It follows the teenage romance between Kira Aso, an introverted artist, and Rei Kashino, a troubled playboy who is a professional motorcycle racer.

The main series was very well received by critics, who praised its sensitive coverage of a wide range of intense topics, and its excellent romance.

They draw on their love for each other to heal the wounds the world has left on them; Rei, the scars from his twin's suicide for which he blames himself, and Kira, her hatred of men due to her stepfather having raped her when she was in middle school.

[22] In 2004, a twenty-one episode Taiwanese drama based on the manga series was broadcast on Chinese Television System starring Vic Zhou and Barbie Hsu.

It was voted Favorite Drama of the Year at the 40th Annual 2005 Golden Bell Awards, and was the highest rated program in 2005 when it aired on the Philippine network QTV.

Japanese: MARS〜ただ、君を愛してる〜 ) which premiered in January, starring Taisuke Fujigaya as Rei Kashino and Masataka Kubota as Makio Kirishima.

[29] Reviewing the fourth volume to the series for Library Journal, Steve Raiteri considered Soryo's artwork "clean" and felt it did an expert job in "[portraying] Shiori's desperation, Kira's sadness and uncertainty, and Rei's living-in-the-moment changeability".

Rating it a 10 out of 10, he considered its strong points to be its "delicate and detailed" artwork and, most importantly, its "normality, stating that it "smacks of a tragedy waiting to happen, and there are times even in this first volume that things start to get serious...but its done so well, and in such an understated manner that its utterly absorbing and keeps your attention.

Calling it a "well-written, tightly plotted romance" that successfully deals with range of "powerful issues" that avoids being "preachy or patronizing", he considered Soryo's artwork to be "clear and attractive".

[3] Manga Life's Park Cooper praised the original Mars, noting that they "love[d] the characters, the story, and the tension that lies within the situations", but did not recommend doing more than browsing Horse With No Name, finding it to be less impressive and unlikely to appeal even to fans of the main series.

He felt the titular story, which tells how Kira and Tatsuya became friends, to be "disappointing" and did not find it to be up to the same standard as the main series.