Search - Toward the Terra: Anime Legends (6pc) (Ws Sub) on DVD

Mutants in Space

Kellyannl | Bronx, NY USA | 04/27/2010

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Toward the Terra is a space opera capable of netting a much broader audience than it sadly seems to have so far - a shounen series with a shoujo sensibility, with a tearjerk factor that almost gives Les Miserables a run for it's money, a political tone not unlike Orwell's 1984, and with it's anti-mutant hysteria a perfect entrance to anime for fans of the X-Men franchise.

Jomy Shin is a young man completing his childhood in a world where children are taken from their parents at birth and fostered out so as not to form family ties, the process further enforced at adulthood by a memory wipe courtesy of the Big-Brother like supercomputer "Grandmother" so that the brain can focus on one's career to better serve the system. This, Jomy knows. What he doesn't know is that he is a Mu - a member of a group of humans with telekenetic powers and an abnormally long lifespan who are killed upon detection. The statistics are grim: in the entire course of the series only one Mu is revealed to have avoided detection past the critical adulthood examination.

Fortunately for Jomy, he is rescued by the Mu leader, who goes by the rather cheesy name of Soldier Blue. The cheesiness ends with Blue's name, however, as he goes into a coma having reached his limit after asking Jomy - who in spite of his inexperience is the most powerful Mu in existence - to be his successor. Thus Jomy begins his long decades of trying to tie together three generations of Mu as they travel by spaceship trying to carve a life out for themselves: the original genocide witnesses who want to covertly continue Blue's judicious returns for rescue missions, the second generation who just want to avoid persecution, and eventually a third generation who don't understand why they can't just wipe humanity out with their superior capabilities so that they don't have to live in fear anymore. Meanwhile, "Grandmother" has a young man named Keith Anyan, who is roughly Jomy's contemporary, groomed to lead the "final solution" to the Mu "problem"...

Both sides have some valid points. With the Mu capable of killing - not only in malice but more tragically by accident when in extreme pain or mental anguish - humans are right to be afraid to some extent. The Mu's occasional desire to lash out is equally understandable, as the series holds no punches regarding showing the holocaust they have to live with. It is Jomy, who grew up with loving foster parents, who spearheads the vision that things don't have to be this way. But he will need both humans and his own people to meet him halfway.

As for weaknesses, the manga upon which it was based ran from 1977-80, and the art style may not appeal to those partial to the art of the 00s. Those who are only willing to watch dubs should be aware that the packaging is incorrect and this set is only subbed. A brief epilogue may be a bit too cloying for some viewers and not sit well considering what had come before.

In spite of those nitpicks, this is ultimately a very strong series about the best and worst in people with some heartwrenching individual scenes and a grand overarching theme which deserves to be watched when you have time to let it's impact sink in.
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