Toward the Terra

Toward the Terra (地球へ…) is a Japanese science fiction manga series, authored 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 very first Seiun Award for manga, and subsequently, in 1980, also won the Shogakukan Manga Award for shōnen/shōjo manga (along with Takemiya's Kaze to Ki no Uta).

In 1980 it was adapted into an anime movie, produced by Toei Animation and directed by Hideo Onchi. In 2007, the manga was adapted into a TV anime series, co-animated by Minamimachi Bugyōsho and Tokyo Kids, and produced by Aniplex, SKY Perfect Well Think, 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 and Blood+) on April 7, 2007, and ended on September 22, 2007, replacing the cancelled Bones series Tenpō Ibun Ayakashi Ayashi.

Plot
In a distant future where mankind has colonized the stars, life is being controlled by supercomputers. A race of psionics called Mu has emerged, and humanity fears and wants to destroy it. Staying hidden and attempting to rescue as many Mu children as possible before they are eliminated, the Mu have only one longing - to return home.

The plot of the series spans a large number of years, jumping ahead multiple times, from Jomy's life on Ataraxia, to the various events on Station E-1077, to Jomy's founding of a Mu colony on a habitable planet, to the humans' invasion of said planet in order to eradicate the perceived threat, and finally to the Mu's return to Terra.

Main Characters
Voice: (1980) Junichi Inoue ; (2007 TV series) Mitsuki Saiga
 * Jomy Marcus Shin (ジョミー・マーキス・シン)
 * Jomy, a student born in the Education City Ataraxia, unknowingly carries the Mu Factor within his genes. On his 14th birthday, he fails his adulthood exam, but is rescued by the Mu from an assassination attempt. Later on, Jomy's dormant powers awaken, and he is confronted with the realization that he is one of the strongest Mu (a Type-Blue), and the only hope his race has for continued survival.
 * Jomy originally rejects the idea of him being a Mu but comes to accept it later on and succeeds Soldier Blue as their leader. Despite being unnaturally healthy for a Mu, in the original manga his well-being eventually deteriorates to a state that renders him blind, deaf and mute.
 * In the DVD-only Epilogue episode of the anime, it is shown that in an unknown future Jomy is reincarnated and reunited with Keith on the successfully-terraformed Earth.

Voice: (1980) Masaya Oki ; (2007 TV series) Takehito Koyasu
 * Keith Anyan (キース・アニアン)
 * Raised in a test tube for the first 14 years of his life, Keith does not remember anything before his non-existent adulthood exam. Labelled as an "android" by Seki Ray Shiroe, he is known for his exceptional mind and elite skills on-board educational station E-1077, on which he befriended Sam. His continued outstanding performance earns him a rapid rise in ranks, and he eventually comes to lead all of Humanity at the young age of thirty.
 * Interestingly, despite being pitted against Jomy and the Mu several times throughout the series, Keith's portrayal is similar to that of an anti-hero and somewhat of a second protagonist, rather than a "villain". His connections and experiences with the Mu ultimately lead him to betray Grandmother, and the SD system itself.
 * In the DVD-only Epilogue episode of the anime, it is shown that in an unknown future Keith is reincarnated and reunited with Jomy on the successfully-terraformed Earth.

Voice : (1980) Taro Shigaki ; (2007 TV series) Tomokazu Sugita
 * Soldier Blue (ソルジャー・ブルー)
 * The first leader of the Mu, and the very first Type Blue psion, hence the origin of his name. Having an abnormally weak body, Soldier Blue is reaching his limit in his advanced age, and seeks out Jomy to lead his people, and to ensure the continued survival of the Mu.


 * Physis (フィシス)
 * A blind woman who uses Tarot cards to predict the future, Physis is perceived by Blue to be the 'goddess' of the Mu. She is different from other Mu in that she does not carry the necessary mutated gene, and is an otherwise normal human whom Blue bestowed upon psionic abilities.

Voice: (1980) Hiroko Yakushimaru ; (2007 TV series) Motoki Takagi
 * Jonah Matsuka (ジョナ・マツカ)
 * A young man with an unwavering loyalty to Keith. Initially believing that his ability to read minds was merely "weird" and "unique", Matsuka is in actuality a Mu who managed to trick the system and pass his adulthood exams without detection. For a time being Matsuka became Keith's personal servant aboard any vessel they were assigned to, using his powers to rescue Keith from any hostile situation involving the Mu. Tragically, Matsuka dies when he saves Keith from an assassination attempt by Tony. His name is incorrectly translated as Makka in Vertical's English translation of the manga.


 * Seki Ray Shiroe (セキ・レイ・シロエ)
 * A young boy unaware of his Mu powers, he is a freshman onboard educational station E-1077 during Keith's senior years. With a fiery, rebellious nature and vehement dislike for the system, he opposes the perfectly elite and poker-faced Keith Anyan, constantly provoking him and striving to surpass him.
 * Although Jomy and Shiroe never meet in the manga or its 1980 adaptation, the TV series features an early episode in which Jomy attempts to take the 10-year-old Shiroe back to the Shangri-La with him.


 * Tony (トォニィ)
 * The very first natural birth since the implementation of the SD system, Tony was born to Mu parents on Naska. He marks the first of several similarly-born Mu children who experience rapid growth and possess Type-Blue powers far superior to many of the other Mu. Despite being hot-headed and rebellious, he holds a deep affection for Jomy, calling him "Grandpa" (despite having no relation to him; however, in the movie version, Tony is depicted as Jomy's son).
 * Tony's ultimate fate differs in each adaptation. In the original manga, he and the other Nazca-born Mu exile themselves to a distant planet after refusing to see Terra; however, in the anime he succeeds the late Jomy as the leader of the Mu.

Mu

 * Harley (ハーレイ)
 * The commander of the Mu mother ship. Despite appearing older than Soldier Blue, they are from the same generation. He's a Type-Green, capable of perfect psionic defense. After years of fleeing the humans and finally arriving on Terra, Harley and the elder Mu sacrifice themselves to allow Physis the chance to escape the planet's collapse.


 * Leo (リオ)
 * A gentle-natured young man born with speech disability, Leo communicates primarily through telepathy. He is one of the first Mu to encounter Jomy, aiding his escape from Ataraxia. Leo dies saving a young woman from a falling boulder during Terra's collapse.


 * Carina (カリナ)
 * Tony's mother. She is the first female to give birth naturally after the introduction of the SD system's controlled birth program. After Keith stabs the 3-year-old Tony while being held captive on the Mu mothership, Carina is immediately led to believe that he is dead, and she ultimately destroys herself out of her own grief-induced rage.


 * Artella (アーテラ)
 * One of the naturally born Type-Blue children who possesses remarkable powers like Tony. She is fiercely loyal to Tony and will abide by anything he plans to do. Sadly, she is killed in the battle nearby Jupiter by Serge Sturgeon's anti-psion defense fighter whilst trying to stop him from killing Tony.

Humans

 * Sam Houston (サム・ヒューストン)
 * A childhood friend of Jomy, Sam passes his adulthood exam and is placed in the same class as Keith, where the two become close friends. He eventually loses his mind and is reduced to the mentality of am 8-year-old, his mind ironically filled only with the memories of his childhood that repeated memory erasure had forced him to forget. Eventually, he dies from pneumonia after running out in the rain for hours. Keith carries Sam's blood in his earrings.


 * Swena Dalton (スウェナ・ダールトン)
 * Given a bigger part in the anime, Swena was another of Jomy's childhood friends. She is placed in the same class as Keith and Sam on E-1077. She harbors unrequited love for Keith. Swena's biological daughter develops the Mu factor and is rescued by them when Keith tries to kill her as a way of stalling their advance to Terra. In the original manga, she was first seen just before she left E-1077 to get married.

Voice: Nobuhiko Okamoto
 * Serge Sturgeon (セルジュ・スタージョン)
 * An anime-only character who also serves as an homage to Serge Battour, the main character of Kaze to Ki no Uta (another of Keiko Takemiya's more famous works). Serge is loyal to Keith - as shown by his grief when he believes that Keith is dead - and often acts as his second in command. He also befriends Matsuka, and is the only person shown to refer to him by his first name ("Jonah"). With his final words Keith tells Serge to look after the human race and work alongside the Mu for a positive future.

Computers

 * Grandmother (グランドマザー)
 * The all powerful computer that governs mankind. It disapproves of the Mu. It was programmed with the prime directive of supressing the Mu population to prevent it from spreading, and in Keith's words, as a way to direct human hatred toward the Mu and prevent humanity from destroying itself through greed and selfishness.


 * Computer Terra (コンピュータ・テラ)
 * A computer deep within Earth that appears after the destruction of Grandmother. Originally installed ten years before the S.D. calendar, its calculations showed a high probability of the Mu deciding Earth's destiny. The politicians of that time disapproved of the calculations and went on to build Grandmother. In the manga, Keith shuts it down after killing Jomy, ending the rule of Superior Domination.


 * Terraz Number 5 (テラズ・ナンバー5)
 * One of the nine "Terraz Number" and directly connected to Grandmother. Terraz Number 5 is the computer in charge of the awakening ceremony on Ataraxia.


 * Mother Eliza (マザー・イライザ)
 * The mother computer of Educational Station E-1077. She appears as a holographic projection, taking the form of a person familiar to the student. While she acts as counsellor, she is in reality in charge of the station, frequently praising and favouring Keith, whom she considers her "child". Eliza and E-1077 are shut down eventually by Keith when he discovers his origin as a series of failed experiments conducted within the station's labs.

Other

 * Weeping Mouse (ナキネズミ)
 * A creature looks like a purple fox. It communicates with its kind using ultrasound and is capable of limited telepathy. It was created by the Mu, but humans were led to believe that it came from a foreign planet. One specimen communicates with Jomy telepathically at Fantastic Dreamworld, and is freed from its captivity; it follows Jomy to the Mu mother ship later on, and is eventually named "Rain". In contrast, it is also used throughout the TV series as a symbol of Keith and Sam's friendship.

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 three 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 released all three volumes of the manga in North America under the title To Terra....

The series won two awards: the Seiun Award for best manga in 1978 and the Shogakukan Manga Award for best shōnen in 1979.

Movie
In 1980, Toward the Terra was adapted into an animated movie, produced by Toei Animation and directed by Hideo Onchi. TRSI released a hardsubbed 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 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 Aniplex, SKY Perfect Well Think 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) and Yutaka Izubuchi (RahXephon) respectively. The first opening theme, spanning episodes 1-13, was "endscape", performed by the band Uverworld, while the first ending theme is "Love is", performed by Miliyah Kato. 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 Fullmetal Alchemist. It was replaced in this timeslot by Mobile Suit Gundam 00, which premiered in October 2007. The series was also aired in Japan on the BS network Animax, who also subsequently aired in its English language network in Southeast Asia and South Asia.

Staff
 * Planning: Seiji Takeda (MBS), Noriyasu Kimiki (Wellthink), Kōichirō Natsume (Aniplex)
 * Planning co-operation: Atsushi Higashiyama (Dentsu)
 * Screenplay: Satoru Nishizono, others
 * Character design: Nobuteru Yuki
 * Conceptual design: Yutaka Izubuchi
 * Mechanical design: Yasushi Ishizu, Takayuki Yanase, Hideyuki Matsumoto
 * Display design: Yoshinori Sayama
 * SF research: Mitsuyasu Sakai
 * Art director: Shunichirō Yoshiwara (Bihō)
 * Art settings: Tomoyasu Fujise, Yoshinori Shiozawa (episode 1)
 * Color design: Yūko Kanemaru
 * Color design assistance: Rieko Sakai
 * Director of photography: Takeshi Hirōka
 * 3D director: Tatsuo Hayasaki
 * Editing: Yutaka Fukuda
 * Music: Yasuharu Takanashi
 * Music director: Fumiko Harada
 * Sound design: Minoru Yamada (eNa)
 * Sound recording engineer: Shōji Hata
 * Sound recording assistant: Hiromi Yoshihara
 * Sound recording studio: STUDIO T & T
 * Sound recording production head: Jun'ichi Inaba
 * Sound production: DAX Production
 * Music production/co-operation: Sony Music Entertainment, Just
 * Producers: Hiroshi Morotomi (MBS), Norihiro Hayashida (Wellthink), Ai Abe (Aniplex)
 * Animation producer: Kiyomitsu Aoki (Tokyo Kids)
 * Assistant director: Hidetoshi Yoshida
 * Director/direction supervision: Osamu Yamazaki
 * Animation production: Minamimachi Bugyōsho, Tokyo Kids
 * Production: Mainichi Broadcasting System, SKY Perfect Well Think, Aniplex


 * Cast
 * Jomy Marquis Shin: Mitsuki Saiga
 * Keith Anyan: Takehito Koyasu
 * Soldier Blue: Tomokazu Sugita
 * Physis: Sanae Kobayashi
 * Jonah Matzka: Motoki Takagi
 * Seki Ray Shiroe : Marina Inoue
 * Tony: Noriaki Sugiyama
 * Sam Houston: Wataru Hatano
 * Swena Dalton: Yuki Masuda
 * Leo: Daisuke Namikawa
 * Karina: Sayuri Kubo
 * Harley: Jūrōta Kosugi
 * Ella:Fumi Orita
 * Zel: Yousuha Akimoto
 * Brau: Minako Ichiki
 * Serge Sturgeon: Nobuhiko Okamoto
 * Glaive Murdock: Ken Narita
 * Artella: Ayahi Takagaki
 * Jomy's Mother: Yukana
 * Jomy's Father: Yasunori Matsumoto
 * Alfred: Takuma Terashima
 * Nina: Sayaka Narita
 * Yui: Kazutoshi Hatano
 * Harold: Kunihiro Kawamoto
 * Hillman: Atsushi Imaruoka
 * Toki: Fumie Mizusawa
 * Nakinezumi: Manami Komori
 * Mother Computer: Ai Orikasa
 * Commanding Officer: Hiroki Yasumoto
 * Narration: Norio Wakamoto