Minakami Mario is one of the seven main protagonists in RAINBOW. Nicknamed Mario has been detained to two years of confinement in the Shonan Special Disciplinary School. He was found guilty of inflicting grave injuries on one of his teachers who attempted an act of violence towards a female student.  Mario is strong willed and hates being looked down upon. He was the first one to start a fight in day one soon after being confined in a cell with Sakuragi.

Seven teenagers in 1955 have to learn to live together in the same hold in the reformatory of Shounan. Confined in a hall where suffering and humiliation are daily, they are waiting for a ray of hope in a dark, incarcerating world. The story follows their life together and how they move on afterwards. 

Six minors (16-17 years) answering to the nicknames of Joe, Mario, Suppon, Baremoto, Heitai, and Kyabetsu are put into a reformatory for offenses such as aggravated assault, swindling, flight, etc. Their stay in hell begins immediately. Accommodated by a doctor pedophile, they are placed under the watch of a despotic and brutal crew. Cellmates with a certain Sakuragi (called Anchan), the tension rises between the band of buddies and their new "friend." A brawl breaks out, and our six prisoners are done rossés by the mysterious young man, thanks to his boxing talent.
 
The story will not only follow the lives of these seven characters surviving in their hellish environment, but also their disillusions due to the rejection by the outside world and by their close relations. This is about the extraodinary and invincible friendships between these young men.
 Note: Won the 2005 Shogakukan Manga Award for seinen/general category.

Mario Minakami