Mars v.2 by Fuyumi Soryo - 208 pages

Mars v.2 by Fuyumi Soryo -  208 pages

Kira’s fellow art student, Kirosawa, steals her mother-and-child drawing, and uses it as the basis for an award-winning painting.  Rei confronts Kirosawa in a senior classroom, but the thief will neither confess nor give up the drawing.  Rei is suspended for the altercation and also attacked by a group of vengeful seniors defending their turf, but he turns the tables on them.  Kira visits Rei during his suspension, and when they go on a date, they learn they’ve both lost parents, and Kira learns for the first time about Rei’s twin brother, Sei.  When they witness a man jumping from a roof, Rei suffers an attack, and Kira has to revive Rei in a gripping, powerful scene.  Kirosawa gives Kira’s drawing back, but under the pressure of expectations to be a great artist, throws himself from the school’s roof.  We begin to learn what became of Rei’s twin, and what plagues him as a result.  Great and at times powerful storytelling with touches of humor to punctuate action.