Mars Legion

Unno JūzaApr 2025

3.5

Word count: 181K words
Chapters: 74

Summary

Morro's Comet is about to strike Earth! Meanwhile, Martian lifeforms are assembling a legion to plunder resources and invade Earth! Young Chiji Toanaga is accidentally caught up in the affair, carried aboard a Martian spacecraft by the strange man Maruki, and later endures a series of hair-raising incidents in Ginza, Tokyo, landing him in the Metropolitan Police Department.

Teacher Nitta, trying to save Chiji, uncovers many secrets related to the Martians, including Dr. Arita's connection to them. As the story unfolds, nations of Earth build rockets to escape but are repeatedly blocked by the Martian Legion.

Under the control of a radio-wave helmet, Chiji becomes Maruki's "emotion teacher," while Detective Sasa unexpectedly boards the Martian spacecraft and begins a voyage through space. As the conflict between Earth and Mars escalates, can humanity withstand the Martian invasion? And how will they deal with Morro's Comet?

Editor's review

The Mars Corps layers two crises—a comet on a collision course with Earth and a Martian invasion—into a tense double countdown. Unno Jūza’s approach leans toward event-dense adventure narrative: the boy Tomonaga Senji is taken aboard a Mars-bound ship by the strange figure Maruki, has a harrowing experience in Ginza, Tokyo, and is even locked up in the Metropolitan Police Department, with clues constantly shifting between scenes so that it reads like a chain of crises detonating one after another. Teacher Nitta’s investigation into the Martians’ secrets and Dr. Arita’s connection to the Martians pull the personal adventure toward a larger web of conspiracy. The device of the radio-wave hat controlling Senji and making him a “teacher of emotions” is a delightfully bizarre piece of apparatus, adding a layer of manipulated tension to the character relationships. Detective Sasa’s accidental boarding of the Mars ship and his cosmic journey further expand the story’s space. The book is best read as a fast-paced early science fiction adventure; its focus is not scientific extrapolation but how crises escalate layer by layer, and how humanity flounders when faced with alien invasion and celestial impact.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Science fiction readers who enjoy alien invasion and doomsday crisis themes
Those who prefer event-dense adventure stories with rapid scene changes
Readers interested in the bizarre gadgetry of early Japanese science fiction
Readers looking for a light adventure in which a young protagonist is caught up in cosmic conflict

Not a good fit for

Hard science fiction readers seeking rigorous scientific worldbuilding and internal logical consistency
Readers with low tolerance for bizarre elements such as strange figures and mind control by radio-wave hat
Readers who prefer a single perspective and deep psychological portrayal of characters

Reading tips

Keeping the two crisis lines—the comet impact and the Mars Corps invasion—separate makes it easier to see how the tension compounds.
Pay attention to the line involving the radio-wave hat controlling Senji; it is both a bizarre device and a driver of changes in character relationships.
When scenes switch rapidly, don’t backtrack to fill in details—read straight through first, then revisit how the Tokyo and spaceship sections connect.
After reading, consider how early science fiction wrote alien invasion as a struggle over real-world international resources, not merely as fighting.

版权信息
作者的话
01 奇怪的传闻
02 漂浮的毒气
03 第二个谜团
04 谜团未解
05 火星生物
06 恶人丸木
07 黑暗与光明
08 老师与学生
09 天狗岩
10 异常现象
11 莫罗彗星
12 三个“猎物”
13 豪华汽车
14 可怕的日子
15 大江山课长
16 重大发现
17 意外的室内
18 死里逃生
19 怪力
20 秘密房间
21 师徒同心
22 怪物现身
23 国际广播
24 博士的愤怒
25 无法离去的脚步声
26 激烈的搏斗
27 大警告
28 山上的火
29 机器人
30 奇妙的提议
31 火星人
32 闯入者
33 大袭击
34 火星兵团
35 佐佐刑警
36 脱出
37 跳房子的孩子们
38 滚动的躯干
39 秘密揭晓之日
40 地底的声音
41 谜！谜！
42 厌恶人类的博士
43 寄生藻
44 时间紧迫
45 可怕的假设
46 彗星对策
47 皮特大尉
48 慈悲的老师
49 电波帽
50 联合脱逃队
51 博士的重大决心
52 矢岛天文台
53 气体手枪
54 危机逼近
55 突击队的冲锋
56 败战
57 空中飞艇
58 防护网
59 命中！又命中！
60 追击
61 火星之旅
62 可疑的影子
63 罗罗与露露
64 地球啊，再见了
65 两个月亮
66 吹箭
67 出征
68 狂妄的丸木
69 缠绕的触手
70 地底战车
71 硝烟之冈
72 大结局

FAQ

Between the Moro comet impact and the Mars Corps invasion, which is the main storyline?

The two lines run in parallel and intertwine. The Moro comet’s impending collision with Earth forms a background countdown crisis, while the Martian plan to form a corps and invade Earth to plunder resources drives the main conflict. After the boy Tomonaga Senji is caught up in events, his personal adventure gradually merges with these two crises; while reading, keep track of both lines as they advance.

What is the business of the radio-wave hat controlling Senji and making him a “teacher of emotions”?

Under the control of the radio-wave hat, Senji becomes the strange figure Maruki’s “teacher of emotions.” This is a bizarre setup that places the character in a controlled state and also changes the relationship between Senji and Maruki. It serves both as a crisis device in the adventure and as a driver of later events; its specific role needs to be understood as the plot unfolds in the reading.

Is this book suitable for readers encountering Unno Jūza for the first time?

Yes. The story enters through the experiences of the boy Tomonaga Senji, with dense events and rapid scene changes, and requires no prior knowledge of the author’s other works. Readers can enter the story by following Senji from being taken aboard the Mars ship to his harrowing experiences in Ginza, Tokyo. If you prefer rigorous scientific extrapolation, adjust your expectations and read it as an adventure narrative.

Comments

Find this book

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

Unno Jūza Author · Japanese · 1897–1949

Unno Jūza (1897–1949), whose real name was Sano Shōichi, was born in Tokushima, Japan. He graduated from Waseda University with a degree in electrical engineering and worked as an engineer at the Electrical Testing Laboratory of the Ministry of Communications. He made his debut in 1928 with The Electric Bath Murder Case and is regarded as the pioneer of Japanese science fiction and sci-fi mystery writing. His work spans science fiction, mystery and detective fiction, and otherworldly settings. Representative works include Captive and The Earth Thief, as well as the Hokamura Sōroku detective series, including Lost in the Chihaya Mansion, Human Ash, The Reptile House Incident, The Vibrating Demon, and The Provincial Line Tram Sniper. Other works include Dimensional Drift: A Collection of Japanese Literary Science Fiction, The Earth Fortress, and The Living Intestines. The collection contains 50 of his works. He died of tuberculosis in 1949.