Mars Review: A Quiet Girl and a Motorcycle Racer Find Each Other and Discover What They Were Hiding

Quick Take

• One of the most emotionally honest romance manga to receive English translation — Mars treats its heavy themes with the seriousness they require and the character development is exceptional
• Soryo's art has a naturalistic quality that distinguishes Mars from typical shojo visual conventions
• 15 volumes complete in English; essential for serious manga romance readers

Who Is This Manga For?

• Readers who want romance manga that engages with trauma and healing honestly
• Anyone interested in shojo romance pushed toward mature dramatic content
• Fans of character-driven romance where both leads have significant backstory
• Readers who want complete romance with genuine resolution of its central themes

Content Warnings & Age Rating

Age Rating: M (Mature) Content Warnings: Past sexual assault (Kira's backstory); suicide and survivor trauma; dangerous sport with injury; mature romantic content; the heavy themes are the series' actual subject matter and consistently present

M rating — the mature content is the series' substance, not incidental.

Yu's Rating

Category	Score
Story Depth	★★★★★
Art Style	★★★★★
Character Development	★★★★★
Accessibility for Non-Japanese Readers	★★★★☆
Reread Value	★★★★★

Story Overview

Kira draws. She draws constantly, finds people difficult, and has a reason for both that she has not disclosed.

Rei races motorcycles. He is beautiful and fearless on the track and nowhere else. His fearlessness is not courage — it is the behavior of someone for whom the risk of dying is not the worst thing imaginable.

They meet. They begin something. The series follows what happens when two people whose damage has caused them to withdraw find each other — what that allows, what it requires, and what each of them has to confront to be present for the other.

The motorcycle racing provides spectacular and genuinely dangerous stakes alongside the emotional content. Rei's racing is not separate from his psychology — it is an expression of it, and the series makes this explicit.

Characters

Kira Aso — A protagonist whose withdrawal has specific cause; the series reveals this cause and Kira's management of it with more care than trauma is usually handled in manga.

Rei Kashino — A character whose apparent carelessness is the most sophisticated characterization in the series; what he's actually doing with his fearlessness, and why, is the series' most consistent revelation.

Tatsuya — A supporting character whose relationship to Rei gives the series its most painful moments.

Art Style

Soryo's art has a naturalistic quality that deliberately distances itself from conventional shojo aesthetics — more realistic proportions, faces that carry history, settings that feel inhabited. The motorcycle racing sequences have genuine kinetic energy. This is art that serves the story's seriousness.

Cultural Context

Mars ran from 1996 to 2000 in Bessatsu Friend, which publishes shojo romance for older teenage readers, allowing the series' mature content. Soryo had already demonstrated her range in Cesare and other works; Mars represents her most emotionally sustained achievement. The series' treatment of trauma was unusually direct for shojo manga of its era and influenced subsequent romance manga's willingness to engage with difficult backstory.

What I Love About It

The series earns every heavy moment. Nothing is presented for shock or pity — the trauma is there because it is part of who Kira and Rei are, and understanding them requires understanding it. Their relationship develops as a genuine act of mutual opening rather than as romance formula with heavy themes attached. This distinction is the series' most important quality.

What English-Speaking Fans Say

Western readers consistently describe Mars as one of the best romance manga available in English — specifically noted for the character development being exceptional for the genre, for Soryo's art being immediately distinctive, and for the series earning its emotional weight rather than simply deploying heavy themes. Frequently cited as essential for anyone serious about manga romance.

Memorable Scene ⚠️ Spoiler Warning

The full revelation of Kira's backstory — and Rei's response, which is the series' most complete demonstration of who he actually is — is the series at its highest level.

Similar Manga

• Nana — Long-form adult romance with similar emotional honesty
• Kare Kano — Shojo romance that interrogates its own genre conventions
• Please Save My Earth — Shojo with similar commitment to emotional complexity
• A Silent Voice — Manga that handles trauma with comparable seriousness

Reading Order / Where to Start

Volume 1 — Kira and Rei's first encounter and the beginning of their connection establish the series' tone immediately.

Official English Translation Status

Tokyopop published the complete English series. All 15 volumes available (may require secondhand purchase as Tokyopop is defunct).

Pros & Cons

Pros

• Character development of exceptional quality
• Trauma handled with genuine care and seriousness
• Soryo's naturalistic art is immediately distinctive
• Complete resolution in 15 volumes

Cons

• Tokyopop volumes may require secondhand purchase
• M rating content is real and heavy — the warnings are not excessive
• Some readers find the weight sustained too consistently

Format Comparison

Format	Notes
Individual Volumes	Tokyopop; complete series (secondhand)
Digital	Limited availability

Where to Buy

Read the first volume. If it doesn't hook you, put it down. It'll hook you.

Start with Volume 1 →

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