Terra Formars

Terra Formars is a Japanese science-fiction horror Manga series written by Yu Sasuga and illustrated by Kenichi Tachibana. The series has been serialized in Shueisha's Weekly Young Jump magazine since it's beginning in 2011 with Viz Media translating it into English since 2014. The series has received several OVA and two anime adaptations in addition to a Japan-exclusive video game and a live-action film by Takashi Miike in 2016.

Plot
In the 21st century, scientists terraform Mars by leaving black moss and cockroaches to naturally turn the planet dark and heat it up in order to produce an atmosphere. Five-hundred years later, a small crew on a scientific expedition to Mars find that the cockroaches have changed drastically due to the conditions, becoming much bigger and more humanoid, as well as developing extreme supers-strength and an unbridled hatred for humans. With this threat delaying colonization of Mars, humans with genetic modifications to boost their own strength and give them the powers of certain insects are sent on a deadly mission to eradicate the vicious insects and find a cure for a deadly virus on earth caused by them.

Why it Rocks

 * 1) Incredible artwork with tons of detail in just about every panel. The backgrounds are also very well rendered as are the spaceship designs and the parts that take place on Earth also detail an interesting version of the far-future very well. The designs of the Terra Formars themselves are also very well detailed and decently creepy due to them being intentionally uncanny at times and seemingly lacking emotion.
 * 2) A very interesting premise that takes a much darker twist on the subject of colonizing other planets, even using plenty of sound science in the very idea of it rather than just filling it with a bunch of absurd pseudo-science, but not being too "realistic" to the point where it's confusing.
 * 3) Rather than just show the conflict against the Terra Formars, it also chooses to show the politics of the world, how countries may still be divided by their own personal beliefs even centuries later, and though they're able to work together, some people in the countries may be motivated by nationalism or even bigotry and secretly work against each other.
 * 4) On that note, it also mostly shows people of different countries in a pretty tasteful way as few of the people on the mission are Japanese and many are from a wide variety of different countries instead, and it also shows how even Japan can succumb to stereotyping and showing a bit of disdain towards that.
 * 5) A large and generally pretty likeable and interesting cast of characters who get plenty of development as the series goes on. All of them also have powers from different bugs that can prove both good and bad in combat, though the ways they use them are also very interesting.
 * 6) Shokichi Komachi goes from a coward to a hardened veteran after the Bugs II mission, while still being more laid-back and friendly instead. He also has a different side to himself in combat, often showing no mercy to those who harm his friends and a darker, combat-loving side to himself he tries to suppress.
 * 7) Akari Hizamaru is somewhat of a reflection of Shokichi's former self, only having been born with super strength in advance. He takes the threat seriously, but is still somewhat naive and reckless as well, and joins the Annex I mission in order to find a cure for the virus that killed his childhood friend and tries to save his other crewmate, even if they're antagonistic towards him.
 * 8) Marcos and Alex are illegal immigrants from Mexico to the U.S. who offer a great deal of comic relief by constantly fighting with and insulting each other as best friends and still support each other regardless. They both join the Annex I mission in order to get out of a life of poverty and crime and achieve American Citizenship to become pro-baseball players as well as support their mutual friend and fellow immigrant, Sheila.
 * 9) Ichiro Hiruma was the oldest of 11 children who his mother often struggled to take care of, prompting him to earnestly pursue study and a path to college to support them. When that failed, due to the interference of a liar, he becomes distrustful and antisocial, pursuing seemingly any means to provide for his family.
 * 10) Adolf Reinhard is a pragmatic but caring member of the Annex I crew who's very secretive but also does his best to keep the other members alive. He also tries to subtly discourage recruits from joining the mission due to the immense amount of danger from the surgery and mission itself and doesn't tolerate non-cooperation between them.
 * 11) Loads of gruesome and gory violence, showing just how strong both the Terra Formars and the people who underwent the Bugs Procedure to combat them are, being able to literally rip each other to pieces with their bare hands.
 * 12) On that note, the fight and battle scenes are absolutely awesome as they're always done with just raw skill and power, sometimes with a few weapons, are insanely gory and well-drawn, and it's just awesome to see the characters exchange powers with the Terra Formars (some of whom stole powers from the murdered Bugs II crew)
 * 13) The aspects of those powers is pretty cool, as the Bugs Procedure has a success rate of only 36% and is done to make human dna mingle with insect dna, the people who get it automatically get super strength and have a power related to their insect (like how Komachi has hornet stingers coming out of his hands that are extremely poisonous and Hiruma has an impenetrable protective shell, but needs water to come out of hybernation, and so on), and said powers are activated by use of a drug, but using too much of that drug will cause them to mutate into horrifying bug-human hybrids and die.
 * 14) Plenty of interesting story beats starting with the Bugs II mission, where U-NASA becomes aware of the Terra Formars and their power, the Annex I mission where they send a much larger team of people who underwent the Bugs Procedure in a full-scale war to kill them, though the power of their enemies and the conflicts that divide many of them cause dire consequences, and Earth Story where they become a major threat to all of humanity by finding a way to go to Earth.
 * 15) The politics of the different sects of humanity are detailed in interesting ways, like how plenty of people may not feel comradery towards their fellow crew members and be in it for the power of their own respective countries, as hypocritical as that may be, showing a particular disdain to nationalism especially in a situation like this. There are also plenty who aren't motivated by such things and are more effective as a result.

Bad Qualities

 * 1) While the artwork is pretty good, the hyper-realistic design of the Terra Formars can often clash with the anime-esque designs of the characters.
 * 2) Some very unlikeable characters, even if that is intentional for the most part. Some are also killed off pretty quickly, sometimes for little to no reason.
 * 3) Some stereotypes at times, like where the Russians often talk about the glory of the Soviet Union.
 * 4) The series has been on indefinite hiatus since creator Yu Sasuga suffered sudden health problems in 2018, leaving the Earth arc unfinished as of yet.