MÄR


 * Genre: Comedy, Romance
 * Author: Nobuyuki Anzai
 * Publisher: Shogakukan
 * Other Publishers: VIZ Media, Egmont Manga & Anime, Editorial Ivrea, Elex Media Komputindo, Komik Remaja, Tora Aman
 * Demographic: Shōnen
 * Magazine: Shōnen Sunday
 * First: May 2003
 * Last: July 2006
 * Volumes: 15

MÄR (メル), which stands for "Märchen Awakens Romance", is a manga series created by mangaka Nobuyuki Anzai. The television anime based on the series is titled MÄR -MÄR Heaven- (MÄR -メルヘヴン-) and was originally broadcast in Japan on the TXN station.

MÄR is characterised by fairy tale motifs running throughout the series, Märchen being itself the German word for "fairy tale". VIZ Media has acquired the North American rights to both the MÄR manga and anime and aired a dubbed version of the series, first on Toonami Jetstream, an online service from Cartoon Network, and then on the network itself, as part of the Toonami programming block. In June, Canadian youth network YTV broadcasted MÄR @ 7.00p.m., as part of the Bionix Friday anime programming block.

A sequel to MÄR, entitled MÄR Omega, was announced in September 2006. However, it is not being written and illustrated by Nobuyuki Anzai, but by Kouichiro Hoshino.

Status
As of 2006, the manga's first part ended in 161 chapters.

The series is published in Japan by Shogakukan, in North America in English by VIZ Media, in France in French by Kana, in Spain in Spanish by Ivrea, in Singapore in English and Simplified Chinese by Chuang Yi,and in Indonesia by Elex Media Komputindo. MÄR has been announced as a part of Cartoon Network's new online broadband service called Toonami Jetstream. It has aired on Jetstream since July 14, 2006 and aired Saturday nights on Toonami, having premiered December 23 at 10:30 western and was aired January 16, 2006 on Cartoon Network in Australia at 6:00pm. Canadian network YTV will now start airing it starting June 1, 2007 at 7:00pm in the Friday anime block, Bionix.

When the show aired on Toonami, however, the order of shows originally was not in sequential order. The first episode was aired, then another episode that was not the second followed. On January 13 2007 Episode 7, Awaken: Meet the other Ed, was aired. The next listing on the Cartoon Network website was listed as Episode 14. The same was happening with Prince of Tennis, which started at the same time, causing permanent damage to the ratings of both shows. On February 24, Prince of Tennis and MÄR changed timeslots. MÄR moved to 10:00, and both shows started over and went in order until June 9 when both shows were removed from the Toonami block.

Plot
The story follows Ginta Toramizu, a hyper and easily excitable boy who has always dreamed of a fantasy world, and has been transported to one, the world of MÄR-Heaven, by an extremely powerful Dimension ÄRM known as "Gate Keeper Clown." It was used in desperation by the world of MÄR-Heaven, which is in a period of oppression and instability caused by the mysterious reappearance of the Chess Piece Army. The "Gate Keeper Clown" goes as far as to pluck the surprised and shocked Ginta out of his classroom during a fairly typical day of school, where, being a dreamer, he is constantly heckled by his classmates for his lack of physical prowess, except for his childhood friend Koyuki who encourages him to tell her about the dreams.

Upon appearing in MÄR-Heaven, his physical weakness is replaced with physical strength as well as incredible stamina and endurance. The explanation given was that the gravity was lower in MÄR-Heaven, thereby bestowing relative strength and endurance on Ginta. However, no explanation was given for his improved eyesight. Ginta, who on Earth was a typical video game geek and underachieving student with a drunkard chain-smoking writer for a mother, finds his wildest dreams come true by discovering a world beyond his own where he can be someone else.

Ginta quickly meets the mysterious witch Dorothy, who introduces him to the powerful magical accessories called "ÄRM" (pronounced air-um).

Dorothy plans to obtain the mysterious ÄRM Babbo, and brings Ginta along. Babbo is extremely special for an ÄRM: he can be shaped into different forms with the use of imagination and possesses a will of his own. However, he has lost all his memory, and considers himself a "gentleman". After saving Dorothy from Babbo's guardian, Ginta becomes the new owner of Babbo, though at first they do not get along.

He continues on a journey of discovery, revelling in this new world, but also finds that he misses the real world. Eventually Ginta resolves to find a way to reach home while enjoying as much of MÄR as he can along the way. However, it is not long before Ginta finds out that the world of MÄR-Heaven is not as peaceful as it seems, as he is attacked by thieves wishing to steal Babbo (who is wanted by the Chess Pieces Army). He soon meets Alviss, the person who brought him to MÄR-Heaven using the Gate Keeper Clown, and acknowledges the upcoming war with the Chess Piece Army. The army aims to destroy the peace of MÄR-Heaven. He also realised that his dad had been a hero in MAR heaven. Then found out that his dad died in MAR heaven in a match with Phantom.

Many more secrets and characters come to light, especially that of the epic MÄR-Heaven War six years ago, in which a mysterious man called Danna (lit. 'Boss' in Japanese, and in the Toonami Jetstream Anime) from Ginta's world defeated the champion knight of the Chess Piece Army, Phantom (the former owner of Babbo), ending the first MÄR-Heaven War. However, he gave his life in the process. As time passes, the story reveals that Phantom has been resurrected and wants to start another reign of terror over the world, with the help of the evil queen of Lestava.

Team MÄR
(メル, Meru)

The main protagonists of the series who seek to defeat the Chess Pieces. They are a ragtag team of seven humans and a talking ÄRM named Babbo.

Chess Pieces
The main villains of the series, an army of ÄRM users. Their military ranks are named after the pieces used in a game of chess.

Other characters
Other characters include various civilians met along the course of the story.

Anime
The anime of MAR is an oddity amongst most anime in that it continued long after the manga had ended. Rather than follow what was originally set by the author, the anime expanded upon it adding additional battles in the climax of the story and a different (though somewhat similar) ending. The anime was licensed by Viz Media and aired on Cartoon Network's online broadband service Toonami Jetstream and for a limited time on their television programming block Toonami, until they stopped airing it for unknown reasons.

Reception
IGN gave MÄR a mostly negative review, stating that, while the series isn't horrible, it is "like every other shōnen fighting manga you've exposed yourself to", and "is only for the absolute diehard shōnen fighting otaku".

English

 * VIZ Media link.
 * MÄR Heaven JOURNEY an Italian/English fansite.
 * MÄR at TV.com
 * Marpedia
 * MÄR at the Anime News Network.
 * MÄR FANTASY an Brazilian fansite.

Japanese

 * MÄR Heaven
 * TV Tokyo's Official site
 * Japanese episode list