Toward the Terra: A Must See Classic
The Right Stuf is releasing the classic 1980 anime film Toward the Terra on DVD just in time for Christmas. Back in the day as a 80s fanboy this was one of my favorite flicks, and it still holds up well today judging by the trailer above. Firstly the story line is A+ if your any sort of science fiction fanatic as the plot is very similar to A.E. van Vogt’s famous novel SLAN. Next you have the look of the film which holds up very well some 28 years later!
The character designs combine the look of the groundbreaking shouju manga with just a dash of classic Tezuka. The other thing that I noticed with this trailer was that I forgot just how good the soundtrack was — there’s a real magical quality to it. Also the mecha design for the film was amazing, you have two civilizations whose technology looks very different — in fact the contrast of the organic look of the Mu spacecraft captures the difference between them and the brave new world that they are feeing.
The other nice thing is that if you order the film in advance it’s only $15 which is a real bargain (perfect timing for a recession). My only wish is that Right Stuf would release the title on Blu-ray as I’m pretty sure the film had to be shot on at least 35mm which wouldn’t be the case for a TV from that era. Maybe if enough folks order the film that will give the American distributor enough encouragement.