Manga Review : Mars by Fuyumi Souryo

Title: Mars

Original Title: Mars

Author: Fuyumi Souryo

Artist: Fuyumi Souryo

Year of Release: 1996

Genres: Drama, Josei, Mature, Psychological, Romance, School Life, Shoujo

Status: Completed

Chapters (Translated in English): 90

Volumes & Chapters: 

Volume 1 Chapters 1-6               Volume 6 Chapters 31-36               Volume 11 Chapters 61-66
Volume 2 Chapters 7-12             Volume 7 Chapters 37-42               Volume 12 Chapters 67-72
Volume 3 Chapters  13-18          Volume 8 Chapters 43-48               Volume 13 Chapters 73-78
Volume 4 Chapters 19-24           Volume 9 Chapters 49-54               Volume 14 Chapters 79-84
Volume 5 Chapters 25-30           Volume 10 Chapters 55-60               Volume 15 Chapters 85-90

Mangafox – Goodreads

Summary

Kira believes that Rei and all other men in the world are dirty. She stays away from her classmates, hiding in her art. What happens when the delinquent motorcyclist and playboy, Rei, gets ahold of one of her drawings, and actually wants to keep it?

Note: Was adapted into a 21 episode Taiwanese Drama, MARS

My Thoughts

Review covers 90 chapters 

Hi, everyone and welcome back to Katie’s Corner! Today I’m covering a work, which I actually found in yahoo answers. It was a funny story because I was searching for a manga with lots off kisses, and the best answer had a list of mangas. The top one and the most recommended was this one. Though it was not really what I expected (I mean, there weren’t that many kisses), however, I enjoyed it a lot! I loved the story a lot. The idea is not all that unique, however, the way the story develops is great. It somehow reminded me of a manhwa – the One, and I’ll cover it sometime soon. But let me get back to this story.

If you’re waiting for a peachy, rose-color love story, you’ll be immensely disappointed. As there’s nothing simple and easy in this story. It starts perfectly normal for a shoujo romance story – a popular boy is interested in a shy introverted outcast. However, the more the story progresses the deeper the problems are and the more we dwell on human psychology. None of the characters are easy to understand and it doesn’t help that everyone has at least one deadly secret in the closet. Throughout the story, we are faced with joy, sadness, hatred, and love. The issue of hatred is one of the major ones, as it is shown in many perspectives. The hatred towards another being and hatreds towards your inner self. It is very interesting to watch how the relationship between Kira and Rei develops. They have a number of obstacles before they actually achieve their dreams and mostly all of them are due to the trauma’s from the past, therefore the story gets more and more intriguing and you’re sucked into it from chapter one.

The author raises a number of questions, which can never be ignored in our life. There’s the issue of the family as a whole and there are many others, however, the main one you have to identify for yourself, as you’ll be asking yourself on the way: “What would have I done in the same situation?” but before I finish this review, let me talk a bit about the characters. I enjoyed reading about all f them. Sure some of them annoyed me, but I still enjoyed them in the overall. My favorite is Rei, I just liked the guy a lot. He’s both the positive and the negative character. He compensates his bad qualities with lots of good ones. However, his temper is one thing he should be working on. Kira – she’s a great character, a bit too crybaby, but at the same time she’s strong. I don’t think you’ll agree, but she is strong. There are many more interesting characters then those two, but those two are main so I had to mention them. There are some characters that will make your skin crawl, I do not want to name them, as you’ll have to experience them yourself.

Are you up for a romance between an aspiring painter and pro bike racer? Are you ready to find yourself in the dark world of death and life? Hatred and love? Do you have 4 spare hours? I finished all 15 volumes in 4 hours approximately. If yes, then I recommend this fantastic story to read. Enjoy it to its fullest and don’t forget to share your thoughts below! Stay tuned for more reviews as well as promos. Don’t miss your next favourite book or manga! Happy reading!

XOXO

Katie

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