Mars (Japanese: マース, Hepburn: Māsu) is a Japanese manga series created and drawn by Fuyumi Soryo. It was first published in the magazine Bessatsu Friend from 1996 to 2000 and includes 15 book volumes. The story follows the romantic relationship between Kira Aso, a shy artist, and Rei Kashino, a troubled young man who is a professional motorcycle racer. A prequel volume titled Mars: A Horse With No Name was released in 1999.

The manga was translated into English by Tokyopop, but Kodansha USA will publish a new eight-volume hardcover edition for the series' 30th anniversary in 2026. A 21-episode Taiwanese television drama adaptation was released in 2004. A Japanese television drama titled Mars: Tada Kimi wo Aishiteru (MARS～ただ、君を愛してる～) aired on Nippon TV from January 24 to March 27, 2016. A live-action film with the same name was released in Japan on June 18, 2016.

Critics praised the main series for its thoughtful handling of difficult topics and its strong romantic story. A prequel series was also released, but critics found it less successful than the main series.

Plot

Kira Aso and Rei Kashino meet when Rei asks Kira for directions to a local hospital one day in the park. Kira draws a map and gives it to Rei without speaking. Rei becomes interested in Kira after he sees a drawing of a mother and child on the back of the map. On the first day of school, they are surprised to find they are in the same class. Later, Rei sees their teacher making unwanted sexual advances toward Kira. Rei promises to protect Kira in exchange for a painted version of the sketch from the map. He also offers to "lend Kira his body," and she asks him to pose for her artwork. This starts a relationship that many people in the world disapprove of. They use their love for each other to heal from the pain caused by the world. Rei deals with the scars from his twin brother's suicide, which he feels responsible for. Kira struggles with her anger toward men because her stepfather sexually assaulted her when she was in middle school.

Characters

• Kira Aso ( 麻生 キラ , Asō Kira ) is a young artist who lives with her mother. She is in a romantic relationship with Rei. When Kira was ten years old, her father died in a car accident involving a motorcycle gang. When she was fourteen, her stepfather hurt her in a very bad way. Because of this, Kira became a shy and quiet person. Later, her mother discovered what happened and moved out of her husband’s home to live alone with Kira.

• Rei Kashino ( 樫野 零 , Kashino Rei ) is a friendly and outgoing person who rides motorcycles professionally. He dreams of becoming a professional racer but has a difficult past. When he was in junior high school, his younger twin brother committed suicide in front of him, which deeply affected him. Despite this, Rei stays cheerful and is easy for others to like. He met Kira when he modeled for her, and they began to develop feelings for each other. Throughout his life, Rei has been drawn to violent actions, such as trying to shoot a bully as a child, threatening a teacher who had hurt Kira, and attempting to harm Kira’s stepfather.

• Tatsuya Kida ( 木田 達也 , Kida Tatsuya ) is Rei’s best friend. He also had feelings for Kira when they were in junior high school. By the end of the story, he is in a relationship with Harumi.

• Harumi Sugihara ( 杉原 晴美 , Sugihara Harumi ) is a classmate of Kira and Rei. She became interested in Rei after they slept together during their freshman year. At first, she tried to hurt Kira emotionally because of her growing relationship with Rei. Later, she changed her behavior and became a kind and protective friend.

• Shiori Sakurazawa ( 桜沢 しおり , Sakurazawa Shiori ) is a girl from Rei’s past. She was first in a relationship with Sei, Rei’s twin brother, and later became interested in Rei. She was the only girl both brothers liked. After Sei’s death, Shiori blamed herself and tried to take her own life because she felt she could not live without either of them.

• Masao Kirishima ( 桐島 牧生 , Kirishima Masao ) is a person who does not care about others and is often bullied. His only friend, Yuji Aoki, once hurt him badly. Rei once saved Masao from being killed, but he does not remember this clearly because he was still grieving over Sei’s death. After this, Masao killed Aoki. Masao says he has feelings for both Rei and Kira.

• Sei Kashino is Rei’s younger twin brother. Like Kira, he was an artist. He was often bullied and needed Rei to protect him. He discovered that their father was not their real father. When he was in junior high school, he committed suicide by jumping from a school building in front of Rei. This left Rei with deep emotional pain. In a letter before his death, Sei told Rei that he wanted to leave scars on him and that he had a darker mind than he thought, hoping Rei would kill someone.

Media

The manga series Mars, written and illustrated by Fuyumi Soryo, was published in the magazine Bessatsu Friend from 1995 to 2000. Kodansha collected these chapters into 15 tankōbon volumes. The first volume was released on May 13, 1996, and the last on December 13, 2000. A short prequel series titled Mars: A Horse With No Name was also published in Bessatsu Friend in 1999. Its chapters were released in one tankōbon volume on December 9, 1999. From October 12, 2006, to January 12, 2007, Kodansha republished the series in Japan as eight kanzenban special edition volumes, which included more chapters in each volume.

The manga was licensed for an English-language release in North America by Tokyopop. The first five chapters appeared in the magazine Smile starting with the October 2001 issue and ending with the March 2001 issue. Tokyopop published all 15 volumes from April 23, 2002, to November 2003. The prequel series A Horse With No Name was released in July 2004. Both titles are now considered "out of print" by Tokyopop. In 2023, Kodansha published the series in English on their K Manga service.

In 2004, a 21-episode Taiwanese drama based on the manga aired on Chinese Television System. The drama starred Vic Zhou and Barbie Hsu. In the drama, the characters’ names were changed to Chinese names for localization, but the story followed the manga’s general plot. One difference was that Rei Kashino rode a Ducati Monster motorcycle in the manga, while Ling Chen rode a Yamaha Fazer in the drama. The drama won the Favorite Drama of the Year award at the 40th Annual Golden Bell Awards and was the highest-rated program in 2005 when it aired on the Philippine network QTV.

The live-action series used two theme songs: "Zero" by Alan Kuo for the opening and "Rang Wo Ai Ni" by Vic Zhou and Barbie Hsu for the ending.

In 2016, NTV aired a new television drama adaptation titled Mars: Tada, Kimi wo Aishiteru! (Mars: But, I Love You!). The series premiered in January and starred Taisuke Fujigaya as Rei Kashino and Masataka Kubota as Makio Kirishima. Both actors were listed as "double stars" of the series. Marie Iitoyo played Kira Aso. The story concluded with a film that opened in Japanese theaters on June 18, 2016.

A live-action film adaptation and finale for the Japanese television drama series was released on June 18, 2016.

Reception

In Understanding Manga and Anime, Robin E. Brenner lists the title among her recommendations for "Best Romances and Melodrama." She says the manga romance includes romance, motorcycle races, bullying, haunted pasts, child abuse, people who dress in clothes typically worn by the opposite gender, murder, people who don’t care about others’ feelings, and more romance. She called it an appealing "soap opera" and praised the scene where Rei and Kira make love as "gentle, sweet, and very much focused on the emotional impact on their relationship" instead of trying to "excite readers." Steve Raiteri of Library Journal reviewed the fourth volume of the series and said Soryo's artwork was "clean" and did an expert job showing "Shiori's desperation, Kira's sadness and uncertainty, and Rei's living-in-the-moment changeability." He said the series would appeal to both teen girls and older readers because of its "depth and quality."

Ross Liversidge of the online magazine UK Anime Network had low expectations for the series but found it to be "flawless." He gave it a 10 out of 10 and said its strong points were its "delicate and detailed" artwork and its "normality," noting that it "smacks of a tragedy waiting to happen" but was done so well and in such an understated way that it was "utterly absorbing" and kept readers' attention. Jason Thompson, the author of Manga: The Complete Guide, highly praised the work, giving it four out of four stars. He called it a "well-written, tightly plotted romance" that successfully dealt with a range of "powerful issues" without being "preachy or patronizing." He said Soryo's artwork was "clear and attractive." However, he felt the prequel, Mars: Horse With No Name, did not add much to the overall story, noting that only the title story actually relates to the series. He still praised the artwork and gave it three stars but said the stories were "pale in comparison" to the original.

Park Cooper of Manga Life praised the original Mars, saying he "loved the characters, the story, and the tension that lies within the situations." He did not recommend reading Horse With No Name more than once, finding it less impressive and unlikely to appeal even to fans of the main series. He said the titular story, which explains how Kira and Tatsuya became friends, was "disappointing" and not as good as the main series. However, he praised the second story, "Sleeping Lion," as making the volume worth buying and containing "the type of context in the story that got me to love MARS in the first place." He said the final story, "A One-Carat Fruit," was unengaging and left him unable to connect with the central characters. Overall, Cooper noted that while Soryo's artwork was not unique, she created "incredible looking characters" and "did a great job making certain expressions of the characters feel convincing."