the characters in this manga all are multi-dimensional, and their expression of personalities lend a dramatic atmosphere to the story. the male mc is the usual good looking bad boy, and the female mc is the usual naive innocent cutie, however their characters are explored and magnified making us root for their happiness. the side characters did a great job in supporting the mc in making their love bloom. some characters seems big, however lost significance in just a short while, so it might throw you off.

the mentally unstable aspect of the characters are also a huge draw of this manga. every one of them have at least a little bit that's broken, and both of the mc is too broken that they can only fix each other. i really love that rei never change his psychopathic tendency, he is only moderated by kira's presence.

even though i love the development of the story, it is a little bit stretched. sometimes i feel a whole volume gone by without anything of significance happen. this is because of the style of art, where sometimes there is only one or two panels in a page and a lot of extreme closeup. this do make a more dramatic feeling, however progress is much slower. also one can get bored as they endlessly profess their love to each other, sometimes their touching and kissing are too much as nothing else is going on.

still, though their drama is a bit too dramatic, it is quite entertaining. the art is also very beautiful and light and pleasing to the eye. one can get lost in admiring them.

Although it may not seem too dark at first glance, just assume that the darker points in the beginning is the typical tone of the entire series; not to say that's all Mars has going for it. It was a great read that left my heart in shambles at one too many points in the story. My only gripe was with some of the psychological aspects being a bit far-fetched, namely but I'm not so hyper critical to allow that to devalue Mars as a quality series.

... Last updated on August 6th, 2014, 5:15am

If you think of shoujo, this is it. I saw the Taiwanese live-action a long time ago before I read this manga, so nothing surprised me.

Great artwork. The chemistry between the two main characters was great. The plot, although was dark and at some point had a message about the importance of dreams and passion, was centrally focused on the romance that I thought made the story not much else besides that. Although mostly everything was cliche, well this manga is dated (just a little less than two decades since it came out!) so I'll forgive some things. What I'll also give a thumbs up for about this manga is the fact that the cheesy parts didn't make me cringe; basically it wasn't gag-worthy.

Anyway, this manga would have usually gotten a high rating from me except while reading I realized I didn't much care about the main couple. It's not that it's an old story I'm revisiting and I wasn't so hyped to be getting into it again. (Even while watching the live-action when I was still so in love with the actor that played Rei,) I couldn't emotionally invest in the two main characters like I usually do when I'm reading/watching anything. The only character I felt anything for was Rei's father and probably Kira's mother. I think part of my disappointment with the manga was how selfish Rei and Kira was. They sacrificed a lot for each other, but yet they existed in their own world where no one else mattered. Everything was all about them literally; what they needed, what they wanted, what they cared about. Hey, it's a love story about fated lovers, I know! Maybe I just don't care for this type of thing. And maybe it's just me, but I felt that Rei and Kira never really expressed their gratefulness for all the support that everyone gave them to a depth that satisfied me. Again, to the end it was all about them. You see, I might forgive other shoujos for this, but for MARS where the mangaka tried to go for something deep my rating criteria thus is more harsh.

MARS is a good read, especially for shoujo lovers, but don't expect too much. The art is good. The plot, though imo very interesting, is banal and predictable. Same goes for the protagonists: they're well characterized and nice, but lack of originality. Rei is the traditional cool, good-looking, bad guy with good heart, while Kira is the classical innocent, quiet and pure girl. After reading a lot of shoujo manga, I can't stand these kinds of characters anymore. It's not like I dislike them, I would just like something different. Some of the themes are also very clichéd: suicide, twins, rape. However, this manga is overall very likeable, recommended for angst lovers and romantics.

Any one who rated this less than 9 was clearly unprepared for the story... So it's my suggestion... If you're looking for a fluffy romantic read, please forget this one.
But if you are ready to invest some time and emotion with the story and its characters... You have to try this. Don't let the old art scare you... There will be no starbursts in the heroine's eyes in this one. If anything, you would be pulled in by the artist's beautiful eye to details, her perfect sense of proportion... and irresistible narration.

Everyone has hidden sides... denying that is a lie. Discover how Rei and Kira stop hurting behind their public facades; watch as the playboy and the quiet artist heal each other.

I liked how the princey figure, Rei, turned out to be pretty twisted. That made everything more dramatic and realistic. The only thing that was a bit disappointing would be the heroine. They should have made her story (past) a little longer. It was a little short and didnt get into the details. BTW: THIS IS REALLY DARK AND TWISTED. IT ALSO INCLUDES SOME TRAGEDY. SO IF U DON'T LIKE ANY OF THOSE THINGS, I DON'T RECOMMEND THIS TO U. But the overall romance was great!

... Last updated on January 5th, 2014, 6:34pm

I absolutely loved the first volume and the way the "opposites attract" came into play.

Unfortunately, I lost that love for the manga after dramatic events seemed to just keep popping up.
Maybe I would have just preferred if this was a lighthearted story with the character types used.

Love this manga. Love how dark it is. It's no sweet romantic (annoying and unrealistic) love story.

At first I didn't want to read the manga because "shy/innocent/weak heroine" sounds awful to me. Surprisingly, I like Kira. Ok, maybe not "like", but I'm ok with her. I think her character is interesting and she is the way she is for a reason other than "a weak useless girl will keep getting saved by her love interest, the female readers will put themselves in her role and squeee"; he innocence is needed for the plot.

Rei/Kira is an awesome, interesting pairing. The way they affect each other, the way they need each other. how they are made for each other. Love the interaction, gives me some faith in love-- real love with support and understanding, not just loving someone because they are cute/hot.

Finally, Masao must be one of my favorite manga characters ever. His role in the manga, as the mirror for both Kira and Rei is amazing. Of course, he is a creepy sociopath, but he is a super cute creepy sociopath I really adore him.

i read this cause people said it had real romance rather that that kinda love at first sight stuff, and i have to admit, at the beginning i really liked it but it just started going downhill from when he kissed the statue. it was really overly melodramatic and most of the time i felt like the story was contradicting itself because they wanted to add another "twist" to the plot line.

as it progressed, the story seemed less like a romance to me and more like a mystery novel of trying to get to the bottom of Rei's past and mental issues. that aspect of the story is fine but at times i completely forgot Kira was even in the story, that shouldn't happen. so anyway not my cup of tea, i can see how some people would like it but i wouldn't recommend it

I read this Loong back
it was Psychological Piece of Gem, All Characters were great and developed perfectly as the manga progressed

the author echoed real life beautifully, and this is one of those REALISTIC Romance mangas i have ever read

One of the Best Shoujo/Josei of all time