The bad boy with blood on his hands meets the girl who draws wings on everything.
Season 1 • Episode 10
LatestThe story revolves around Kira and Rei, two high school students. Kira is an extremely introverted artist, and Rei is an outgoing playboy with a frightening violent side. The two start a friendship and eventually a romance after Rei sees a drawing that Kira drew on the back of a map she gave him. However, both Kira and Rei are hiding troubled pasts, and through their relationship they confront their past demons. Masao, a student at Kira and Rei's school, has a connection to Rei's violent past. He enters Kira and Rei's lives to try to force Rei to return to the person he used to be.
Acting
Kubota's switch from charming to terrifying is genuinely unsettling.
Production
The motorcycle cinematography gives every ride mythic weight.
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
MARS adapts a 1996 manga by Fuyumi Soryo, and the 2016 drama preserves its retro shoujo DNA—the toxic romance tropes that felt aspirational to teen girls in the 90s now read as psychological horror to modern audiences.
The casting of Masataka Kubota was deliberate—he'd built his career on sympathetic wounded boys, making Rei's capacity for violence land harder because viewers instinctively trust his face.
JP
