Mars (2004)

I was looking for a good Taiwanese drama to watch and decided to watch this since the reviews for it were good and the summary sounded pretty interesting...

Story- It is very dark. Many things bad things happen to the couple in which they must over come it to reach thier happy ending. I loved the romance in this. Although the obstacles they had to face were a bit too many in my opnion. It got tiring after a while. I would have also enjoyed it more if the episodes were cut short by just a little. Loved the complete ending.

Acting/Cast- The actors did a very good job of playing thier characters. Although, I have seen better acting. The leads had an amazing chemistry that made me want to keep watching to see how thier relationship develops. Amazing character development for Vic Zhou's character. He changed from this womanizer who is able to love wholeheartedly his opposite and his love for her is so lovely to see.

Music- Very good OST but I didnt have an interest of listening to it outside of the show.

Rewatch- This was just too tiring at times so while I would like to see this again it would be a while.

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STORY:

An old but FANTASTIC drama. Based on a Japanese manga, Mars is honestly one of the best dramas ever adapted in that it's ridiculously different from the others of its time. It was not cutesy and adorable like many other "idol" dramas of its time, but deep and emotional, with each character having their own set of difficulties that they had to overcome. It was dark and angsty and one that you'll never forget, but it still had those heartwarming moments between the characters where you saw love, friendship, and so on overcoming the darkness in their lives. Well paced from the get go, answering the questions you have and also showing a steady and realistic portrayal of relationships between the characters.

ACTING:

Barbie and Vic were amazing, of course. From their first drama together, Meteor Garden, you could already feel the crazy sparks between the two. Come time for Mars, their chemistry was ridiculously real and you could see how well they worked together. They were so capable of bringing together two polar opposite characters and let the audience see why they ended up falling for one another. While you could tell from the beginning they would end up together, you still had that sense that they truly trusted and cared for each other before the romance began.

REWATCH:

I've definitely seen it at least 3-4 times now, but just now writing a review since I just rewatched it for the first time in a while. Still tugs at the heart strings in all the right ways.

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When I had found out that there was a drama created from the MARS manga I read back in middle school, I instantly put it on the top of my list. It was perfectly timing really - I was thinking how much I wanted to reread MARS with a completely different perspective as I had first read it back in middle school around 2006. I remembered that it had some dark elements which is something I enjoyed a lot, and I was curious to see if I would love the story and characters around 13 years later.

This drama was super nostalgic for me. I didn't realize it had came out in 2004 and the filming reminded me of an old telenovella I used to watch with my grandma growing up. Almost like it was shot like a reality television show. I honestly remembered bits and pieces of the story line - I remembered that they both had their own tragedies, but I only remembered Qi Luo's (Kira) and not Ling's (Rei). But as I was watching, the story-line came back to me as I was yelling at the tv for the characters to watch out. I am glad that I decided to go with the Taiwanese drama route, and might watch the Japanese one in the future as it is much shorter than this one.

I loved this drama cause it was super nostalgic as I believe it followed the manga well, but also believe that it added it's own flare. I literally spent a whole day binge watching this because even though I remember how it ended and how certain situations were going to play out, I enjoyed the ride. I thought Qi Luo's transformation was a little quick and that I felt sorry for her because she was the only one who was supporting Ling during all his tragedy, but I enjoyed the romance between the two. I don't remember much from the manga, so I am not sure how it was written, but I did feel like in the beginning, their relationship was a little toxic when she was helping him with his first few tragedies. It was sweet that she wanted to support him fully and completely, but it took him until her tragedy for him to realize that there are other people in this world that are suffering, and like him, she had no one to help her through it. But also, unlike him, even though she had her family around who should have helped her, they were the people causing the pain. Both different tragedies - him dealing with internal struggle that he himself created, while her pain was created by people who are supposed to be taking care of her.

The theme and their love blossomed from supporting each other through their struggles. How if they didn't meet or have one another, would would have lost to their tragedies. It was really heartwarming to see them at the end as completely different people. Qi Luo being the introvert who hated/was afraid of everyone who transformed into a loving and supportive girlfriend, friend, and daughter and Ling being a trouble-making playboy to a protective and selfless boyfriend, friend, and son.

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Rewatching For a 100th Time!

This drama is old . But it is GOLD!
Of course the graphic quality, the clothes etc may seem dated but it is a jewel.
It touches to your heart in a very exquisite way.. You feel the pain of the actors. And you encourage them, you want them to heal out from their past experiences.
Sometimes a drama can teach you a lot . This is one of them..

Story:
The story is very unique. It may sound a little cliche with traumatic past experiences but it is unique . It touches mental ilnesses and how we treat them. One or two elements were a little bit too overly dramatic but the story and how it unfolds was really good. Romance wise it is was also fantastic.. Both the lead couple and also side couple were very good..

Acting:
Amazing! you can feel all the emotions. Barbie has done a fantastic job. I sometimes watch it just for her.
Vic Zhou is really charismatic and delivers the profile reaallly good.
Other characters also had good acting skills.

OST:
I listen the opening song still after 14 years!

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Mature in some ways, overdramatic in others

Trigger Warning: Suicide, Rape

This is a drama that simultaneously feels ahead of its time and VERY of its time.

The way it handles sexual assault, PTSD, and grief is overall very mature, and I thought that the more raw and unedited type of directing and the more down-to-earth dialogue and acting really helped. The humor is subtle but there. The good-girl-bad-boy trope is present, but doesn't feel over-the-top, and each of our main characters feel like they've each carved out their little worlds before we get to watch them collide.

The chemistry is quite good as well, and I did find our leads really cute. The banter is fun — even though the female lead is shy and quiet, she and the male lead have a very good back-and-forth when its just the two of them, and we get to see how he gets her to come out of her shell.

The friendships are really great to see too, and that is such a crazy thing for me to say considering the intense way Qing Mei bullied our FL at the start. But once we get past that, I really liked her character and the way she supported the main lead. With that being said, however, this is definitely a drama that focuses only on the two main leads, so her character's personality and storyline isn't developed much beyond that.

Those are all the ways in which the drama felt ahead of its time.

Now, the way it feels exactly of its time (2004) are the subplots and just how dramatic they get. I enjoyed a few of them, like the sociopath/psychopath character who wanted to mold Chen Ling into the same as him, but the drama lost me a little bit when it went into his backstory. There's his twin's suicide, his mother's death, the dangers of motorcycle racing, the estrangement from his father, who is actually a wealthy chairman of a big corporation. That last reveal of him being a secret chaebol was the worst one for me because it's just so 2004 and made the drama seem a lot less grounded than it previously was. Overall, however, having so much backstory for him just made it feel a little unfocused.

The way the female lead's r*pist came back and everything with him blew up into stalking and a fistfight...I know this does happen in real life, unfortunately, but for the purposes of this show I wish it had stayed in the backstory instead of being blown up into something so big, which was then tied into the storyline of the ML returning to his rich family.

I know this is based off a manga and I'll probably read that at some point because I do think it's an interesting story, but I can already tell that I'll enjoy the earlier chapters more than the later ones, which is what I felt about the show.

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MARS sets the bar for what a good drama is

WOW! I think MARS really sets the bar of what is considered a good drama. I'm not entirely sure what I was expecting from MARS before going into it but I must say that it has blown me away. I was surprised at how amazing this drama was, especially being from 2004. I think I generally have a little bit if bias towards any drama in generally made before 2010, especially ones from Taiwan because they generally don't match up to the overall quality of Chinese or Korean dramas. I think what really sets this drama apart from so many others is that is isn't cheesy, its not too far-fetched, it feels very real and I think it speaks to the human experience.
MARS is a poignant love story about two college kids who try to move pasts their own past sufferings and trauma together. It tackles subjects like mental illness, suicide, and rape. I have never seen or heard of another drama that portrays those dark subjects in such a skillful and respectfully done way. I love that there are some minor love triangles going on they are NEVER the main focus of the overarching story-line, nor are they as malicious as other dramas. Also, in many dramas, I feel there is never any character growth, but wow I think every single character has some sort of major character development/ growth.
I think as well, that the actors did such an amazing job. Never did I feel like I was watching someone acting, it all felt real, I also attribute this to the pacing of the story. Hsu Barbie, Chou Vic especially did amazing jobs portraying such deep and complex characters.
Overall, I think this drama has and will continue to age well. The topics in this MARS will always be relevant and relatable to everyone in one way or another. I think there is a little bit of something for everyone to be able to relate to in this drama.

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Don't skip this drama

There's not much that hasn't been said in the other reviews that I can say.

This drama is worth watching. I'm glad I didn't skip it because it's from 2004. Writing this review in 2020 I'm so used to new dramas, HD, amazing visuals and audio quality and this drama is old. The quality is not the best, the sound is sometimes lost to background noise, but the story is incredible.

The growth of the 2 characters as they face their separate traumas together is a universal story of love. I found myself unable to stop watching episode after episode, needing to know what was going to happen next.

Please don't miss it.

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This drama is about trauma and a lot of it.

This drama had me hooked from the very first episode. I loved the leads in the first episode and I understood the FL.

The FL had very low expectations of men in general after all her traumatic experiences. It was obvious what she went through after just watching her reaction to people, especially men in general and it's surprising that no one else clocked why she became the way she was. It was so surprising how defensive the ML was of the FL after seeing her the second time and how quickly he clocked what was going on. I loved how defensive he was of her, despite being the playboy and womaniser (who didn't really respect woman) he was introduced as, he was the nicest and sweetest person ever to the FL. He was a good guy in general who just liked to play dumb.

I also loved the FL. Started this drama for Barbie Hsu after watching her on Summer's Desire and I loved her character here. Though she was younger, her acting was still really good here. You could really see the FL's trauma through her eyes.

My favourite thing about this drama was all the friendships. The second leads, as any typical second leads, were in love with the main leads at the beginning. The SML was the ML's best friend and the SFL was someone the ML would sometimes hook up with. The SFL, despite first bullying the FL because of her relationship with the ML, she almost immediately became best friends with the FL. No one shipped the main leads together more than the second leads, and that, I think, is the best type of second lead.

The main leads relationship also remained consistent. There was no break up (not one I considered to be a real one at least). And they always stuck by each other through all their drama. Nothing could stop them being together, not even family. I was surprised by how there was no family drama breaking up the main leads.

(Sort of a spoiler) What I found really sad and kinda funny was the fact that the FL's personality is exactly like that of what people perceived the ML's late twin brother to be like. They even shared the same lines. It was as if the ML loved his brother so much he ended up with a girl that was exactly like him.

This show is mainly about trauma and a lot of misunderstandings at least in the ML's part. Had there not been any misunderstandings of the ML's past, he wouldn't have had any of the trauma he had in the present and I don't think his brother would have done what he did.

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I was able to finish watching this just this weekend and it's a breath of fresh air from all of the romcom and feel good dramas out there.

This series was able to tackle mental health, suicide, sexual harassment and bullying in a serious way.
It also tells how someone suffering from these issues can redeem and love themselves even if the world is against them.

Also, the male lead is so protective of the female lead but no stalking is involved (where it is very common on current dramas). He will run as fast as he can to protect her and you will definitely feel his love for her.

It's a must watch if you are looking for such genre on a drama.
There is no HD copy of this since this is way back 2004.

OST and background music are all great.

P.S Barbie Hsu and Vic Zhou were real-life couple during this series.

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