Toward the Terra (1980)

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Yes, absolutely, there is fun to be had, as well as many, many things to go boom, all amid an atmospheric urban jungle.

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

There is very little action here, and not much else of interest to make up for its absence. The whole thing has a nice 1970s Leiji Matsumoto look - Space Battleship Yamato, Harlock Saga etc. - but while the creators strove for (and in some cases achieved) an awe-inspiring overall look, there is less of the sweeping narrative grandeur of those other films. Moreover, the potentially interesting story elements here - a secret society of espers fighting against a tyrannical government in a future utopia - are not well developed. There is too much dialogue discussing what is going on around the characters and not enough INVOLVEMENT of those characters in what is going on around them. Overall, there seemed a poor mix of fictional and dramatic elements.

Even it is old(1980), even its design is simple( but good), this is one of the best anime-movies, even today, 21 years after its production. The plot is original and well-done, mysteries are being revealed in their time, explaining everything without looking like that were forced (by the director or writer) to give a reason to all the story. The mü species was well created, with no lack of sense. It's a future that shows what can happen to us if we continue to destroy our planet, Earth, Terra! And there, thousand of years passed, they want to come back to this lost world. A master-piece of direction, giving you the suspense in the beginning, the sci-fi elements in the middle( showing the mü in their new planet, and the elite process of being born), and the drama in the end. In no time in the anime-movie you know if it will end happy or sad. You raise with the main character, you believe in his dreams, and get frustrated as himself. The great mama manipulates the human DNA in a space ship traveling to nowhere. People don't have sex anymore. And children do not raise and grow naturally. In this controlled chaos a boy has dreams, dreams about a prohibited civilization, about the only hope to open mankind eyes, about the mü society, those who are weak in health but strong in psychic powers. He, this boy, IS the HOPE to the mü, because he is strong in the 2 attributes. Then he meets the Soldier Blue, leader of the mü and knows his fate, get people TOWARD THE TERRA once again, but will he succeed? Find this movie and discover the answer. 10/10, a classic of anime!