Jump to ratings and reviews
Rate this book

Mars [マース] #12

Mars, Volume 12

Rate this book
Kira leaves home with her mother's blessing. When Kira goes with Rei to meet his father, she realizes that he is the elegant man who tried to buy her painting of Rei. It comes out that Rei is actually the son of his father's brother, who Rei's mother had an affair with. Rei's father invites Kira to come live at his house with Rei as his fiancée until they graduate from high school. As Kira and Rei explore the giant mansion together, Kira learns details about Rei's life, and Rei is also beginning to remember things that he had long forgotten. When Kira and Rei go exploring alone, they both discover things that were held secret for years. Kira finds a suicide note painted into one of Sei's paintings, in which he shows his true colors, which are far darker than anyone could've imagined. Meanwhile, Rei remembers things about his mother's illness that shock him.

184 pages, Paperback

First published February 10, 2000

52 people are currently reading
300 people want to read

About the author

Fuyumi Soryo

149 books350 followers
Fuyumi Soryo (惣領冬実) is a Japanese manga artist from Beppu, Oita, Japan. She is a graduate of the Oita prefectural Geijutsu Midorigaoka High School.

She was born into the home of a master of the Kanze school of Noh. In her childhood she liked to draw pictures of horses and things but had no special interest in manga. While enrolled in fashion college, she happened across Shogakukan's Rookie of the Year Contest and applied to raise money for the Sōen fashion contest. There she received an honorable mention, and debuted with "Sunspot Visitor" (Hidamari no hōmonsha) published in the April 1982 edition of Bessatsu Shōjo Comic (now Bestucomi).

Her works translated abroad include Mars and Eternal Sabbath. In 1988, she was awarded the Shogakukan Manga Award for shōjo manga for Boyfriend. Currently her last manga series is Cesare which centers around the infamous Borgia family of the Italian Renaissance and Cesare Borgia himself.

Ratings & Reviews

What do you think?
Rate this book

Friends & Following

Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!

Community Reviews

5 stars
1,724 (56%)
4 stars
850 (27%)
3 stars
407 (13%)
2 stars
74 (2%)
1 star
20 (<1%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 59 reviews
Profile Image for Keiko, the manga enthusiast ♒︎.
1,268 reviews187 followers
July 7, 2022
It's getting twisted once again

I was relieved that the buyer was indeed a relative of Rei, but it was a shocker that he's actually Rei's legal father. I wasn't expecting that, and I wasn't expecting that he was actually a good guy. And his mother might be a lunatic—I mean, you should protect your son, not make him feel the hurt you feel for him to understand how you're hurting. Crazy stuff. Now that I think about it, that's one hell of a deranged family—one crazy gene passed to another (I dunno where Masao came from, lol. Maybe their lost child! Kidding!) Even Rei has his weird, intense streaks. Even the revelation about Sei's real self. Also, I'm starting to hate Sei. Are there any more surprises? Because I'm losing my mind now, if I haven't lost it from Uzumaki yet. Also, this series is just so good!! I really love it.
Profile Image for Carissa (Regency Woman).
283 reviews60 followers
March 20, 2022
Vol 12 is where Rei finally begins confronting certain truths in his life, things he has believed for so long that they're ingrained in him, but are not necessarily representative of the truth. Let's be real for a minute. Rei isn't really a good guy. He's a spoiled, rebellious teenager who thinks he can get away with anything and mopes and broods and sulks when he finds out that he can't. There isn't much to like about him, especially when we see his father differently than he does.

But that's the point. We're supposed to see this weird dichotomy that doesn't line up. The truth about Rei's childhood, about his twin brother Sei, all of it starts to come to light. The readers begin to get an idea of what's actually happened, and now we can fully support the flickers of memory that Rei starts having, memories that are different from he's always believed and are scary. But also present his father in a different, much more accurate, nicer light that matches up with what the reader thinks his father is like.

Rei is changing, finally, and for the better. I wouldn't have been like Kira and stuck it out with this rebellious brat for so long. So I'm glad she isn't like me. I'm glad she's her because her presence continues to move Rei's story forward in positive ways.

This is a great volume, truly. We've seen a lot of growth from Kira in the past several volumes, but Vol 12 is where I really start to see that character growth and maturity from Rei that I've been hoping for.

On to Vol 13, nearing the end!
Profile Image for Chelsea.
2,095 reviews62 followers
December 5, 2022
Ehhhhhh.
This doesn't have much sustence, and with only a few volumes left I'm not sure why they chose to put so many reveals and exposition. It's just too much for this late in the series and lost it's impact
Profile Image for Katie❄️.
1,779 reviews
July 21, 2022
WOW. So much of Rei's life he remembers is a lie. So much he doesn't know yet. I really hope he doesn't give up his dream of racing. He can always fall back on business. It's always good to have two plans.
Profile Image for Shani.
336 reviews28 followers
December 5, 2020
Reread- more secrets revealed! things are starting to come together
Profile Image for Kimberly.
1,144 reviews40 followers
September 19, 2019
Rei & Kiara move into Rei's family home with his father. Rei shows Kiara around and she sees Sei's room.

Later that night when she cant sleep she asked to go to Sei's room because the smell of oil paints calms her. While she goes there, Rei goes to his mother's room. What will they discover while in those rooms.
Profile Image for Pflanzis.
355 reviews10 followers
March 27, 2022
Langsam wird es schwierig Bewertungen zu schreiben, ohne zu spoilern... In diesem Band erfahren wir viel über Reis Vergangenheit und seine Familie. Beim ersten Lesen wurde ich hier ziemlich überrascht.
Profile Image for Penélope Albornoz.
310 reviews4 followers
March 31, 2024
¡Buenísimo!
Un tomo con muchos descubrimientos del traumático pasado de Rei.
Profile Image for ♡︎.
662 reviews3 followers
December 28, 2024
“it’s love, love” THE PAIN IS NEVERENDING
Profile Image for Jessica-Robyn.
620 reviews44 followers
July 11, 2014
Well, wowie. How does this writer come up with this stuff?

The Sei plot line has returned and is it something to *gasp* about! I feel mildly out of breath. I mean, I completely agreed with Kira earlier on in the story when she said that Sei was a wimp for abandoning Rei and causing him so much pain but then, then...

The drama! *faints*

You can see my overall review of the complete series (spoiler free I promise) on my blog Reading Robyn
Profile Image for Starbubbles.
1,628 reviews127 followers
June 12, 2012
When I read this one, I was reminded of the movie The Bad Seed. That, and the two theories of nature vs nurture for how a person's character developments. Mental illness can stem from both, but I was just stunned by how much was running in the family. That's what brings me back to the movie and the fear and constant surveillance of oneself to look for the warning signs of the same disease.
Profile Image for Brianna Jo♡.
123 reviews49 followers
September 10, 2021
We found out a lot in this volume. One of the most telling and most entertaining. I think it was my favorite yet. We learn more about Rei and Sei's father, their mother, their upbringing--Kira even finds Sei's suicide note and it is more than telling; it's devasting. Apparently, Sei is more like Masao than we previously thought. And Rei's mother's actions were questionable (to say the least) and there's something suspicious about Rei's memories. Trauma is like that, sometimes. Traumatized people are known to black some memories out. But they're flooding back. Turns out, mental illness is genetic and is more than that, it's a self-fulfilling prophecy in these genes.

I'm so excited to find out what's going to happen next. Is this what people feel like watching telenovelas and soap operas?? Jeez (ง ื▿ ื)ว。・゚・
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Harumichi Mizuki.
2,430 reviews73 followers
February 26, 2024
Ayah Rei ternyata lelaki yang memuji lukisan potret Kira di pameran. Dia nggak seburuk yang diceritakan Rei. Meski Rei bukan anak kandungnya, dia benar-benar serius memikirkan masa depan anak itu. Dia bahkan mau menanggung biaya pendidikan Kira dan mempersilakan dua anak ini tinggal di rumahnya.

Surprise, surprise, Rei ternyata anak dari adik ayahnya. Huwah! Di kamar Sei, Kira tak sengaja menemukan suicide note Sei. Dan dia terkejut karena wajah asli Sei tidak selembut yang dikira orang-orang.
Profile Image for Cassandra.
2,512 reviews21 followers
November 21, 2025
New trauma has entered the chat... what was that letter?? I like the sweet moments and I don't hate his dad. I think Rei can't deal with somethings and his father has really not held anything against him (at least that we are shown). And that memory of his mom... what was that too??? Oh and the adoption discussion.

Rei is down bad, I do feel like we have lost the racing and art story lines to a certain degree.
Profile Image for d★.
331 reviews14 followers
January 15, 2022
rei y kira ahora viven en la casa del padre de rei y se revelaron muchas cosas; lo más importante siendo que kira encontró la carta de s******** de sei y que rei empezó a recordar(? algunas cosas de su pasado que tienen que ver con su madre y su “padre”
Profile Image for Sassy Sarah Reads.
2,334 reviews306 followers
January 20, 2022
3 stars. These volumes are so dramatic. I will say that overall volumes 12-15 have a more cohesive plot and are much stronger in terms of storytelling compared to the earlier volumes.
Profile Image for Kaylee Pelletier.
54 reviews5 followers
May 1, 2023
At this point, my reading goal will mostly be Manga but next year will be more chapter books for sure
Profile Image for Jess.
820 reviews41 followers
December 2, 2023
Damn.. the past (truth) is being revealed and I cannot stop reading.
Profile Image for cc.
1,042 reviews38 followers
February 3, 2024
Everyone Rei knows is a sociopath. I wouldn’t even be surprised if Kira went all stabby stab stab at this point.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 59 reviews

Can't find what you're looking for?

Get help and learn more about the design.