Mars

This was one of the very first Shoujo mangas I've read. At the time I was amazed by it since it was one of my first mangas. Now, older and have better resources/series to compare it to... meh. The premise was basic, and the main girl was annoying and overall a stereotypical heroine. The only saving grace would have to be Rei. His story and character development was fantastic. The carrying guilt between him and his brother, his dreams of becoming a racer, etc. It really blew me away. I agree with another user that this would be better as a drama rather than romance. There is a few tv show drama adaptations of this series if anyone is interested "Mars: Tada Kimi wo Aishiteru (MARS～ただ、君を愛してる～)" with a film of the same name and a Taiwanese tv show adaptation. (I'm honestly curious on why there's so many Taiwanese tv show adaptations of so many Japanese mangas. e.g. "Boys Over Flowers", "Prince of Tennis", etc.)
Anyway, sorry that I got sidetracked. I would've rated this a possible 8.2 if it was a drama instead. Rei was so THERE that I forgot about all the other characters except him, which is saying something since Kira is supposed to be our protagonist. I would still recommend this to others.

STORY: 6
The manga starts off with the typical boy meets girl encounter. We are introduced to the main love interest Rei and the main character Kira. The best part of the story is the relationship and develops between these two characters. You really feel the since of love that the two shares between each other. However, the ridiculousness of the situations that occur frequently throughout the manga makes the story more akin to a soap opera than something more realistic. These situations slightly pulled me out of the story and made the overall score lower than what it could have been.

I really wished they expanded on the racing aspect of the manga and the characters opinions about their relationship and the dangers of the sport. It is always hinted at and you see signs of characters wanting to express an opinion but nothing is truly resolved. The issue is just left on the back burner.

ART: 8
The art is pretty and it fits to the style of the story and the characters.

CHARACTER: 7
I really wanted to give this an 8 because I really did love the characters in the manga. Tatsuya and Kashino the two friend side characters were perfect for the story and I only wished that their story was more fleshed out. The two main characters are good but not great. Though many personal issues are overcome by the main duo, their relationship and the positions they each have in that relationship remain static. Rai tries to understand Kira’s feelings but never truly listens while, Kira wants to express herself but keeps her opinions bottled up inside. A large problem that many types of romance manga share is communication issues. While it looks like characters make progress in being able to talk and share with each other, later in the story the same communication issues rise up again and lead to a conflict. Though both characters are in love, the relationship never felt equal to me. Kira still remains submissive and Rai just seems to always get what he wants at the end. Speaking of Rai, I really wanted to like him but he truly did get everything he wanted at the end while it seems everyone else, especially KIra, had to make some sort of sacrifice.

OVERALL: 7
I did enjoy the manga and I wanted to rate it a bit higher. However, this manga left me with some mixed feelings that nagged at the back of my mind.

My first review so here I go: I just happened to stumble upon Mars and I'm so glad I decided to read it.

Story: Really well done, I love the adding of psychological aspects into the story and the whole love story just really had a lot going on, the whole time I was rooting for Kira and Rei throughout the story; I really felt they were eant for each other. Although, it's a bit darker than most shoujo manga, it really had a great balance of tragic and happy things happening in their relationship. Plus I loved how they put in a lot of factors like parents, money, future, etc. Just made it much more realistic.

Art: Mars is ovbiously an older series with older art. The art kind of reminded me of Hana Yori Dango, but slightly better. While I'm not a fan of the style really, I would say, bias aside, the art is pretty good. Personally I don't like the art style, but it is well drawn enough for me to read

Character: The twists and depth into the characters was really nice. Kira's character seemed a bit flat at times, like the typical heroine, but I think her and Rei's relationship had such chemistry, it really saved it for me. I also loved Rei's character; I saw him just the way Kira did, starting off with a bad impression, then gradually changing into an impression of a really great guy

Enjoyment: Hell yeah, I read the entire series in about three days; really engaging throughout

Overall: 9 Great! Totally met my expectations, if this is on your wait list, you should definitely give it a try!

Okay, so actually I already knew the entire story before I even started reading because I've seen the Taiwanese drama remake of this... twice. Obviously I knew I would like it (and if you like this, then go watch the drama -- it's seriously the best thing ever!).
STORY: 10
Yes, it's a "masterpiece". That word is usually over-exaggerated when pertaining to shoujo, because it's so hard to find good shoujo manga and when it's even mildly good, you're inclined to think of it as a masterpiece even maybe when it's not. But I'm serious here, this story was wondrous. Basically, it's about two teenagers -- Kira and Rei -- who although come from different backgrounds, both have deep scars from their emotional pasts. They're drawn to each other, and together they begin a journey to try and survive and find happiness in this world.
I know it sounds like it's been done before, the whole "girl and boy with dark lives meet and everything is happy", but it hasn't. Not like this. The story is, as many people have called it, realistic. Yet it manages to tell an overdone plot line flawlessly, and freshly.
ART: 8
Maybe it's because this was produced over a decade ago, but the art seemed kind of out-dated. NOT TO SAY IT TOOK ANYTHING AWAY. It didn't. The art WAS well done, it just shows a different time period, I suppose. But generally most of it was very attractive, and I loved when it was scenery art because I think the illustrator was superb at doing scenery.
CHARACTER: 9
The character development here was outstanding. Like, I've never seen character development like this. You start reading the manga about completely different people than when you finish the manga. They change so much. I actually loved Kira and Rei. They both had so much depth, and it was easy to imagine them as real people -- people who could potentially actually exist outside of this manga. And the supporting cast, wow. They were all great, even the annoying, evil ones. I suppose it's a nine because somehow I feel that TOO many tears were spilled, but then again I can totally understand why because all these characters had a lot of problems, so really I can't judge.
ENJOYMENT: 10
I thoroughly enjoyed myself, as I knew I would because, like I said, the live-action was great and to date is still one of my favorite dramas ever. It had a bit of everything. Romance, mystery, betrayal, lies, comedy, sadness -- just everything, and in the right amounts.
OVERALL: 10
I recommend this to everyone and everything. Seriously, I cannot commend this manga enough. There's really nothing more I could say to express how much I loved it.

Mars is sorta like a coming of age story, and it went far beyond my expectations—when I first read it. The characters have depth and actually kind of act like teenagers, (Even though some of the concepts are a bit outdated). But I still keep coming back to read it every now and again.

Story 10/10: The story is very good it has a story and sticks to it and add to it. And it becomes a bit more intriguing the farther you go down the rabbit hole.

Art 9/10: A bit "outdated" but unique in its own right.

Character 9/10: They felt real, and actually thought with common sense! (Not many mangas with the shoujo genre have that now and days)

Enjoyment 8/10: There was about one, that I didn't really enjoy, but she was only in one volume and not really mentioned after that.

Overall 10/10. I really did like this and I found it completely by accident and was intrigued by the synopsis. (I found it because of a video from Anime America) This is one manga that I will keep on going back to.

Mars:
Dont beat me up , this is my first review ^o^

mars is one of those once in a lifetime manga, that you rarely come by, this and koizora are the best manga i have read.
the story has real meaning, the art is wonderful and the characters make you want to comfort them.
i wont reveal but this is defiantly a manga worth reading.
ive re-read it 3 times already.
if you havent read it , read it and i guarantee you wont be dissapointed .
:)
this manga get a 10 out of 10 for everything :p

I don't have the words to describe how amazing this manga was! Not only does it contain perfect artwork that shows that every page was important, it also has a fascinating story with characters that you will hate or love if intended by the author.

After completing the book, like me, you'll understand how overly simplified, or even warped the description is. Since I read this before I even had a MAL account, when I read they're description, I thought that I wasn't picking the correct manga! I mean, like other shoujo fangirls, I must've read dozens of cliche mangas that were about "A jerk pervert hot guy seducing a quiet, innocent girl where the girl does nothing but cry for no reason" (if you are a fangirl/guy just think about it if you disagree). Yes, if you have read this, you would know that she does cry a lot, but it's not like where you just wanna pop in the page and slap her, because, well maybe just for me, I can sympathize with her. She has legit stuff to cry about, not about "You were talking to that GIRL cashier about getting the receipt or not! You bastard!". Also, the guy is not a jerk pervert. He's actually a dream guy through out the whole thing. Although he was [super] violent, he still had so many compelling factors to over power the bad ones. I say that and yet... I wouldn't want to split them up if I had been a rival to either of them. The author really made me feel like they were in love. Not the cheesy kind either like "I just get jealous because I love you, don't talk to another girl again or I'll tie you to the end of a car and drive to Canada with you still on it. (btw this is a continuation of the first quoty thing)". Both of them get jealous of course, but as I said, not for stupid reasons. Anyway, I'll stop my babbling and give you an overview of the things I needed to rate.

Story: 10!
Fantastic. I'm a dork so, I stayed up all night reading this. Alluring, interesting, surprising, and heart beat acceleration. Whatever adjectives (or descriptive verbs I guess) you can say, this book has it! You should know that the story is not only very sad, but it's also really violent. But seeing that I, the girl who can't actually kill a fly because she's afraid it might... *ahem*... eat her (it could happen), got through it, I think that you can too.

Art: 11!
I say 11 because I won't settle for 10. Maybe it's just me, but through out the book I had romanticized how much the mangaka had put into some of the astonishing artwork! It was dreamy even if it was on a small page. Perhaps it because me abilities with art is, lets say... at a 5 year old level, so maybe I'm over exaggerating, but I don't think so. The only thing I should tell you is that if you can only appreciate 'cute' art, then don't bother looking at beautiful, proportionate people. Then please stop looking here.

Character: 10!
As I said earlier, the author had put the hate in the right place. And the characters that you should like, actually you begin to admire. Their love had withstood so much, and yet they're still together. If you don't understand, please start reading the book!

Enjoyment: 113%
It was a wonderful experience I want to get again. These kind of Mangas don't come out to often.

If you read my review and still have some questions, feel free to comment on my wall and I'll get to you as soon as possible! Or you could just comment if you liked it ^.^

Too bad I cant give it more than a 10. Its the all time greatest shojo there is. I could keep reading it forever. The main character Rei has problems with his past that make him slightly unstable but Kira, the other main character, falls in love with him after a little teasing >.> hehe. It progresses from there and we find out that Rei isnt the only one thats a little messed up in the head. Drama ensues and im sure you'll cry while reading it. I did. The first 4 volumes are a little slow but that's not saying much considering how much this series ROCKS. Volume 5+ is just nonstop awesome and jawdropping drama. Every manga fan should read this.

I wouldn’t call myself a fan of the shoujo genre, so for me to give Mars a score of 10, must mean that it transcended the trappings of the genre and connected with me on a universal level. And it did.

This story of a boy on the wrong side of the tracks, and a shy artist girl both falling for each other, captivated me. Its not some innovative blast of originality, there's no genre deconstruction, no super twist that tips the world upside down. It’s just a love story told really well.

Fuyumi Soryo is an intelligent writer. Her use of all the tropes of high school based manga feels refreshing, and her focus on mental, emotional instability and psychological scars is fascinating and compelling. It’s assisted through the use of contemplative dialogue and characters interacting to move the plot forward, rather than the plot conspiring in convoluted or clichéd ways to move the characters.

I think maybe that Mars is so accomplished; feels so fresh and realistic, despite mild helpings of melodrama along the way, because Fuyumi Soryo was in her thirties when she wrote it. This may be a tenuous assumption because a lot of manga authors are in their thirties anyway, but the fact that as a female she'd racked up a decent amount of life experience before putting some of it down on page, must have had some substantial affect on this manga's final form and popularity. You feel that like unlike other authors, especially males, Fuyumi is writing about what she knows, not what she dreams or masturbates about. This isn’t delusional wish-fulfilment like so many romance manga out there focusing on a harem setup, with dozens of girls chasing a nerdy guy to get into his pants.

As for the melodrama aspect, it has to rear its head eventually, because the longer you make your shoujo romance tale the sooner it will appear. At 15 volumes, Mars has to have some melodrama to sustain the story, but it doesn’t bring the manga down, because Fuyumi is a skilled writer with characters you genuinely feel for. You get lost in the story so much you have no idea you're wading through melodrama, and by the time you've waded out, you don’t even care it was there in the first place. The characters never suffer as a result, they are never compromised, they are always the author's top priority.

Mars feels authentic. When we watch lovers meet, when we watch them spar; make love, it all feels sweet and romantic. I don’t think its even josei manga, yet it treats sex in a way that most shoujo probably wouldn’t. Sex isn’t something discussed in a round-about way, or never seen directly, or just hinted at, it’s not something laughed at or demonised. Sex is not a prize. Sex is just sex. Some characters have it all the time, some have never had it; some have hang-ups, some don’t. Sexuality is as much a focus of Fuyumi's pen just as much as psychological issues, an area that she excels at, and explores more with a later manga: Eternal Sabbath.

Despite the cute character of Kira, and the fact that she cries every five minutes which admittedly grates, it doesn’t feel saccharine at all. The character conflicts, the world the story is set in, the way everything pans out, it feels authentic, and when it doesn’t it’s at least in service of the story. Because its 15 volumes, stuff just has to keep happening to our main characters, it wouldn’t be much of a story if only a handful of things happened, but Fuyumi has the skill to make it engaging and flow from one story arc to another seamlessly.

You're willing Kira and Rei to pull through it all, like lovers on the run from the world. The biggest criticism of the manga would be that the last major threat; the last antagonist; that last hurdle that every story must have, in this case began to feel too generic for my liking, but it never becomes boring at least and resolves itself swiftly.

Mars has gorgeous art. It’s clean, soft, and beautiful to look at. Fuyumi makes it look so easy. The beauty is in the simplicity. There's no unnecessary detail, just what is essential. Essential for characters, essential for the story. The scene composition is masterful, and so is the design of the panels. It just flows so well. The best way I can describe it is that it all makes sense. The panels are arranged in a way to make the reading not just efficient, but to lead you along the narrative. Rather than have a page with one image or too many, Fuyumi will make use of all that extra space with smaller consequential panels for key character reactions, but the skill is in her juxtoposition.

It’s hard for me to explain, but hopefully you'll understand what I'm talking about. It’s not something pushed into your face, it’s subtle and affective. Basically I wish more artists utilised page space as efficiently and skillfully as Fuyumi. Mars definitely has the most romantic art I've ever seen in manga. At one point I was actually shocked by what I was reading: Mars has better race scenes than anything I've read in over 400 chapters of racing manga Initial D.

One of the things I love about this manga and Fuyumi Soryo, is that even though she inserts humour here and there, it never feels forced, but more importantly it never feels like she's using it as a crutch like so many other manga do. There are manga out there that have more humour than romance in their love stories; more super deformed faces than normal art. They drown out the narrative and characters with jokes, but Fuyumi doesn’t torture us this way.

When she uses humour, it comes naturally from the story. It provides a break from the angst of the characters and it’s never used as a crutch. It’s used sparingly, so when it comes we don’t expect it and it works all the more better for it. The story doesn’t need humour at all, but she provides it for our benefit, not because she needs it to pad out a chapter.

Mars, the red planet, the warrior of war, the fiery passion in us that love ignites; drives us out of our minds; pushes us forward whether we like it or not, and makes us sacrifice anything and everything to sustain it. You see it all in this manga, and that’s why I gave it 10.

Mars is a manga that is rare nowadays. Heartfelt with raw emotions constantly running throughout the story, this manga will cut right to your core and bring out feelings of tenderness and poignancy with its subtle but powerful story. Trust me, if you're not looking for a cutesy, over the top, juvenile sort of manga, this is the one for you. Mars is painfully realistic with its complex characters and quiet, hopeful optimism. Although a tad melodramatic at times, it does an excellent job of connecting with the readers and making them feel wistful and nostalgic at its end. 10/10 would most definitely recommend. The style of the art and the characters (clothes, expressions) etc. are also spot on.

I'm saddened to see that this manga is not so known around fans of the genre.
I found out about this manga in this site while I was browsing around.I read one of the reviews here and thought to myself,why not try it?It has gotten a really high rating and must be good.Alright,sometimes high rating can be in fact misleading so I wasn't so excited at first and wasn't expecting a lot from this one.How wrong I was...
And here comes my review on this manga.

Story 9/10
I didn't give this a 10 cause the story is really common,you know....girl turns bad boy into a sweet boy.We've heard it.Why didn't I give it a lower score then?Honestly,while this doesn't impress you,the story manages to catch your attention from the very start.Even the way the characters meet and so on.The mangaka really manages to not drag the story and in fact it's very creative later on.

Art 10/10
At first you'll doubt me but as you continue reading the manga the art improves.The style is quite unique and it has become one of my favorites among shoujo mangas.My favorite part of the art is how the mangaka draws the faces,I don't know why but for some reason I love it.I also appreciate it that she didn't make the boys look like girls.

Character 10/10
The characters are really deep.In my opinion it's the characters that attract you so much as to continue reading the rest of it.For me at least no matter how good the story of a manga can be,if the characters are just uninteresting,it'll discourage me from reading the rest.While it's not really hard to find good character development and good interaction between characters in shoujo manga(I think that's where shoujo wins shounen) this one presents another persepcrive of the characters.Here we're also shown the very dark side of both protagonists.And when I say dark I mean with the whole meaning of the world.That of course is one of the things that makes the characters even more realistic.

Enjoynment 10/10
I admit that at first I was like..."Another high rated manga,I hope it worths".But to be honest it drew me to it from the start.I enjoyed every moment throughout the manga.The only thing that discouraged me from wanting to read it all in one day was that it had many chapters and I thought that I'd get bored with so much to read.I was again wrong.You don't even realize it because you're so focused on it that you don't notice how many chapters you've read(at least me).When I finished it,all I could think was how much of a great manga this was and I wanted more.Even the next day that I had nothing of this to read I felt like something was missing from my day and I was pretty sad.I still am when I remind myself this manga and that I've finished it.

Overall 10/10
I give it a ten from all aspects.It has become one of my favorites of all the time.If someone where to ask me to recommend him a manga this would be the first I'd recomment.But be aware,if you're a romantic fan with all the lovey dovey stuff going on and the cutesy then stay away from this,this is a heavy manga and some events in it can be pretty shocking for certain types of people.

Mars is definitely a series for the ages. It has everything that one could possibly ask for when looking for a great romance manga series, and then some. Whether you are a sucker for gorgeous art, tight-knit plot work, or beautiful characters with dark histories, you will definitely find yourself falling in love with this series before the end of the first volume.

My experience with Fuyumi Soryo began when I picked up her psychological sci-fi series Eternal Sabbath a few years ago. ES was one of the very first manga series that I had ever read and I thought it was amazing. I’m still rather inexperienced when it comes to manga, so when I was ready for a new obsession I decided to focus on the classics. Learning that Soryo was the author for this fan favourite, I just couldn’t help myself.

Mars literally has everything that is needed for a full-bodied romance manga. There is of course heart-warming romance with lush handfuls of racing, bullying, sociopaths, tragic and haunting pasts. We can’t forget murder and child abuse either. If this was any longer than its 15 volumes, I’d have to say that it was quite the decadent little soap opera of manga. But even with such a variety, Soryo manages to execute it all with luxurious fluidity. As everything unravels, you are never once left feeling that things are happening too quickly or too slowly. The pace is in perfect combination with the events that take place.

One of the things that normally bother me about high school lovey manga is how annoyingly immature they can come off at times, filled with whiny kids who complain about the dumbest things. Most of the time, I feel that those series can be rather patronizing or preachy. Even though Mars is about a couple of kids in high school, the lives and obstacles they are faced with are substantially more adult in nature than I was expecting it to be. I went into this filled with scepticism, but by the end of the second volume my doubt had been totally replaced with serious and passionate intrigue. The focus on all of the tough topics is rendered with an air of realism—the tension and suspense—and for me this was one of the characteristics that had me so freaking hooked.

As I said up above, I’m already familiar with Soryo so when I saw her art again I felt a nostalgic glee in my wee little heart. Even though I recognized her style, the utter elegance of it all just blew me away. She gets very detailed but with a delicate and gentle touch. Her clean panels are charming with their simple presentation. Soryo unravels some dark and disturbing elements in her series but it becomes all the more accessible with the diligence of her lovely artwork.

Mars is a superb romantic manga series. Fuyumi Soryo really outdoes herself. It’s beautiful in both story and style, and I recommend this to any fan of manga who is looking for a serious, suspenseful piece of literature. My rating for Mars is easily a full ten.