MAR, Vol. 1

Märchen Awakens Romance [メル] #1

by Nobuyuki Anzai

The fate of Mär Heaven lies in the hands of Ginta and his fellow members of Team Mär! They must defeat the Phantom and his ruthless Zodiac chess pieces in the deadly War Games. The fifth battle is set in a desert field, and the first round pits Princess Snow of Team Mär up against a powerful bishop class Zodiac--the perfect opportunity for Snow to try out her newest ÄRM!

Genres: Manga, Fantasy, Graphic Novels, Action, Shonen, Comics, Fiction

208 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 2003

About the author

Nobuyuki Anzai (安西 信行 Anzai Nobuyuki?, born August 19, 1972) is a Japanese manga artist. He was an assistant of Kazuhiro Fujita.

Reviews

[Selena Pigoni · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of those bizarre series you look at and go, "WTF is this?" and then you read it and go, "I MUST READ IT AGAIN!!!!"

Fun with a dash of nerd, this series is great for all fantasy geeks, especially those who have wished to run around in a magical land.

EDIT: Upon rereading all these years later, it feels like a video game and a fairy tale rolled into one. It's goofy, adventurous, and a lot of fun. I highly recommend it.

[Kenneth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good start

[Snarky Hatter · Rating 2 out of 5]

MAR: Marcehn Awakens Romance volume 1 uses fairy tales in a unique way, which is sadly canceled out by the characters being recycled from the mangaka's other series Flame of Recca and a rushed beginning.

Ginta Toramizu has had the same dream one hundred and two times. He is a gamer with average grades, poor eyesight, and lacks athleticism. His love of fantasy and his... average-ness? Glasses? The fact that he interrupts classes by talking in his sleep? lead to him being teased by his peers. The only person who doesn't tease him is Koyuki. One day a talking door appears in the middle of his classroom and gives him the chance to enter the world of his dreams. Ginta quickly discards Koyuki and enters the other world.

While characters entering fairy tale worlds isn't an uncommon story idea, Nobuyuki Anzai make his story stand out by giving it a Dragon Ball feel to it. It's less about the fairy tales themselves, and more about Ginta's adventures and battles.

The art is good; it follows the shonen style of art.

It's a story that can be enjoyed, but still has flaws.

The biggest flaw would have to be the rushed beginning. Ginta's home world is not well flushed out. He's picked on, but the reason behind it isn't fully developed and Ginta doesn't seem to care at all. The bullying is there just so that Ginta has a closer bond with Koyuki, thus building the romance between them. The only problem with this ploy is 1.) Unless Ginta travels between worlds or Koyuki joins him on the journey, their relationship will not develop beyond this, and 2.) because the bullying is lackluster and Ginta doesn't care, it detracts from any motivation Ginta may have to go to another world.

Though Ginta doesn't have a prefect-life he certainly isn't in distress. He has a loving mother, friend/girlfriend, and so many video games that his vision has gone bad from playing them. So why abandon it? It sounds like a good life. Curiosity about this dream-world? It's not a bad motivation, but the manga doesn't build it up. It starts to, but a few more pages or scenes would have helped (there are only fifteen pages dedicated the normal world).

The other weakness of this manga is that the characters are copies of characters from Flame of Recca. It doesn't take away from the overall story, but for someone who has read Anzai's other series it can be a downer. This is because the characters are not just physical copies (not uncommon in manga) but they share the same personalities. To be fair though, some of the personalities are good: Recca and Ginta's impulsive and energetic personalities are entertaining and it is nice to have strong, impish female characters like Dorothy and Fuku. The only flaw with these characters is that other than a few physical changes (hair color/length) there are exact duplicates.

MAR has it's good points and bad, and if you are someone who enjoys shonen manga, action, adventure,and fantasy then this may be the series for you.

[~Cyanide Latte~ · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was never a series I was necessarily into, back in high school, but I recall a friend foisting the first two volumes onto me with the request I read them and draw the characters for her. I only really remember having read them once and never again, so it was nice to revisit this first volume after finding a copy.

MAR: Marchen Awakens Romance is a fun little isekai that came out in the early 2000s that should appeal to video game fans in particular. We begin by meeting our rather unimpressive protagonist Ginta, and get the sense he's been connected to this other world for a long time before the doorway ever appears to take him there. And of course, the instant said portal appears he leaps on the chance to visit this world he's been dreaming about, where he learns [to his surprise and delight] that he has none of the shortcomings in this world that he suffers from in our own. Almost right away he's picked up by a mysterious witch named Dorothy, who somewhat begrudgingly teaches him about enchanted weapons in this world called Arms. This culminates in her tricking Ginta into assisting her with finding a particularly rare and legendary Arm, Babbo, only for Ginta to discover Babbo lives and can talk, and the two end up adventuring together as Babbo seeks for his missing past and Ginta takes in every bit of this world as he's able.

As far as shonen titles go, I'm still mildly surprised that this wasn't published in Shonen Jump (either in the Viz translations or in Japan,) but I'm delighted that Viz produced the English editions nonetheless, as they do seem to pick up a lot of decent, classic shonen titles. MAR is absolutely a title I feel like a lot of people can have fun with, if what you want is a silly, fun little adventure romp that evokes a lot of video game nostalgia. I've yet to continue on to the next volumes (though I do have a copy of volume 2 already,) but I have a feeling that sentiment is probably going to remain even as I continue to go through the remainder of the series.

[Guguk · Rating 4 out of 5]

Untuk komplit sampe tamat (lupa di vol berapa ^ ^;)

Gambar : 4 bintang...aku suka tipe gambar yang keliatan empuk-empuk gini~ Gambaran pertarungannya juga gerakannya jelas & ngalir kayak kali.

Cerita : 3.5 bintang...suka konsep dunianya dan karakter-2nya, terutama si Babbo, gentleman bulat itu (^皿^)
Cuma kadang pertarungannya kurang seru (^ ^ )>

*eh dulu cuman ta' rating 3 ya... tambahin ah*

[Iza Brekilien · Rating 5 out of 5]

Super sympa ! Je ne sais pas si la série tiendra le coup sur le long terme, mais ce premier tome bourré d'humour est idéal pour les geeks fans de MMORPG et de fantasy.

"On ne fourre pas un gentilhomme dans sa gueule, espèce de cuistre !" - ce n'est pas "Montjoie Saint-Denis", mais presque 😋

[Ronda · Rating 4 out of 5]

My son and I found this manga after watching the anime version. My son, then 8 loved the series so much that he zipped through all 15. For this reason alone, I gotta say "YAY!!"

[(S) · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great graphic novel with lots of action! I would recomend it for anyone who likes Manga! It has really good graphics, but in some places the words are a bit small, but readable

[Ryan Reader · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was cool and it has a lot of action in it

[Bradley · Rating 5 out of 5]

This review is super biased. I believe I watched some of the anime? It was much further into the story and I can remember hardly ANYTHING, but it left a very positive impression. Upon reading Mar I realized it is very, extremely, way-too-similar to a story I wrote while I was in high school. While I was reading it felt like I must have watched some parts of the anime because it felt like I was remembering. It’s possible I watched episodes and missed others? There’s a lot of weird stuff going on for me before, during and after the read.

I absolutely love this volume. There’s nothing truly exceptional done here. In fact, if I reviewed this like I reviewed some other manga I might’ve been unfavorable. I don’t want to do that and I’m not going to do that. To me it feels like the first Kingdom Hearts and even some of these models look like Heartless. I enjoy the style of this manga - the art’s style, the storytelling style and it just has Shonen style. The characters and the villains, the face-offs, the goofy humor, and the pull of reality are what I would say is Shonen style, plus it’s typical action adventure with little to no prep.

We, just as Ginta, are quite literally thrown in there. Some might say that’s garbage method and rightfully so, because often times it turns out badly. This is a story about a kid who dreamed during the day until *poof* he entered the dream. Goodbye backstory! You’re only 30 pages long anyway.

I’m completely down for ARMS. I suppose you could call it a magic system but I’m not sure if that’s right…There was a witch in the beginning so it’s possible ARMS are more like equipment and magic has yet to reveal itself. I’ve always been a fan of magic items that aren’t just ‘flame saber’ even though that’s cool in itself, it's much more interesting when the weapons come to life.

For some reason I feel like Mar belongs to manga part of a bygone era. It’s not even that old. The art style in particular I feel is one that is on the way out. It’s very hard to articulate, but if you opened up this manga and one published recently you would know exactly what I mean. Maybe it's just me. Pretty sure I have volume 2 lying around here so let's see if it's just a wave, my nostalgia, or if I'm really digging this series.

[Brooke Goodwin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh man, such nostalgia! I remember watching the anime when I was little and reading the manga now reminds me of simpler times.

The story is quirky and a bit ridiculous, which is what I love about it! Ginta is goofy, has his head in the clouds (like I used to), and is just full of wonder that makes you immediately want to root for him! I always thought him meeting Dorothy first then Jack was odd since most stories have you meet the soon-to-be best friend or extra loyal companion. From what I remember about the anime, the character relationships were pretty balanced - another thing I love about MÄR!

I’ll be honest, I’m most looking forward to when Ginta meets Alviss and Nanashi because those are some of my favorite characters! After finally getting my hands on this manga and loving it as much as the first episode of the anime I watched way back when, I’m excited to get further into the story!

[L.ivresse.des.mots · Rating 4 out of 5]

Je m'attendais à rien de particulier venant de cette "antiquité". Mais je commence à m'attacher aux personnages, au monde magique et à ses particularités !

Le héros a des lacunes, un sens aigüe de l'amitié. Les personnages secondaires font écho aux "märchen" de notre enfance, clin d'oeil appréciable. Ce manga déborde d'imagination , je le dévore, il me happe totalement.

Même si je déplore un peu de redondance dans l'écriture mais il faut garder à l'esprit que la publication au Japon se fait par chapitres dans les magasines. Le rappel est sûrement un point essentiel pour accrocher le lecteur ! ^-^

[Dylan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This first volume was an enjoyable start to a fantasy shonen series. It's very early 2000s shonen. Reminds of things like Dragon Ball and InuYasha. We follow a fourteen year old boy who dreams up another world. One day he gets sucked into that world and couldn't be happier. This is a cute manga so far, and I'm looking forward to what happens next.

[Shrunkula · Rating 3 out of 5]

I first read it accidentally. I bought a monthly shounen manga magazine just to read a story about vet and chef but hooked on this one. I also forgot what the title of those two. Back then i too wish to enter an another dimension, fight evil dudes, gain crazy power, find good bond of friendships, save my father and the world at the same time

[Elisse · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this in middle school, and it was a really great read. I still remember it now, and would read it again given the opportunity. The story is interesting and captivating, the only downside is some fan service (perv pandering) that seems out of place.

[Kazu · Rating 5 out of 5]

Me ha encantado reencontrarme con esta historia otra vez. Es muy fresca, dinámica y entretenida donde Ginta viaja al mundo de sus sueños a través de un portal dimensional. Allí conoce a diferentes personajes que nos darán buenos momentos.

[Krystal Caloia · Rating 2 out of 5]

This said in the description it's about chess but.....it never mentioned chess....it was also really confusing and weird and just......a lot popped up with not a lot of explanation and then they hung on and drug on about things that could have been let go......

[ReadingFrog · Rating 1 out of 5]

1.5 stars.

[Alicia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Manga with good plot, good action, good characters, and minimal fan service. Make sure you get all 15 - you will want to read them all.

[Arska-täti · Rating 2 out of 5]

Tarina 14-vuotiaasta Gintasta, jolla on kyky siirtyä toiseen maailmaan, Mär-Heaveniin, jossa hän kokee mitä ihmeellisempiä seikkailuja ja tapaa mitä erilaisimpia olentoja. Tässä maailmassa Gintalla on suorastaan yli-ihmisen voimat, ja yhdessä ÄRM-ase Babbon kanssa he korjaavat erilaisia fantasiamaailmassa olevia vääryyksiä.

Selvästi nuoremmalle lukijakunnalle suunnattu Isekai-seikkailu. Valitettavasti mukana oleva hölmöily-huumori ei innostanut jatkamaan sarjan lukemista ekaa osaa pidemmälle.

[Víctor Rosell · Rating 4 out of 5]

4/5⭐️

En el primer volumen de "MÄR", somos introducidos a Ginta, un joven que sueña con aventuras más allá de su vida cotidiana. De repente, es transportado a un mundo fantástico llamado MÄR, donde debe participar en un torneo para salvar el reino de los malvados invasores. Este volumen establece un mundo vibrante y detallado lleno de criaturas mágicas y paisajes exóticos. Destaca el ingenioso sistema de armas y magia ÄRM, que añade una capa adicional de emoción y estrategia a las batallas.

[Ryofire · Rating 1 out of 5]

A forgettable series with mediocre to eyeroll-worthy art and a story that creates and then drops plot threads faster than you can realize that you just wasted your time reading this series. And faster than I realized that this is almost tit-for-tat the meat of "Flame of Rekka", but half the length. I guess Anzai Noboyuki just really liked that one story, but thought "why not make it more like a Western-style fantasy video game, but shorter?"

The art improved since "Flame of Rekka", but it's still not a great art style. It's not atrocious. It's the generic "big limbs, tiny bodies, I can only design three female characters but an endless trove of largely freakish male ones". Lots of women fall in love with the shounen protagonist because that's how shounen work. The series is so short that half the story - training - takes place off panel because there's just too much of it. But, as we're told helpfully by Generic Sexy Catgirl in somehow a worse outfit than a catsuit, that training is making them there generic heroes strong! I haven't even mentioned the roofying plot thread (point? Bounce?). But it's okay! Because... it's a permanent roofie! ...Yay? Also, the subtitle series should be "Anti-climactic", because that's far more appropriate (e.g., the primary antagonist's plotline) than calling your fairly typical shounen tournament storyline "Marchen awakens romance", given that although there are a few romances in the series, they are almost universally pushed backstage whenever they happen to pop out of the graves they're buried in.

I know there are better forgettable generic shounen out there than this, but I can't remember them, because they're forgettable generic shounen. Literally the only saving grace about this one is that it is short, unlike "Flame of Rekka", which is 33 volumes.

[Omari_T]

In this part of the book a 14, 7th-grade student, named Ginta is awoken by his teacher at the school from his dream about him being a fantasy hero rescuing a princess, in a fantasy world that he has had 102 times exactly. He is basically a disappointment to everyone. He only has one friend named Koyuki, one-day Ginta is at school and the whole classroom goes dark and a creature with a door pops up in the darkness. The creature asks if Ginta wants to go to through the door but only he can go through. In a split second, Ginta tells Koyuki that he’ll tell her all his stories when he comes back, and the door is then opened. Ginta says his goodbyes and jumps into the door. When he enters the fantasy world he always dreamed about Mar Haven. a mysterious witch analyses him and introduces herself, called Dorothy. After Dorothy explains she asks Ginta if he wants to go into a cave to get a rare really strong arm. When they get into the cave. They find the arm but is then stopped by a gigantic stone golem. Ginta tries to hit the golem but is then smacked away into a wall. Dorothy then attacks the golem, while Dorothy fights, Ginta gets up and runs up to the chest. He gazes upon the chest to open it and find a bowling ball with a little hammer attached to it. He picks the arm up and starts to attack the golem and defeats. Then the arm starts to talk like a human being and jumps around. When they get out of the cave, Dorothy says that Ginta can keep the arm and leaves. Ginta asks the arm its name, the arm says Babbo. But the Babbo can’t remember his past so Ginta and Babbo go onward to restore Babbo’s memories.

[Fudz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Anzai Nobuyuki menawarkan suatu alur cerita yang berbeda, meskipun tema yang dibuat hampir sama.
Mengishkan seorang anak yang tergolong biasa, tetapi menjadi luar biasa ketika di dunia dimensi lain, disebut MAR.
Disana ia bertemu BABBO, arm yg tertidur dan akhirnya menjadi teman sekaligus senjata u/melawan prajurit catur alias CHESS army.
Dengan beberapa teman yang setia, Ginta bertualang untuk mengembalikan dunia MAR (baca:MAR Heaven) kembali damai.
Bagaimana caranya? Ya tentunya, mengalahkan prajurit CHESS satu demi satu...

[Nick · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think that kids will like it more than I did. I found myself getting annoyed with the talking weapon, because it just didn't work as comic relief for me.
Still, there were good parts, especially the werewolf story, and I can see how it has an audience.

[Alena · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ist eigentlich ein super süßes Maga mit einer sehr shcönen Story, nur leider nicht so meins.
Der Hautcharakter gelangt in eine ral gewordene Traumwelt in welcher er plötzlich super stark ist und neue Freunde kenenn lernt.

[Ashira (Savannah)]

Kinda silly. Makes me think of an actually decent version of One Piece X3 Well...as far as the art goes anyway

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

Talking metal mace balls with mustaches. Oh yeah.

[April]

stands in for the whole series

[Fugo Feedback · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lo tengo y lo leí (hace como cinco años) en la edición española de Ivrea. Cuando lo tenga a mano, seguro la suba y quizás rerreseñe. Pero tampoco creo que tenga demasiado para decir.