Terra e... is certainly a promising manga, being a classic space opera written by one of the revolutionary Forty-Niners. I wouldn’t be lying if I said I was expecting a lot from it. However, many expectations weren’t met, and unlike Takemiya Keiko’s other works, this one went horribly wrong. And do keep in mind I am judging the original manga --not the anime.
The story begins about a millennium into the future, during a new time era known as Superior Dominance (S.D). Because humans had completely ruined Earth, they began using warp speed technology to colonize nearby planets in hope to one day return. The initial setting was nice, not totally unusual or unique to any sci-fi manga, but it certainly had its charms. Children were born into Ataraxia (the "Education World") with the expectation of becoming a predetermined, "cookie-cutter"-esque human. The problem is, that idea in general was played around with, but it was abandoned throughout the series, leaving it behind. A shame too because that could have been something else entirely.
Anyways, it continues; chronicling two characters and their lives for the next fifteen or so years. The characterization, in my opinion, was the weakest part of the entire manga. All of the characters were flat. Static. Literally: there was nothing likable of any of them, or something to make me emotionally attached. I could really think of one character who was an exception, and sadly, he wasn't even a main (and he too was scrapped early on). This wouldn't have been so bad if the manga did not try so hard to develop them. I mean, even though they spent (probably the good half of a volume) JUST focusing on the main character's "background", it didn't really give life to him. I believe that the story in general could have been only one volume long (rather than 3) if they did not focus so much on this characterization. In addition to that, it was very difficult to know where characters were situated, simply because the transitions between the different POVs (and yes, there were more than one) was completely nonexistent.
Needless to say, it was a very confusing read.
It wasn’t all that bad, however. The plot was very secure; I can tell that a lot of thought went into creating this story. And I know that it never trailed away from the main storyline, which made it pretty straight-forward (and no I am not contradicting myself by calling the story straight-forward and the actual schematics confusing). I’m not sure whether or not to call it fast-paced or not, simply because there were lots of time skips, but I found there wasn’t any complaints about the whole narration in general. And I don’t judge mangas on art (as it's very subjective), but if you’re a prospective reader wanting to know: it used simple devices such as thick lines during action scenes, or thin lines during more emotional scenes; a very 70/80’s style.
Well. Terra e... was an interesting experience. I think I had been hoping for a lot more (since this is by Takemiya Keiko!), but I don’t think I’d change a thing. There were good parts, and bad parts. It's ending was alright, but it left some questions unanswered (and no, I'm not talking about the super ambiguous epilogue). It’s value and creativity,, however, is extremely high for it’s time, which then brings my initial rating of a 6.5 to a 7.0. Frankly, I think this is manga for someone with an specific taste. So if you think you may like this, just try it out.
★★★★★★★☆☆☆
