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 First up is some boring plot synopsis blah blah "The year is 2577. In the 21st century, scientists were tasked with making Mars inhabitable by humans. To change its atmosphere, its land, to terraform the planet, if you will. Humanity chooses to accomplish this task with cockroaches and moss. Centuries later, a manned expedition sets out towards Mars, but not all goes as planned. The cockroaches from several hundred years past have evolved in a way that no human could have predicted. In a bizarre twist, human beings become the pest and the cockroaches the exterminator. Decades later, having learned from its mistake, humanity chooses to send a group of warriors to Mars to kill the rogue roaches and take back what's rightfully theirs." I won't say this comic has it all, but it does have enough going for it that I think everyone can find something they enjoy in it. Education. There's a lot of information about various insects and the whole terraforming process included in this comic. I'm surprised at how much I'm learning with each new chapter I read. Suspense. It probably wouldn't have the fan base that it does without a little something else. You'll be on the edge of your seat, wondering how your favorite protagonist(s) will deal with the next trial they face. Diversity. This comic has a decent sized cast of men and women of varying nationalities and ethnicities. I find this intriguing since it's rare to see certain races portrayed in Japanese media, and this is one comic that definitely sets a standard that others should aspire to. Pretty art.  But don't just take my word for it! Let's see what other people have to say! In the 2013 "This Manga Is Awesome!" male demographic rankings, our very own Terra ForMars came in at number 1![1][2] It also received a nomination for the 2013 "Manga Taisho"![1][2] Where to read it?  Batoto Chapter 1 Mangafox Chapter 1 Make sure to keep ADTRW spoiler rules in mind. Since it seems as if this comic will start being released entire volumes at a time in the future, it might help to label the specific chapter you're talking about to avoid ruining any big surprises! bofa salesman fucked around with this message at 02:36 on Mar 26, 2013 |
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Mar 25, 2013 22:28
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Volume 4 was just translated recently, so I may as well link the first chapter from it.
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Mar 25, 2013 22:29
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lil baby anime posted:Diversity. This comic has a decent sized cast of men and women of varying nationalities and ethnicities. I find this intriguing since it's rare to see certain races portrayed in Japanese media, and this is one comic that definitely sets a standard that others should aspire to. I really hope this is a joke.
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Mar 25, 2013 22:37
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I'm just going to say it again. This is what happens when you mix a unhealthy obsession with insects and a crippling phobia of the black man.
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Mar 25, 2013 23:13
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I love the crab dude in the latest volume. And how they're now hinting at the fact that there's some other force behind the terraformers. At least there's some acknowledgment that bugs straight-up evolving into black people is completely absurd.
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Mar 25, 2013 23:29
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I guess this is the part where I mention that the terraformers were pretty clearly modeled after the first google image search result for homo erectus, and then get promptly ignored because I'm not pointing out how hilariously racist the manga is or something. 
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Mar 25, 2013 23:41
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AnonSpore posted:the first google image search result for homo erectus  Yes, good.
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Mar 25, 2013 23:55
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Is that what you get? I've always gotten the same one that's on the English wikipedia page. Oh well.
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Mar 25, 2013 23:57
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AnonSpore posted:I guess this is the part where I mention that the terraformers were pretty clearly modeled after the first google image search result for homo erectus, and then get promptly ignored because I'm not pointing out how hilariously racist the manga is or something. Thank you. I swear if I read one more post on one more forum about how racist teraformers is against black people I'm going to pop a blood vessel. It's like those people who go into Mass Effect discussions to talk about how the Batarrians are obviously a negative stereotype of Arab/Muslim countries because they're infamous for terrorist actions against humans. It's depressing how overt racism is always the first assumption at first proverbial hiccup anymore.
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Mar 26, 2013 00:04
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AnonSpore posted:I guess this is the part where I mention that the terraformers were pretty clearly modeled after the first google image search result for homo erectus, and then get promptly ignored because I'm not pointing out how hilariously racist the manga is or something. Not only that, but that image is on the Japanese Wikipedia page for Homo erectus.
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Mar 26, 2013 00:30
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I can see definitely the homo erectus thing, but I still find some of the imagery in certain instances a little suspect. Like with this pic vol 1 ch 4 spoilers A picture is in this spoiler bar Homo erectus inspiration for the roach? Sure. But what is the roach doing and how is it doing it? Then there's just the way some scenes are framed. Like some of the scenes when a bunch of cockroaches are surrounding some defenseless woman. I mean, is it possible I'm just projecting some of the racist rear end "protect the white woman from the blacks" narratives from early american cinema onto this comic? Probably pretty likely yeah. But it makes it funny as hell to me. It's not like any of the people who do this are hating on the comic or anything. But it all goes back to what I said in the op. Everyone can find something they like in this comic. Let the projectors project. Let the people who do google searches and go "oh this explains a lot now" search google. Let the bug nerds geek out like every chapter. Other than a bunch of jokes about racism and I think just one (1) argument early on in the seinen thread, pretty much everyone else in the thread was talking about everything else the comic has to offer. No reason it can't be the same here. And some words about the most recent volume. Spoilers for volume 4 up to chapter 24 The whole diving beetle/locust fight against Michelle and w/e the dude's name was pretty great. I was just reading along anticipating another gruesome death and they just manage to do a complete reversal. Or the dude does, I guess. The fact that Michelle didn't just go from winning to dead in one panel probably should have clued me in that something was a little off. Doesn't change too much though. Still got 6 chapters left to read so I pretty much know they're gonna die. Only question is how. One question I did have about that fight was if the two roaches were an actual diving beetle and locust or just another new roach evolution? Don't answer if it's answered in a later chapter~
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Mar 26, 2013 01:10
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lil baby anime posted:The whole diving beetle/locust fight against Michelle and w/e the dude's name was pretty great. As a Punchsport Pagoda poster, I'm sure you can imagine that I was screaming BAH GAWD, THE FIGURE FOUR IS LOCKED IN!  in ecstasy during that fightOn the subject of the whole "something for everyone, let everyone think what they think," topic, I enjoyed the book so much when I read the whole thing yesterday because I sincerely believe after reading that it's and intentional homage to and parody of the Kamen Rider/Super Sentai/Power Rangers genre of action shows. I had a wall of text about it over in the Seinen thread because there had been a half-page long discussion about how terrible and trashy the story is and it annoyed me because sincerely believe that the writing is deceptively clever. Some spoilers within the  :Sanguinia posted:On the subject of why one should or should not like Teraformers, I just finished reading the whole thing and I think people going on about it being a guilty pleasure that is obviously objectively bad are completely misguided. The whole story is a brilliant parody/homage to Super Sentai and Kamen Rider type shows. The completely absurd super science created by stereotypical super scientists (in the first volume at least), the army of identical monsters being fought by transforming heroes with animal powers, the futuristic jump suits and other ridiculous costumes, the full-on edutainment dialogue being spouted by an omniscient narrator mid-battle, the completely absurd manly hotblood, such as lines discussing how important the BURNING PASSION AND HEART of the martial artist is to the space mission. It's all textbook Power Rangers, and juxtaposing it to the Gantz despair formula of meaningless deaths, constant failure of any kind of plan and generally negative pictures into the daily life of humanity like abusive parents and cheating housewives really drives the absurdity of such a setting home. Of course at the same time there's still plenty of badass battles and heroic one-liners right out of any good showdown between Riders and Monsters to give the subject matter it's due respect as well.
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Mar 26, 2013 01:38
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lil baby anime posted:One question I did have about that fight was if the two roaches were an actual diving beetle and locust or just another new roach evolution? Don't answer if it's answered in a later chapter~[/spoiler] Did you not read volume 1? It's made pretty clear that the roaches have stolen the abilities of the crew of Bugs2. The diving beetle guy must've been one of the crew that was killed before he showed off his power, but the locust guy was a main character.
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Mar 26, 2013 02:14
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This manga owns, if watching a dude with locust powers kick a cockroach-man's head off his shoulders is wrong than I guess I'm Hitler.
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Mar 26, 2013 03:32
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Haha, one character named Adolf is killing the "roaches" now? I remember when this got posted in some other thread long ago, it's hilarious for all the wrong reasons.
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Mar 26, 2013 04:04
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Hahaha, are you loving serious? I knew this seemed familiar - this is that racist bug manga, isn't it?
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Mar 26, 2013 04:08
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SHAOLIN FUCKFIEND posted:Haha, one character named Adolf is killing the "roaches" now? I remember when this got posted in some other thread long ago, it's hilarious for all the wrong reasons. Er, Adolf isn't exactly an uncommon German name.
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Mar 26, 2013 04:19
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RatHat posted:Did you not read volume 1? It's made pretty clear that the roaches have stolen the abilities of the crew of Bugs2. The diving beetle guy must've been one of the crew that was killed before he showed off his power, but the locust guy was a main character. Yeah. I feel mad stupid right now since they just revealed the whole stealing bugs surgery abilities thing a volume ago so I have no idea how I forgot about it in only a week or two. Or however long it's been. Whoops
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Mar 26, 2013 04:19
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Dickeye posted:This manga owns, if watching a dude with locust powers kick a cockroach-man's head off his shoulders is wrong than I guess I'm Hitler. This here, but add Giant Asian Hornets and Mantids to the statement.
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Mar 26, 2013 07:22
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Biology made fun~ (With ultra violence) It says something about a series' unwillingness to pull punches when you believe that the fakeout in which the Russian team was easily wiped out as something real. 
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Mar 26, 2013 17:29
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It's funny how the people shouting "racism" here and there are esentially equating primitive caveman designs with black people, when there are several actual black characters in the comic. Can we drop this subject (preferably mentioning it in the OP) now that we're still on page 1? It's silly, not funny, and a bait for derails and low-content posts. Anyways, my favourite thing in this series are the different bugs' powers, even though most of them are sadly underused due to the short life expectancy characters have in this series... I'm also learning a lot!
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Mar 26, 2013 17:58
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RatHat posted:I really hope this is a joke. Regardless of your feelings on whether it succeeds, you have to give it credit for at least trying.
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Mar 26, 2013 21:30
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WickedIcon posted:Regardless of your feelings on whether it succeeds, you have to give it credit for at least trying. Does a pretty good job of emphasizing Japanese racial superiority as well!
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Mar 27, 2013 07:05
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So the plot in this thing is completely ludicrous and non-existent but that's okay since it's just an excuse for the author to  about bugs and draw bug-humans killing things and getting killed.Like how it's implied the roaches morphed into bug-cave men because ALIENS.
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Mar 27, 2013 09:41
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I honestly don't give a gently caress about whether this series is racist, has a nonsensical plot or even is any good, I just wanna see insect-humans and cavemanroaches beat each other up in gruesome and stylish ways. There's just something that is inherently cool about the whole premise.
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Mar 27, 2013 12:55
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Well, the typical black caricature has of course to start with the pronounced/oversized pink lips, very round head, smallish eyes quite far down the skull. The roachmen have elongated skulls with very large eyes at the very top. If anything, the design of these reminded me more of Moai monoliths (Easter Island statues). Is the chick who got her neck broken at the start going to have a comeback? The fact that her neck was broken so severely but she was still able to stop the main character from using his serum jab, and the fact that the focus kept going back to her body. Plus, one of the Roachmen tried to make off with her corpse. Perhaps roach DNA was part of her surgery?.
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Mar 27, 2013 14:29
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Falken posted:Well, the typical black caricature has of course to start with the pronounced/oversized pink lips, very round head, smallish eyes quite far down the skull. Nope. I mean yes this is typical but to presume that any departure from this isn't a caricature is pretty dumb.
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Mar 27, 2013 14:38
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Falken posted:Is the chick who got her neck broken at the start going to have a comeback? The fact that her neck was broken so severely but she was still able to stop the main character from using his serum jab, and the fact that the focus kept going back to her body. Plus, one of the Roachmen tried to make off with her corpse. Perhaps roach DNA was part of her surgery?. I thought the very first crew didn't undergo any surgery? Or am I misremembering?
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Mar 27, 2013 14:46
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Petiso posted:I thought the very first crew didn't undergo any surgery? Or am I misremembering? He's talking about Bugs 2, not Bugs 1. And why is this being spoiler tagged?
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Mar 27, 2013 14:48
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Also why hasn't anyone mentioned that this series has a loving street shark in it?
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Mar 27, 2013 19:42
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Annex 1 has some of the raddest animals but they die the most anticlimactic deaths. I'm waiting for the day that they all die and then they make an Annex 2 composed entirely of just Australian wildlife-people and the manga ends a chapter later.
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Mar 27, 2013 20:30
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Whats this manga similar to?
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Mar 28, 2013 01:48
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GANTZ due to similar looking artstyles and people you'd expect to survive getting goddamn brutalized. Attack on Titan as well on the latter one.
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Mar 28, 2013 02:06
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Falken posted:Is the chick who got her neck broken at the start going to have a comeback? The fact that her neck was broken so severely but she was still able to stop the main character from using his serum jab, and the fact that the focus kept going back to her body. Plus, one of the Roachmen tried to make off with her corpse. Perhaps roach DNA was part of her surgery?. She's definitely dead, but I think the implication was the roaches were going to use her body as a silk factory. Probably how they made those nets.
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Mar 28, 2013 02:10
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This is one of those things where it's really unfortunate/has really unfortunate bits in it but it's dumb nerd fun (and doesn't have icky sex in it) it'll get defended to the death, yeah? Awkward enjoyment is the best enjoyment
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Mar 28, 2013 02:58
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MadRhetoric posted:This is one of those things where it's really unfortunate/has really unfortunate bits in it but it's dumb nerd fun (and doesn't have icky sex in it) it'll get defended to the death, yeah? This series does for me what Attack on Titan apparently does for everyone else. The plot is just as horrendous as Attack on Titan's, but the key difference is that unlike AoT, the art is actually done by someone who can DRAW so all that sweet, sweet violence is actually fun. The racism and sexism mean it's something I would never, ever pay for but so what else is new?
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Mar 28, 2013 03:13
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I'm personally kinda hoping that after two Volumes of jobbing horribly to the Roachmen that at least SOME people make it back/do what they're supposed to do. Also, the Russian Squad is the best goddamn thing.
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Mar 28, 2013 03:39
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Rodyle posted:The racism and sexism mean it's something I would never, ever pay for but so what else is new? If you want to say the manga has racism in it even without the roaches, fine. There is plenty of nationalistic stereotyping among the cast and some debatable NIPPON STRONG glorification. But what sexism? The costumes and bodytypes of the females aren't even a blip compared to 90% of entertainment in general, let alone manga specifically. I don't remember a single instance of patronizing or infantilization of any female cast member. I guess there was one misogynistic incident but I think focusing on the "demonization" of the high school girl and ignoring the male teacher's mutual role in the exploitation of the character with the false rape claim is taking the wrong message from that scene. They're both guilty parties and they're both taking advantage of an innocent person to cover up their crime. There's virtually zero sexual exploitation in this manga, no gender bias in the violence against the heroes or in the assignment of combat or non-combat roles within the heroe's team... I mean, if this manga is sexist, I don't know what isn't. Please feel free to explain.
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Mar 28, 2013 10:28
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Sanguinia posted:If you want to say the manga has racism in it even without the roaches, fine. There is plenty of nationalistic stereotyping among the cast and some debatable NIPPON STRONG glorification. But what sexism? The costumes and bodytypes of the females aren't even a blip compared to 90% of entertainment in general, let alone manga specifically. I don't remember a single instance of patronizing or infantilization of any female cast member. I guess there was one misogynistic incident but I think focusing on the "demonization" of the high school girl and ignoring the male teacher's mutual role in the exploitation of the character with the false rape claim is taking the wrong message from that scene. They're both guilty parties and they're both taking advantage of an innocent person to cover up their crime. Didn't they say that women are more likely to survive the operation, and that's the reason they actually bring women on such a dangerous assignment? The fact that it was said so matter of factly really surprised me.
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Mar 28, 2013 18:36
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Sanguinia posted:If you want to say the manga has racism in it even without the roaches, fine. There is plenty of nationalistic stereotyping among the cast and some debatable NIPPON STRONG glorification. But what sexism? The costumes and bodytypes of the females aren't even a blip compared to 90% of entertainment in general, let alone manga specifically. I don't remember a single instance of patronizing or infantilization of any female cast member. I guess there was one misogynistic incident but I think focusing on the "demonization" of the high school girl and ignoring the male teacher's mutual role in the exploitation of the character with the false rape claim is taking the wrong message from that scene. They're both guilty parties and they're both taking advantage of an innocent person to cover up their crime. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think that with the exception of Michelle, no woman has done anything worthwhile. Even in the badass Russian team, the woman was one of the only two casualties. There's also the fact that (untranslated content spoiler) Isabella, the tough woman on Team Germany, also goes down in pretty much the exact same way that the Russian woman does, and also the bit where (also untranslated content spoiler) it's revealed that his child doesn't have a mosaic organ, since it's another man's baby. I don't know if I quire agree that it's sexist per se, since men go out as easily as women do in this series, but I do see how you could get that impression very easily.
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Mar 28, 2013 18:48
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