this manga feels like a rehash of flame of recca. clearly the mangaka has not learned any lessons but instead relies on the same old formula

i love the manga

[edit by mod: don't ask for scanlations here]

...i don't find it that good. it just doesn't have that "impact". plus, it feels more like its for the kids.

Great shonen manga, but not as original or good as Flame of Recca.

Read 2 volumes, but it just didnt urge me to read more. Guess in general this series is good enough to read once, but cant call it a must-read. The art is pretty well done, story and characters are average shounen type

I have to describe it as a better, more thought out Flame of Recca. Definitely more enjoyable and yet it still is a bit off from one of those great stories, it is still very good none the less. Heck, I finished reading it all in one day so it has to be somewhat addicting haha. Honestly, give it a shot. Sure you can read everyone's, including my opinions on it, but in the end we are not you so everyone has their own preferences. Also, Ginta's final guardian in the end is uber awesome. I really liked this series! I can't wait to check out the author's next series.

well, this was an awesome idea for a manga. artwork's decent, character designs are good. it nags some stuff from outside sources, but they're really short and shallow so it doesnt affect the story, at all. it many manga i've read, flashbacks, fights, and explanations are really draw out. not so here. everything's incredibly short, which keeps it nice for reading time, but not so for the story. there a lot of deep emotion potential in the story, but you never really have time to feel it since it passes by so quickly. characters change insanely fast, like, in the course of two panels. overall, worth reading, but not the best.

... Last updated on August 23rd, 2008, 1:35pm

this manga here, is like flame of recca version 2.
... did i mention i hated flame of recca?

allright, lets look at the basics.
the art itself is not bad. the style is very clean, you can tell the guy has polished his skills when you compare it to his other works.
the character designs range from really good to extremely bad. but hey, to me its at least better than One Piece, which IMHO, has the worst art ever, i mean, really.

so basically, contrary to Flame of Recca, where one had to force himself through the most horrible of artwork by grasping at the storyline to actually be able to read the manga, MAR provides some nice things to look at.
the bad news is, even though the pictures are good, the story is bad.
as many have stated before, the beginning starts out great. its interesting enough, in fact some would argue that the plot moves a bit TOO slow.

then all of a sudden, its like someone hit the fast forward button, and it really gets messed up.
you think youre in an alternate reality? you think youre gonna explore a new world? not really, becuase the plots just been changed to a tournament.
you think youre gonna get background information on characters? nope, they focus on the wrong characters, and dont even do enough on the ones that you really want to know about.
you think that youre gonna see epic battles, cry tears of joy after every victory? nope. each battle is around 2 chapters, bad guys extremely weak, good guys powerupping far too easily, and its predictable.

but the best of all fo this, is what the mangaka did concerning "killing". the protagonist says killing is wrong, yet he and his companions kill everyone they get their hands on. i mean, what was the deal with "not sinking down to their level". i mean COME ON, its bad to kill, yet these people do it with smiles on their faces.

i love the series! I also like others like yu yu hakusho(my first and i guess you could say favorite),fullmetal alchemist,bleach,etc.(never read flame of recca) but its almost like mar is my twin. I'm not that strong, i wear glasses, and i dream about other worlds and going into them.

it isn't that far from flame of recca. the battles, the personalities of the characters, the type of 'humor', the characters themselves... yet it's somehow different. nobuhiro watsuki is one of the mangakas who has overcome the greatest change in his art. (open flame of recca vol 1 and see what i mean)

the story is more for the children where 'good triumphs over evil inevitably'. i think that it's kinda unrealistic, and the story focuses more on the battles than their progress.

to sum it all up, MAR is a good manga... but not a great one.

... Last updated on December 14th, 2006, 10:42pm