Mars: Horse With No Name

Rating:
Summary: Save your money, borrow from a friend.
Review: I love "Mars" and was excited to read a back-story to one of my favorite series. Unfortunately, "Horse with No Name" only offers a short and almost irrelevant story about Rei and Tatsuya becoming friends.

The two other stories in the book are completely unrelated to the "Mars" series. "Sleeping Lion" was an all right story, but the plot seemed unconnected and incomplete. "One Carat Fruit" was completely disappointing. The plot was boring and predictable and the characters were not likeable at all.

I suppose a die-hard fan could extract more enjoyment from "HwNN," but I suggest borrowing the book from a friend or a library. Not worth ten dollars.

Rating:
Summary: The facts of MARS
Review: MARS...the fourth planet from the sun.
MARS...the mythical soldier of war.
MARS...the snack-producing powerhouse that makes M&Ms and SNICKERS.
and MARS...one of the best shoujo/romance manga to come gracefully into the American soil.

~REVIEW~

Using the basic concept of a typical boy-meets-girl story, adding the hardship of modern cruelty in society, unexpected twists, and characters so likable that people wouldn't care if they sound corny (or act unusual), MARS stands out to be one of the best of its genre; it actually made me want to start buying romance manga, and I'm a straight-up action-obsessed hombre. A year and 15 volumes later, I wanted more from the series. Well, Tokyopop heard our cry and now they released a prequel to the popular series, under the ridiculous sub, "MARS: Horse With No Name." A prequel isn't exactly what the fans expected for continuation, but as long as it brought some depth to the series' name, it's still a great read, right?

It turns out from the first page that "MARS: Horse with no Name" isn't just a whole prequel in one manga, but an assortment, albeit limited, of stories written by the same author that is Fuyumi Soryo. It has the prequel, and two short stories that are enjoyable, but not accessible to the MARS name:

MARS GAIDEN: Horse with no Name - It takes place a year before the whole Kira and Rei relationship thing takes heed. Romance enthusiasts will find that the "romance" part is sadly missing in this story as it actually follow how Rei and Tatsuya became the best of friends, under Tatsuya's perspective. It was his first day of high school, and when Rei Kashino comes into the black-and-white panel, grudges ensue and rivalry was made (really, with a guy that excels at sports, and a face no women can resist, just about any body has the hubris to beat him to a bloody pulp). It didn't take long for Tatsu to realize that lassie can turn into a pit bull if anything rubs him the wrong way. After experiencing a motorcycle challenge and a rescue attempt, these rivals progress into an unlikely friendship that continued for the original series.

Interesting fact: Soryo-ka got the name, Horse with no Name, from a song of the same title by 70's fame group, America. So it's them that's responsible for the lousy name. It's a solid back-story about friendship...without romance (come on, what's up with that?). It has some interesting tidbits that were from the original, like when Rei met Kira for the first time, helping get her keys she dropped at the sewer. However, this back-story didn't grab me as much as the O.G. The characters aren't as open as I expected, and it lacks any tactile sense. Flaws aside, it was a good read and it brought back some enjoyment I have with the series...for a while. 3/5

SLEEPING LION - Isamu is a typical daredevil of his posse. He accepts and acts on any dangerous task, and doesn't have a care in the world. But his life changes when a young girl named Ayame was at his sight, and doesn't stop stalking the heck out of him. Then, like a tick to a dog, she continues to follow him and annoy him. As these two were together, they grew a stronger bond towards each others, and when secrets are revealed, things aren't always as it should be.

This must be Soryo-ka's earlier work, but this is one of her best. At first glance, it's acts as a obligatory `boy-hates-girl, boy-later-loves-girl' bit, but knowing Fuyumi, I shouldn't take the basic premise lightly. As the story folds, depth perceives as it brought comprehension to the main characters, and its Twilight Zone twist brought shock to its appeal. It's an emotional story that's well-written. 4/5

A ONE-CARAT FRUIT - Nina is one miserable, un-good looking cat. Her parents are liable to file a divorce, so her thought on love are usually ignored or presume to be a passing feeling. When her friend was going out with a boy named Rui, Rui wanted to know more about Nina. It upsets the friend, the friends got into a catfight, and the boy assist the miserable one. Nina wasn't at open arms towards Rui in the beginning, but then they grew to have a very interesting friendship. But what they didn't know, as they share their character towards each other, that their relationship is much deeper than they think, and it's not the romance talking.

Again, it's one of those `gender-hates-gender, gender-later-blahdah-blahdah' stories, but this is, unfortunately, much more under-whelming. It had an interesting twist at the end of the story, but with zero chemistry on the characters and a conventional plot structure, I didn't care. Although it did taught me all about birthstones, but that's about it. 2/5

THE FINAL WORD: Cheap. It's an anthology at heart, and a disappointing one, I might add. I waited months to get my hands on this new Mars manga, and what I got is nothing more than a lousy collection of one serviceable related story and two unrelated stories with mixed results. At it's best, all three stories are enjoyable to read, but at worst, they just seem arbitrary. MARS: Horse with no Name is one recommended for the fans alike, and that alone doesn't say much for the rest of the crowd looking for much better anthologies.

Rating:
Summary: Do waste your money
Review: The story about Mars is very short and did not really add more information about the main story. The other two short stories are cute but I don't think it is worth 10 bucks.

Rating:
Summary: Do waste your money
Review: The story about Mars is very short and did not really add more information about the main story. The other two short stories are cute but I don't think it is worth 10 bucks.