Is Toward the Terra Worth Watching if I've Read the Manga?

The site formerly known as AnimeonDVD posted an article about the 10 Most Underrated Anime Series in 2008, and Toward the Terra is on it.  I agree.  I wish more people would see this one.  It's full of action, intrigue, psychological drama, politics, moral conflict, clashing characters, fate/destiny, choice, consequences, and good old' science fiction speculation about humanity and machines.

Should you see it even if you've already read the manga by Keiko Takemiya?  Yes.

Why? 

• Enough similarities: You will recognize most of the characters and situations you enjoyed in the manga.
• Enough differences: There are new characters and expanded conflicts. Some characters you think you recognize turn out to be unrecognizable because they are used for different purposes or because there was finally space to show them more fully. Your mileage may vary on which--if any--of these you like, but they definitely make you pay attention because of how they change the story, which shows that they're not just there to be different.
• Additional development: The original manga has almost relentless pacing. This feature was one of the reasons why it got the recognition it did when it was first released, if I remember correctly. The stripped-down, bare bones action-adventure/sci-fi style meant that readers could breathlessly plunge into the story and not come up for air until the very end.  Not many shojo manga at the time displayed this characteristic.  While that sense of looming fate and impending doom is still present driving the anime, many of the problems that arose from abbreviating the inner life of the characters are absent. Relationships that are more developed mean more. There is a lot more showing when before there was only room for telling. 
• A satisfactory ending: Maybe the body count is the same (I'm not going to say one way or another), but the impact and quality of many deaths were harder and higher.  Ouch.  Kudos.  That stripped-down quality made some of the deaths harder to absorb, and this new version make sure you feel every punch.  Every single one.

I also loved the character designs. I have been a fan of Nobuteru Yuki's work for a long time, and I was quite surprised by his work in Toward the Terra.  (If you hate the noses in Escaflowne, you owe it to yourself to give him a chance to redeem himself in your eyes through Terra or maybe "Captain Herlock.")

Have you seen both versions?  (Or even all three, including the movie, which was even more abbreviated than the manga?)  Do you have a preference?  Why?