Terra Formars is based upon the manga of the same name. Spanning 13 episodes long, Terra Formars is set in the future where scientists have begun the terraforming of Mars, in order to prepare it for the eventual migration of humans. The method that the scientists have chosen is to place a special type of algae on Mars which will purify the atmosphere, and also cockroaches. Cockroaches were chosen due to their resilience and ability to survive. These cockroaches would feed on the algae, and when they died, their corpses will provide food for the algae and thus the cycle continues. Fast forward to 500 years later and Mars have been transformed, having oxygen in the atmosphere, and becoming warmer as to hold liquid water. It is still far from being suitable for human inhabitation but it is ready for the reclamation to begin.
Before the events of the first episode, two missions have already been to Mars, however, they have been met with resistance and total annihilation. The cockroaches, over 500 years, have somehow managed to evolve into humanoid creatures with extraordinary strength, speed, flying capabilities, basic intelligence and who knows what else. They are the cause of an incurable virus on Earth and it is now more vital than ever to go to Mars and get samples of these "aliens". The anime has a seemingly slow start with a slightly confusing first episode as it launches the viewers immediately onto the spaceship carrying the team that is supposed to bring back samples of the roaches. To combat the advanced physical capabilities of the roaches, humans have managed to develop something that allows them to combine traits of bugs, insects and animals into themselves.
The human's ace is the ability to physically transform, adding in animal parts such as a hornet's stingers at the end of the arms. This puts them on more even ground against the roaches, since conventional weaponry doesn't seem to work well. From the second half of the second episode, things get a lot more intense as they finally reach Mars and the mutated cockroaches appear. It ends in a bloodbath, with the anime sporting a lot of visual gore and blood, with frequent dismembering of limbs, tearing off of heads, and guts and internals spraying everywhere. You can get censored or uncensored episodes but the censoring is a bit too much in-your-face, often covering half of the frame so you don't even know what's happening. The roaches and the reason why they're there is the biggest motivation of watching Terra Formars, it's too bad that the anime fails completely on this point.
A heap of explanation is needed to explain why the mutated cockroaches are there, and how they managed to evolve the way they are now. They are even smart enough to use technology that is supposedly so much more advanced than their club-wielding behavior. Yet, the anime does nothing to explain this. This is much more infuriating when different types of roaches appear in later episodes, themselves sporting combinations of various other animals' traits. No explanations are given, nothing is revealed. You're waiting for one to be eventually provided, it presents so many questions but there are no answers. It you're lucky, maybe some questions will be answered in the second season. There are a lot of characters to follow and depict within thirteen episodes. With some of the characters, they have ulterior motives but again, we don't know why they have these motives.
Then there are the random narrations, which introduces facts about insects and animals (the ones that the humans obtained the traits of); while they are interesting, it feels out of place. For many, you're watching Terra Formars for the awesome battles between the roaches and the genetically modified humans. Sorry, while there are a lot of horrifying deaths, the battles are at such a slow pace and keeps being broken up that somehow, these sequences feel boring. These events on Mars move at a slow pace as they are punctuated by a lot of staring between the two forces, and even when they attack, the scenes are suddenly switched to flashbacks! Oh, the flashbacks. There are a lot of flashbacks for all the characters' backstories. It's not an exaggeration to say that 80% of the anime is flashbacks.
Flashbacks in general are fine, but not when there are as many as the ones in Terra Formars, especially not when you put five flashbacks in the middle of each episode or battle! Sure, we need to understand the characters, what drives them and what they're going back to, but the way they are inserted ruin the action sequences which are already slow paced enough as it is. Overall, for those expecting some amazing action scenes with cool killing moves, Terra Formars is not for you. It shows promise but without reading the manga and by just watching this first season alone, you don't learn much about the evolved roaches on Mars, and it teases just a bit too much that it crosses the line to being frustrating.
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