MARS

I finally watched MARS (戰神) and I finished it last night. :) It's a Taiwanese drama based on a Japanese manga of the same name consisting of 21 episodes that touches upon several 'sensitive topics' - but it's not all that graphic (it just gives you enough), then again I like graphic things. It stars Barbie Hsu, Vic Zhou, Megan Lai, Xiu Jie Kai, and An Jun Can. The summary is as follows:

A shy artistic girl, Qi Luo (Barbie Xu), is approached by a the care-free and play-boy Chen Ling (Vic Zhou), 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 an known admirer confesses his feelings to Qi Luo.

I have to say that the series was pretty good - the acting, the topics - all of it. Of course there's one item that I thought would only happen in dramas (spoiler alert here): there would of course be a girl who was soooo in love with Chen Ling and do several horrible things to deter Qi Luo from him (like smashing her hand with a rock) but then they almost immediately become best friends. (end spoiler alert) O_o Anywho... the following topics are mentioned and portrayed in this drama: sexual harrassment, murder, suicide, and a setting that reappears includes a psychiatric hospital.

There are some moments that could be categorized as under "scary" but it's only a handful of times due to some psychological problems addressed, the rest is rather sweet and cute and the ending is sort of fitting. It also touches upon the topic of love (unsurprisingly): loving too much, loving too little, needing love... All I can say is that I loved this. It sort of made me think, like with Death Note, and I like that. And again, like Death Note, I ended up deciding both sides had a point. -shakes head- This is why I can never choose, haha...

You can watch it here.