This Week in Anime

Is Mars Red Too High Brow?

Jean-Karlo
Hi, I'm Jean-Karlo, that there is Nick and AAAAAARGH

You call a show "Mars Red" and you think, "Huh, maybe it'll be a fun sci-fi. Maybe some giant robots, maybe a cute futuristic OL." Nope. Just these pasty losers whining about a beast they be lest a beast they become. You couldn't even get Aaliyah involved, ya cheap bastards...

Vampires reciting Salomé: for when Carmilla references just aren't enough.

So, here's the story:

Secret vampire government taskforce in Taisho-era Japan.

...My editor would kindly appreciate for me to expand a bit more, I'm told.

So, we have a secret vampire government taskforce in Taisho-era Japan. The main character, Maeda, is the head of a team of vampires who are the prototype of a proposed initiative for vampiric soldiers for Japan's armed forces. He's in charge of a zany team of two soldiers, a mad scientist, and a weird loner. He's human; the rest are blood-suckers.

Full disclosure, I (begrudgingly) give Mars Red the nod for that first episode. The lighting effects on Maeda and his junior while they were talking in the hallway was inspired and well-executed. And sure, you could just excise that first episode entirely, but the emotional climax was wholly and entirely earned. Like, this is one of those weird cases where I see a thing and think up an entirely different show I'd much rather be seeing.

I don't hold it against Mars Red for Maeda being an emotionally constipated gruff of a lead, but I do think Misaki up there got off easy—even as a vampire, she's too spirited for the guy. Even if a domestic romance between a Taisho-era militiaman and his arranged-vampire-actress-wife would be cute. Think The Way of the Househusband meets A Bride's Story.

The episode never tells us Misaki was Maeda's arranged wife. Maeda just makes a throw-away comment and the character interactions fill in the dots.

I feel like a jerk for applauding such a detail for a first episode (I swear, this isn't performative damnation by faint praise), but this is a textbook case of showing and not telling and it's sad that this show made it look so effortless when so many other shows can barely pull it off. I live for this kind of lowkey, smart storytelling. Like, snark aside: I would just recommend this one episode to people because it's such a good stand-alone episode.

I didn't catch on for ages; I figured he was just such a brute that he let a vampire gnaw his arm off and didn't flinch. But looking back: yeah, the episode is so lowkey it just gives you visual cues to show Maeda has a prosthetic.

Again: this is a stellar first episode, and it'd be cool to see, like, some kind of stageplay or some such adapted from it. It's creative and well-written and ride me sideways, there's a whole other show we gotta talk about.

GEE, I WONDER IF THIS LITTLE BLOND FUCKER WITH THE NOCTURNAL PUPILS IS A VAMPIRE. I FUCKING WONDER, MARS RED.

This at least makes for a halfway-interesting Vampire The Masquerade party. So, you have Yamagami, a lifelong military man who has only recently been turned and doesn't have full grasp over his powers. He's very non-conventional as far as vampires go: he's not a goth twink, he's not conventionally attractive, he doesn't even have special powers. He was just a dude in his 40s who is getting dunked on by a bunch of kids.

He definitely has the emotional highlight early on; he has one of his teammates help set up a fake "Bon Ghost Appearance" with his wife so he can have a formal goodbye with her. And it's a really nice scene. He's emotionally stunted, but he's in the Army and he did care about his wife. All the while, his wife appreciates the gesture and looks forward to meeting him next year.

That's some of that good-good right there.

So then we have Kurusu. He's the youngest vampire in the team and the newest recruit—but he was turned by a very powerful vampire, and thus has the strongest powers out of all of them. But he's still getting a grip on them and the rigors of being in a military unit.

The added wrinkle of militarism adds to his character, because otherwise he's just a light novel character waiting to happen.

Doctor Takeuchi is weird. He's a mad scientist, and apparently he only became a vampire when some blood accidentally got into his eye. Which is creative, and him being a man of science means he's fine with being immortal forever. But also: eh. Zany mad scientist. It's watered-down Professor Tomoe.

Hide your face in the shadows and get possessed by Germatoid, you bum!

Speaking of weird hair, there's Suwa, who is apparently the oldest vampire among them all who was turned when he was just a child. He wears a gas mask. Because.

He has a nice humanizing bit when he spends an evening with a sex worker and... it's cute? For a guy who doesn't even know any songs, it's an okay bit of giving him some depth.

It's the same with the show itself: the impetus to make a team of vampire soldiers is so that Japan can keep up with the rest of the world's growing military advancements. And if Japan can nail the "vampire supersoldiers" bit it'll give them an edge on the British army, who apparently only use their vampires for subterfuge. Much ado is made over how Code Zero isn't quite cutting the mustard for the brass. It's almost like Vampires are totally lame!

He does have a militaristic streak that would be worrisome if it were more prevalent, talking about stuff like how people have gotten soft in peacetime. But yeah, he does have a refreshing bit of humanism towards his team of leeches.

A pity, then, that the show deign it necessary to waste our time with this choppy-choppy-slashy-slashy junk.

Considering how good this show gets when it lets us get into the humanity of these characters, that it still has to bother with the intrigue and action just makes me seethe. You don't have to try this hard, guys!

I'll grant Mars Red that it's nowhere near as boring as Noblesse in any capacity. But much like Noblesse, the show is at its best when the characters are allowed to be themselves and breathe. The actual "action plot" is the least interesting thing about this show.

Your fearsome children of the night could just, y'know. Not angst.

...Just a thought.

Yeah, Taisho-era Japan is an inspired setting, and Mars Red takes great pains to really let you stew in the aesthetic of the era. Day shots are a little washed out in sunlight, appropriate for a town covered in low buildings. Interiors have good yellows from artificial light. The colors really pop at the red light district. It's a visual feast.

It seems the British vampires are introducing some kind of narcotic fake blood into the Japanese market, and That's Bad.

I know my tastes are unique, so my griping aside I can confidently say people are really gonna get a kick out of Mars Red. The visuals are sumptuous, the writing is nice when it delves into the emotional core of the cast, and the music is pretty good too. Also vampires, folks like vampires I guess.