Terra Formars

-TERRAFORMERS is about humanity’s first attempts to colonize Mars through the use of spreading cockroaches and other bacteria on the planet. They do this around 2021 I think and about 100 or so years later they send a manned mission to the planet to see if it’s habitable or not. Surprise-surprise, it turns out to be habitable. Oceans appear, greenery is located far throughout the land, and there is an active atmosphere. Everything is fine and dandy until after exploring the area outside the landing zone one of the crew members loses their head all of a sudden due to a large dark blur. When that blur stops, a tall, insectoid figure remains holding the crew member’s head. The cockroaches that humanity sent to help terraform Mars super evolved to adapt to the environment and have colonized the planet already in humanity’s stead. And they’re hostile. And ridiculously strong. After a harrowing escape attempt is made, the crew members inform the United Nations of what went down, and another mission is prepared to either establish a diplomatic mission, or to forcibly exterminate the entire population of roachmen. Knowing that their last contact was violent however, humanity prepares a countermeasure: an operation to merge the DNA of humans and animals in order to give humanity the edge over their insect enemies. This is one of the highlights of the series, and one of the things that makes it stand out compared to your average fighting manga. It allows for the fighters of humanity to stand up to their insect enemies and also perform other tasks that might be essential to survival due to the other abilities that the animals they merged with have. There’s more to it than just that, and I’ll explain further into the review. The second manned mission is sent to Mars, and this time, things go well at first, with the crew smashing the roaches, but then another revelation is made about the roachmen: they’re intelligent on a near human level(more on this later too). Any sort of progress made wading through the first wave of enemies was simply a lure to get the crew away from the ship. The roaches then try to take over the ship. Realizing what’s happening before it’s too late, the captain of the ship orders a retreat and barely manages to escape with what few members remain, and not without losing an arm and other valuable scientific equipment. Fast forward to the third mission, where the UN finally decides to get it’s shit together. It takes volunteers from around the world to go on this mission, with the promise that if they survive they’ll be paid handsomely. When I say this cast is diverse, I mean it. Different ethnicities, social backgrounds, occupations, ways of thinking, intelligences(?), This plays a slight part in the interpersonal relationships of the cast, and is cause for some actions in the plot. Only some though. The crew this time isn’t ordered to wipe out the roaches, but instead take samples of the environment and if possible capture roachmen for study. Once the mission gets off, the new crew lands on Mars to make two more discoveries: the roaches have leaders, and that the bugs have also learned how to perform the animal DNA mixing operation on themselves. Turns out that among some of the equipment stolen on the last mission contained insects that were supposed to help terraform the environment further. And through weird scientific BS, the roachmen can perform DNA splicing. There’s more explained as to why this was possible later, but it’s science fiction, so I’ll let it slide. Regardless, what was supposed to be an easy mission gets infinitely harder, and humanity’s fighters get ready for the fight of their lives as the roachmen approach. Think that’s it? Not all is as it seems as there are higher earthborne powers edging for dominance of the new planet and vying for military supremacy in an arms race at the same time as the mission takes place, to further spice up the story. The story really starts there. That’s a shotgunned summary of the plot of TERRAFORMERS. It might not sound that interesting at first, but I gurauntee you that it’s fun, if anything else. It doesn’t rely too heavily on one aspect of itself(plot, characters, fights, etc. ) to keep people interested, and instead uses everything in a unique blend to keep your attention. There’s so much to learn about the world of TERRAFORMERS, and I found the science parts of it actually interesting, as I think it kept everything pretty easy to understand, even for the average viewer. Many of the cast members feel like human beings and there’s a character for everybody to relate to, if only in background or personality. The depth of their stories ranges pretty well and I did find myself rooting for many members because of their pasts and personalities, and watching them overcome struggle after struggle kept me invested and at times hoping that they’d survive harsh situations. I should note that the story doesn’t follow a single protagonist, and instead we get to follow multiple leads, and this adds to the excitement because there are situations when leads need to be split up to accomplish multiple tasks at once, some dependent on each other. The main antagonists of the story, the roachmen, are pretty well written. They aren’t entirely incredible thinkers like humanity is, but they do provide enough of an obstacle to be a frightening foe at times. Especially when the cast comes up against a hybrid roach. The artist/author manages to present them and their unique abilities in such a way that it adds to the already terrifying figure of the roaches. For example, imagine a spider roach human that all of a sudden comes flying out of nowhere and has it’s mandibles in your face seeking to chew off your skin, always looming over you and not allowing you to rest until you or it is dead. Complete with spider hair, insect exoskeleton, and a fucking stare that feels like it’s piercing your soul. These roaches are scary at times, and it’s not just that they’re typically stronger, have more numbers, and on their own turf. They’re smart, having a caste system with toga-wearing roaches at the top strategizing for their massive numbers of soldier roaches and the hybrid roach “officers”. Just when you think it’s a simple game of beat up and smash the bugs, you’ll find yourself in an ambush from all sides or in a hybrid roach’s perfect habitat, meant to ensnare and/or kill. It is an uphill battle to fight them, and the terms of survival are victory or death with them. They even go so far as to use humanity’s own technology against them, and are adapting to humanity as they clash. It may seem cheesy to say, but they exemplify the survival of the fittest mindset, as they are well aware of what it means if they lose. This provides for some highly entertaining and invested fights, and coupled with some above average direction everything felt mostly natural. Sometimes it’s a one sided beat down with clearing hordes of enemies, engaging in very even one on ones with hybrid roaches involving characters you don’t want to see die give their all, underdog fights with characters you want to see live put more than just their lives on the line going against their natural predator, to anything in between. These fights are absolutely sick, and you will love them if you’re a fan of animals. Speaking of, it has a very creative use of the powers of the animals they inhabit. For example, a spider’s webs will be used as new footing in a fight and a Mantis Shrimp’s eye’s will be used to see any traps an opponent has hidden. Sometimes you do get an occasional use of plot armor and weird science fiction BS to turn a fight around, but it doesn’t happen often, and it’s still entertaining regardless of what happens. The artwork is above average, but doesn’t really include a lot to write home about or to post to an Instagram page praising the shit out of it. The dialogue is fine, with some cringey anime shit of course, but forgiveable if nothing else. Overall, I’d say it’s a solid 7.5-7.8 / 10 for a fighting manga.

TLDR: Humanity goes to Mars to get bars but finds insects who take necks and it’s a thrill ride.