User rating of this review - 3 out of 5
Story/Plot - 3 out of 5
Characters - 5 out of 5
Drawing Style - 4 out of 5
Enjoyment - 4 out of 5
Overall - 3 out of 5
Plot/Story
Ginta's a boy just like many. Addicted to RPGs and videogames, he keeps dreaming of a land full of monsters to battle and a beautiful princess to save.
The difference is that, one day, he gets transported to this land, which is called MÄR-Heaven. There he discovers he has a new strenght, and ÄRMS - jewels with weapon-like quality. They can transform from mere swords into guardians with magic powers. But such powers bring a new war to MÄR-Heaven...
With his special and unique ÄRM Babbo and some friends, he has to fight in the War Game against a group called Chess no Koma, who greedly wants to conquer this beautiful land.
Characters
There are many characters in this manga, every one which a unique personality. The interaction between them is great, and sometimes incredible funny.
I'll try to list the main characters:
Ginta - The typical nerd, suddenly turned into a hero. His huge creativity is a big advantage in MÄR-Heaven, since he uses his new powers in the most strange ways.
Babbo - A talking ÄRM with a personality problem. He and Ginta are always fighting, but they're real friends.
Dorothy - The first person ginta met in MÄR-Heaven, she's a sorceress who got a crush in Ginta since she saw how powerful is he. Usually crazy, she hides something.
Jack - Ginta's friend of this world, he isn't very strong or powerful. He thinks Dorothy is really cute.
Alviss - The guy that brought Ginta for this world. At first, he disliked Ginta, but he grew resect towards him. He has to fight against the Chess because he has a curse that will only go away if he defeat the 'leader' of it.
Snow - The princess Ginta saved, she strangely looks like his best friend from the 'normal' world.
Ed/Alan - He fought against the Chess no Koma in the first war of MÄR-Heaven. He has a cursed that turns him into a dog when he sleeps. As a dog, he has to take 3 naps to return to his human form.
Nanashi - A thief who wants revenge against the Chess. He's funny and flirts whith every woman he sees, but he has a misterious past too.
Phantom - The first knight of the Chess, aka the villain. He's cruel, evil, and incredible beautiful.
Drawing Style
Anzai-sensei art is just beautiful. The characters are real pretty, but he knows how to draw big bad and ugly ones too! The fights are awesome, and everything is very detailed.
Enjoyment
If you like shounen manga with all their fights, character interaction, drama, and, of course, comic reliefs, this one's for you.
Overall
The main plot is super cliché, but those little details, as the characters past and their relationships, make everything turns out fine. Something that really called out my attention is that everyone seem to think this manga has a connection with Anzai's earlier work, Flame of Recca. There're some hints, and if you liked FoR, you will enjoy this one.
MAR is extremely similar to FOR.
ARMS = Madogu (and now in MixiM he has something similar - dammit Nobuyuki! Must your manga all revolve around magical items! Jeez, you're as bad as Arina Tanemura!)
Even some (when I say some, I mean a lot) of the characters are a like:
Ginta = Recca
Dorothy = Fuko
Jack = Domon
Alviss = Tokiya
Phantom = a pathetic attempt at another Kurei
Nanashi = He somewhat reminds me a bit of Joker <.<...
Snow = obvious Yanagi attempt.
I actually preferred Flame of Recca's art a bit better during the middle part of the Urabotousatsujin [or howevere the hell it's spelled] and to it's end. Not to mention, that in MAR there is also another tournament - The Chess Games.
I think his recognition due to Flame of Recca had gone to his brain.
It's a bit above mediocre at best; people, you can read it to pass the time, but don't expect much from it, you'll be disappointed [especially near the end, I smelled that "plot twist" more than a mile away.]
