the Mu intervene in the great hope that Jomy, who possesses Mu telepathy and human physical strength, can lead them back home, to Terra . . .”

I was really hoping to like this, my first non-Tezuka Vertical sampling. I figured, well, if Vertical has the sense to publish older brilliant works like Buddha and Ode to Kirihito, surely To Terra must be of similar quality. Not quite.

The first volume is steeped in science fiction jargon. The backdrop of the abandonment of Terra, the division of the Mu from humanity, the process of having one’s memory erased and more outshine moments of characterization and drama, resulting in a story that’s almost as sterile as its subject matter. When the story deems the technology and cultural activities more important than the development of its characters, it needs to reevaluate its priorities.

That’s not to say it’s all bad. The concepts are fairly interesting in themselves, as protagonist Jomy is a Mu who grew up without access to his telepathic abilities and so went undetected by the government. Jomy seeks to expose the weakness in humanity’s plans to abandon Terra and raise children in a cold and preprogrammed environment. It’s all a little familiar and the rebellion against society theme is more than a little predictable, but the wide scope of the story suggests that much more is to come.

If one wanted a little comparison with Vertical’s Tezuka productions, one could focus primarily on the art. The style bears more in common with shojo than shonen material in terms of character designs, but splash pages of cityscapes and the internal layout of the spacecraft structures are sprawling and meticulously details, and not too unlike Tezuka’s designs in the future episodes of Phoenix. There’s a distinct sense that Takemiya is still developing her craft, rather than having settled into the artistic conventions that are too common in today’s manga (To Terra was first released in 1977).

The concepts thus far are strong but not well developed yet. With two more volumes to go, hopefully To Terra unfolds into the sprawling award-winning saga of its reputation.

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6 October 2009
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