MAR a Modern Fairy Tale

Many anime shows have had interesting plot lines, but none compare to the strange and fascinating story of MAR. MAR stands for Marchen Awakens Romance, and has a unique fairy tale theme within the series. Literally the term Marchen is German for fairy tale so you can see the underlying tones of the series here. The world of MAR is beautiful and mysterious, and of course dangerous as well. This anime is a must see for anyone who is a fan of good storyline, and humorous and unique characters.

The story starts out in Japan following a boy name Ginta. He's a nerd, who's not that great in school, has no social life, and spends hours reading comics and playing video games. His only real friend is a young girl by the name of Koyuki, she and Ginta are the same age and she always sticks up for her friend. Ginta has dreams he tells Koyuki about, in these dreams Ginta is a powerful warrior in a strange land, always trying to rescue a princess and fighting powerful creatures, Ginta leaves out the fact that the princess in his dream is Koyuki.

Ginta believes that his dreams are real, and Koyuki is the only other person that believes him. One day during class a door or gateway appears and Ginta is invited to step through into another world. Ginta relishes the opportunity and begins his journey. Koyuki tries to follow but Ginta stops her and promises to tell her about his amazing adventures once he returns. Once stepping through the door Ginta ends in the land of MAR where his strength, speed and even vision are greatly increased.

As we learn more and more about the story we find a war is being waged in this land between the people of MAR and a group known as the "Chess Pieces". This group consist of men, women, and other creatures that have been given special weapons to fight with known as Arms (pronounced Airms) Arms are simple pieces of jewelry or trinkets that have amazing powers. Some can be used as simple tools, such as a shovel Arms, when activated it turns into a shovel but there are also powerful arms that have amazing abilities. Nature Arms for instance can be used to unleash powerful elemental attacks and guardian Arms can be used to summon creatures to protect and fight for the user.

The story progresses slowly and can be very boring at times. You can miss three or four episodes in the beginning and not really miss many of the important themes in the plot, but once the storyline gets moving there's no stopping it. Many characters join Ginta on his mission to fight the Chess Pieces. Dorothy is a witch who accompanies the team, Babbo is an Arm that talks to Ginta and obeys his commands (sometimes), Jack is a farmer turned hero, Alviss the cross guard, and Princess Snow. Snow is the princess from Ginta's dreams back in our world and she looks just like Koyuki, she even sounds like her.

The characters in this show are introduced quickly and each have their own story and lives that effect the outcome of the team. There are so many characters that you may get lost in each story, but to the contrary the show does an amazing job of keeping things organized. The fact that seven different people can be the shows focus, as well as many of the important Chess Pieces, is an accomplishment and adds a rich tone to the story that many animes lack. The plot is deep, and the battles are intense, proving that MAR is a great anime.

The show aired on a cartoon network run website known as Toonami Jetstream and has since been bumped into the networks Saturday night lineup of shows. To begin with the series was running out of order, but only to peak the interest of the public, and it worked. MAR now airs at 10pm EST on Cartoon Network and the series just started over with episode one. I suggest giving this show a chance, you may find it's the kind of escape from reality you need.