MARS by Soryo Fuymi

Rei and Kira

Konnichiwa~

Today I’ll be reviewing one of my absolute favorite mangas! One of the best melodramas and romances I've read! It’s pretty well known, but for those who haven’t read or haven’t heard of it, I recommend to just stop reading this right now and start reading Mars by Soryo Fuyimi! Its 15 volumes and completely scanlated. Anyway, this amazing manga follows the story of Kira Aso and Rei Kashino, two teens who seem to be from different worlds; the artistic, shy, and quiet Kira is ostracized from the rest of her class while Rei is the center of attention as the school’s popular and lovable bad boy. But they are strangely drawn to each other, even though they don’t accept the fact right away. As the story continues, it is revealed they’re both dealing with major psychological traumas. Kira with her father dying in a car accident and her fear of men, rooted from the years she spent with a sexually abusive stepfather. Then there’s Rei with his complex childhood and the blame he puts on himself for his twin brother’s mysterious suicide. On top of that, there’s his love of racing motorcycles, which constantly worries Kira and his father. Both characters are complex, realistic, and live in the gray zone of society, but they look at each others wounds and accept each other, doing what every they can to comfort and heal the other. The love between them is bewitchingly passionate, both them nearly falling apart once when they had a particular dramatic fight and broke up for, well a day I think. There’s the old story are the red-string of fate and how everyone is tied to their fated lover by this red string, and I think these two are definitely a fated pair, the need and desire each other, no one else can even compare to their loved one.

Rei loves his motorcycles and Kira is teh first person
he's ever let ride on it with him

It’s been made into a Taiwanese drama, but I haven’t seen it yet. Every time I try, I end up stopping and reading the manga. Anyway, the plot is captivating the art makes it even better; I just love classic1990s manga art, it’s simply charming. Fuyumi-sensei really knows how to express emotions like pain, fear, love, and happiness. You can truly understand what Kira and Rei are feeling and the pain they’ve experienced through her art. I highly recommend this 1990s classic, its story and characters both unique and in no way a cutesy little shoujo manga, not by long shot with its dark pasts, violence, suicides, and psychopaths.

~Nadeshiko-chan