Manga/Terra For Mars

So I was poking around some seinen titles, and I found this little title. It doesn't have its own entry in the wiki yet, but it HAS a reference in the Creepy Cockcroach entry for some reason...

Anyway, the basic gist is that sometime in the future Humanity hatched a plan to terraform Mars on the cheap. The plan involved two things: a specially-engineered moss, and an organism to feed on the moss (the common cockroach). Put together, they'd gradually warm the planet and, thanks to the moss, add a thin atmosphere in the deal.

The process would take 500 years.

522 years later, the UN has sent two missions to Mars to check on the progress of the terraforming. What they found there was... quite unexpected. Like giant evolved humanlike cockroaches unexpected.

Needless to say, the first mission ended with a 100% KIA rate, and the second only had 2 survivors out of 15. The second team, mind, was composed of genetically-modified volunteers who were prepared for a hostile welcome. Didn't work out too well.

It's the third mission, and there are 100 folk going this time, prepared for what's there. And it's NOT going well either, despite having bonafide badasses for the ride.

The series is hilariously bleak. Reminds me of some of the earlier parts of Gantz actually. Interesting characters are introduced only to be brutally and sometimes surprisingly killed a few chapters later. Especially if you have a HINT of being a possible romantic interest. Being a cute girl in this series isn't a guarantee of survival, that's for sure!

edited 25th Mar '13 9:48:01 PM by MyssaRei

I should also note that this series has a large Snark Bait following who affectionately refer to it as the 'racist bug manga', not least because the evil cockroach-people look like this◊.

edited 26th Mar '13 8:16:38 AM by Iaculus

I wanted to get into this but the entire manga can be described as such.

• Introduce Badass Bug Hybrid Human.
• Have Badass Bug Hybrid Human do something cool.
• Instantly kill them off from one shot.
• Repeat.

pffthahahaha just found this half an hour ago.

its hilarious. although i will admit the first appearance of the cockmen scared the shit of me cause it was so...far and away beyond my expectations...

but seriously, these things make no sense. i can barely get through a page without finding something to affectionately rage about.

but you know... regarding the 2nd team? they werent actually prepared for a hostile welcome, bizarrely. at the very least, the two japanese childhood friends were still inexplicably thinking "lets talk it out" even though they were on a mission to exterminate the cockmen...

those two were idiots.

x2

From what I've found the chances of survival work like this:

Child friend: 50% unless female then's its -50%.

Women: 0%

Chinese: 0%

Any mix of the above -50% and lower

Everyone else: 20%

Also whatever made the Roaches the way they are has to do with Rahab, but thoughts always go to the Dragonic Demonic Angel of the Sea or the Prositute that is also named Rahab.

edited 27th Mar '13 5:47:44 PM by OmegaRadiance

Just archive binged this. Imho, if you make it through the first 70 issues or so, it starts to get a little more interesting.

That just might be the least convincing recommendation I've ever heard.

To be fair, one of the main draws of the series is to see how futilely some of the characters struggle before they die. It took THAT long before the series decided on a stable enough cast of characters to retain.