Really great story, with a great plot and character development. Basically, everything you can ask for in a story. Although, between the taiwanese drama and the manga, I prefer the drama. The drama follows the manga almost exactly, but some how the drama just seems to have more chemistry between the characters. If you want something faster, then read the manga.

This manga really pounded on my heart on every volume... I wish I could write a story like this... Masterfully done!

it was incredible- an amazing read. the characters are so well developed it's as if it's based off of real stories.. of course if that were the case, the models would have lived some demented lives...

the plot is so great that it sends chills down your spine; it's not your everyday shoujo, but that's what's so great about it.. slice of life indeed.

Although I felt that the storyline was a bit rushed at times I thought it was a good planned out, thoughtful romance. The ending was a bit on the dry side but it was good enough. The drawings were also very nice; they showed enough detail to get the point across and I was defiantely able to feel for the characters.

... Last updated on June 27th, 2007, 12:13pm

A drama/romance with really beautiful artwork. The characters each have their own motivations and the story doesn't wander away from the main plot. The ending isn't perfect, but it is satisfying and easy to see why this series became so popular.

After reading Mars, all the other shoujo manga out there pales in comparison. The artwork, though definitely not the best, is one of the most consistent I've ever seen. The story is above average, as it is able to continually excite the reader's imagination as well as keep them from coming back for more. The ending, though, leaves you wanting more, is able to satisfy and answer all the questions the reader has. The characterization is the BEST I've encountered among all the other (manga) series I've read. Rei and Kira (as well as all of the others) are well-rounded characters who you would really learn to love at the end of this manga as they are the 'perfect' reflection of the living person, with the many sides to their personalities. They're not perfect, but we learn to love them just the same.

Highly recommended series, very refreshing, compared to some of the mediocre stuff that we are getting nowadays. Giving this series a 10!

An amazing manga!!! Though I do admit that I kept putting off reading it and that it was still hard to get into after that (what can I say? I prorastinate. A lot). It was really deep and the art was beautiful, the bloody scenes especially. Also the story, as mentioned before, is not so shallow as the shoujo I find these days and that was another factor that really kept me hooked to the very end, along with the storyline, and I had so much fun trying to guess what was going to happen next!!! I'm glad to say that the mangaka surprised me. Just the general 'feel' of the manga is captivating, and I love the main characters relationship with each other. It makes you believe that they could be together forever, or at least a lot longer than some other high school romances. I mean, some of the stories out there are cute and all, but then it's like.....yeah? So? How long are they going to be together, when so few people end up with their first love? That's what really gets me about Shoujo. Mars has some really deep feeling in it.

It was alright..and that's about it. It definately wasn't the greatest shojo manga.. The developement was very smooth espically between the two characters. The storyline is very glommy to me, but cheered up alittle near the end. However, the ending was awsome, haha. what can i say, imma a sucker for happying end.

The story and the characters didn't really get under my skin up after the 3rd volume, but from there the series really took flight and kept flying mostly high ubtil the end.
There is present and past drama, and of course potential love rivals, crisis, etc, as traditional in shoujo/josei. But the way they're handled makes all the difference, and for the better.
It's addictive, delicate yet extreme and down-to-earth at once, dark (bordering on disturbing even: it deals with madness, suicide, and child abuse) yet filled with hope, and has some nice romantic and funny moments as well. Plus, the mangaka knows how to draw human bodies and backgrounds and details when they're needed (you can notice her skills even more so in her recent *seinen* titles, like ES and Cesare). Last but not least, she can delineate multi-faceted personalities and rise important issues in a not-preachy way.
[edit by mod, Small hint ahead, could possible be a spoiler]
If there are cons - but I'm really nitpicking as a reader who went through tons of manga- ... some of the plot-twists seemed a bit too... calculated (is this the right word in English, I wonder), especially in the very last volume: I thought I could hear Souryo-san saying " we need something to pick up the tension just before the end, so let's summon that X psycho character back to mess things up again", and BAM, here the mess happens (you'll see when you read it ;) ). But even in that case it was pulled out well and allowed the plot and introspection to go further a notch. Again, it's the way some topics and clichès are handled that mark the difference in quality. And Mars delivers excellent quality on basically all fronts.
I'd recommend it both to male and female readers, unless you're thrown off by the sensitive topics I mentioned above.

This was like my second manga I just loved it. The story is pretty good and the drawings the chick makes I just fell in love with them. The mother and the child its just beautiful