Starline Reviews

War-God Mars (or commonly known as Mars) is a Taiwanese drama starring Vic Zhou (Ling/Sheng) and Barbie Xu (Qi Luo). It was based on the Japanese shoujo manga, Mars, by Fuyumi Soryo and it also won the Favorite Drama of the Year Golden Bell Award in 2005.

Main Cast:

Vic Zhou as Chen Ling & Sheng
Barbie Xu as Han Qi Luo
Xiu Jie Kai as Da Ye
Megan Lai as Qing Mei
An Jun Can as Tong Dao
Xiao Xiao as Sha Zhi

Synopsis: A shy artistic girl, Qi Luo, is approached by a the care-free and play-boy Chen Ling, who asked Qi Luo for directions to a hospital. In a split-second Ling forgets what the hospital name was.

Hurriedly Qi Luo draws a map for him, unknowing that she was drawing on the back of one her drawings. Ling thanked her but she ran off before she could hear him, he then noticed the picture and was touched.

The next time they had seen each other, Ling told her about the picture but Qi Luo ignored him and said he could keep the picture. Ling was very touched by the picture and that drew him closer and closer towards Qi Luo.

But his past comes back to haunt him when a new student arrives as well as Qi Luo’s past comes back. Feelings will collide when you have a jealous ex come to stand up and fight for Ling against Qi Luo and a known admirer confesses his feelings to Qi Luo.

(credit: http://www.crunchyroll.com/group/CRSeries_-_Zhan_Shen_-_MARS)

Review: Hands down, this is my favorite Taiwanese drama. Hands down. No question. Great story line, great acting. Great all around. For those who haven’t seen it, I would definitely recommend this drama. However, this is, what I call, a “heavy” drama. It is “heavy” in that it deals with many major issues. Like rape, suicide, mental illness, and others. But, to me, this drama doesn’t over excentuate these and sugar coat it. You can see right from the beginning the insecurities of Qi Luo and Ling, it’s not something that just happens. And for this you need actors that are on top of it. They have to feel what the character is feeling, and etc.

This drama is kinda long; 21 episodes, but it really doesn’t matter. Each episode is great to watch. I loved it and the chemistry between Barbie Xu and Vic Zhou was great. Maybe it’s because at the time they did really like each other and a little while after filming they were dating.

Well I don’t have much else to say other than this drama is excellent. Different from the normal Taiwanese drama. Definitely worth it to watch. So, here are the links and happy watching! My YouTube playlist is not complete. It is missing episodes 6-10 with English subtitles. So, if someone knows where those videos are on YouTube, please email me about them. Thanks in advance.

YouTube-http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=AC90ED4B0EAC7BC8
Crunchyroll-http://www.crunchyroll.com/group/CRSeries_-_Zhan_Shen_-_MARS
aznV.TV-http://aznv.tv/en/drama/p.iD-MTc0/