MAR is a 102 episode Shonen anime.
The story follows Ginta, a kind of geeky kid with glasses, who constantly dreams about a fantasy world called MAR: Heaven. Well, in the middle of class one day, Ginta gets sucked into the aforementioned fantasy world :D
Upon arriving in MAR: Heaven, Ginta suddenly gains super-strength and no longer needs his glasses. He meets a witch named Dorothy and after a little adventure (no spoilers!) he gains a special ARM (pronounced air-um--a special accessory that is imbued with magic power) named Babbo (he's special because he can talk and has a will of his own).
MAR: Heaven is in danger. There is a group, called the Chess Pieces, who are trying to take over MAR: Heaven. Ginta travels with Babbo and his goal is to defeat the Chess Pieces. This is done tournament-style (Mortal Kombat anyone???). Ginta gains many allies and enemies along the way.
I really love this show. I watched it when it came on Toonami but I finished it my Freshman year of college. Honestly the whole time I was watching it in 2010 I was like "dude...I feel like Alviss sounds like Sasuke from Naruto..." Lo and behold, he's played by Yuri Lowenthall!
But moving on, I loved the idea of the bad guy's rank being based on Chess Pieces...that's actually how I learned what the pieces on a chess board were (shhhh...don't tell anyone that!).
I didn't like Ian at first but by the end he was one of my favorite characters and I love Alan's aversion to cats! There were just so many awesome characters!
AND: just to list a few big names, Spike Spencer plays Ginta, Wendee Lee plays Dorothy, Dave Wittenberg plays Kannochi, and Vic Mignogna Plays Alibaba.
There are so many fairy tale references in this show, it's fun to pick them all out! To name just a couple obvious ones from the list above: Dorothy & Toto from The Wizard of Oz, Alibaba from Alibaba and the Forty Thieves, and Alviss' companion fairy, Belle from Peter Pan.
Such a fun show! So, time for art!
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| Jack, Dorothy, Snow, Ginta, Babbo, Alviss (Belle above Alviss' shoulder), Nanashi, Alan, and Edward (the dog) |
The English ending for MAR is one of my favorites of all time! "GENTLEMAN-I COMMAND YOU!" & "SIC'EM TOTO!" are the best lines EVER!
Time for pros and cons!
Pros:
- Great story
- Good art
- So many awesome characters
- Lots of great VAs
- Good ending (very important to me!)
- Great Eng. Ending
- ummm...well. The only con I can think of is the typical: Those doggone annoying characters that I really don't like...and there were a number of them...Phantom, Halloween, Candace, Peta, Chimera...basically the whole Knight Class!
~Kei
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