What is the background story of M.A.R.?

Answer 1

MÄR is unique simply because of the fairy tale motif running through the series itself. MÄR is also an acronym for Märchen, itself being German for "fairy tale"
Plot
The story follows Ginta Toramizu, a hyperactive 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 items called "ÄRMs"(pronounced air-um). MÄR-Heaven is filled with these items: magical artifacts that usually take the form of some sort of weapon. These are varied in strength and appearance and divided into many kinds:
* Simple ÄRMs are little more than simple tools when active.
* Holy ÄRMs possess the power to heal and undo curses.
* Weapon ÄRMs are used as weapons in battle.
* Darkness ÄRMs are powerful artifacts typically used to curse people usually at a cost to the user.
* Dimension ÄRMs teleport to different places, create pocket dimensions, allow to watch scenes happening far away.
* Guardian ÄRMs summon a monster or a 'guardian' of some sort to protect the owner of the ARM. The drawback is that as long as the guardian is active the ÄRM user is unable to move from the spot he was when he summoned it.
* Nature ÄRMs are used for certain elemental attacks, or enhancing a body's physical performance.
* Ghost ÄRMs attach to the user's body and allow them to use their body as a living weapon.
* Unique ÄRMs are any ARMs that can't be put into any of the other classes, such as Babbo.
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 this memory, and considering 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, reveling in this new world, but also finds that he misses the real world. Eventually Ginta forms resolves to find a way to reach home while enjoying as much of MÄR-Heaven 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.
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 (Called only 'Boss'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.

Answer 2

Ya know, usually, for me, there would be no competition. But I heard Mars singing live the other day (via youtube- grenade) and I mean that boy can really sing! And while Lambert has written some songs, well like you said, Bruno's writing skills are just better. But diversity? Now, I don't know much about Bruno Mars, but I think that pretty much all of his songs talk about love (and I have nothing against that), but FYE has everything on there. When it comes to the meaning of the songs, Lambert's album is imo definitely more diverse, but it's, as you said, still a total poppy electro mainstream. Which is really sad, because he has such a voice and can do pretty much anything with it (Led Zeppelin, Queen, Rolling Stones, Aerosmith, U2, Cher, Mad World blahblahblah---yup, I'm a Lambert junkie;) Let's just hope his next album is better. I love them both. I think that they are both extremely talented; Mars is an amazing singer, song writer and as I've heard, also a producer and nothing can touch Lambert's voice. Adam Lambert:)

Answer 3

I haven't seen this anime myself, but the anime description from http://anidb.info/perl-bin/animedb.pl?show=anime&aid=2855 goes like this

Toramizu Ginta is a young boy always dreaming of a magical world out of his reach. But his dream isn`t too far off, as Ginta one day is given the chance to enter the magical world. Entering the new place, he almost immediately finds out the existence of ÄRMS, weapons that the people of this world use. Ginta`s life changes forever as he journeys through this new world, meeting new companions and gaining fighting abilities. This land Ginta has always dreamed of isn`t some joyful place however, as he soon begins to witness first hand the harshness of the land he has found himself in.

*description taken from Baka-Updates Manga*