MARS RED

Episode 9

Slowly but surely, the Code Zero gang is piecing itself back together from the post-quake chaos and rubble. Maeda is still MIA, but Kurusu does manage to track down both Suwa and Takeuchi this week, albeit not without some upsetting complications along the way. MARS RED has always liked to take its time, but this week its pacing feels more plodding than ponderous. I don't mind when the series indulges in long character-driven scenes, like last week's meeting between Kurusu and Yamagami's widow, but this week feels like a lot of redundant setup for a forthcoming conflict that has already been pretty well-established. Minus a few supporting characters, the players were in position at the beginning of this episode. They're just waiting for the curtain to rise.

Obviously the big development this week is Kurusu's reunion with Suwa and Takeuchi in the ruins of their old Tsukishima base. It's not a happy one, however, as its arrival is preceded by rumors and the confirmation of a child vampire killer, who turns out to be none other than our resident masked brooder. Although Takeuchi quickly clears up the confusion about the fake Maeda message (so quickly, in fact, that one might question why the story even needed that “twist”), Suwa doesn't really change his tune. His motivation had little to do with instruction from “Maeda” and a lot to do with his 300 years of vampire experience. MARS RED loves exploring the various facets of vampiric pathos, but child vampires, Suwa argues, are particularly tragic and ill-suited to this cursed existence. Therefore, he believes he's performing a mercy by killing them before they have to suffer, which has some sound logic, but still troubles Kurusu and, by extension, the audience. After all, we know that Defrott has been able to carve a life for himself despite his eternal youth. We also know, though, that this life hasn't been a happy one.

There's an unspoken implication that Suwa has a deeply personal history with child vampires, and I would've liked to have seen some more focus on that—maybe even a flashback. As is, Suwa's character is fairly underdeveloped and archetypal, with his ornate mask doing a lot of the work distinguishing him from the crowd, so I'd appreciate that bit of extra depth. Considering that there are still children in Tenmanya's care, though, my wish might still be granted further down the line. I do like his brusque conversation with the older girl, telling her to make her own decisions. He would surely deny any affection behind those words, but it's clear that he just wants her to grow tough enough to beat the odds and survive.

Our other protagonists aren't in great shape. Maeda and Defrott are like two sad peas in a pod, both sulking around in the darkness instead of taking the next necessary step. To be fair, we can't read too much conjecture into Maeda's fleeting appearance at the end of the episode. He might be planning something in secret, but he also might just be moping around, lamenting his failure to protect the people closest to him. Defrott, on the other hand, isn't shy about vocalizing his depression. Maybe he thought turning Maeda would be enough to turn the tide, but now he doesn't even want to look at the chaos Rufus has orchestrated. It's sweet, however, to see that Shirase is checking up on him, reinforcing her many similarities to Misaki. I hope she gives him an impassioned, loud, and dumb motivational speech somewhere down the line, because that seems like the kind of thing she'd be a natural at.

Nakajima's bureaucratic dressing-down in front of the military higher-ups is probably the most satisfying scene in this episode. He sold out his soul, violated multiple taboos including human (and vampire) experimentation, and condemned countless Tokyo citizens to death or worse, but the people in charge still won't let him have his super vampire unit. Fittingly, the one thing he couldn't account for—the earthquake—ends up being their primary concern. These guys are clearly self-serving, worrying more about appearances than the well-being of ordinary citizens, but the fact is, they're not as tunnel-visioned as Nakajima. A country needs a lot more than a military to be a decent country. What good are immortal soldiers when your capital city is a pile of rubble? It's also morbidly funny when one of the guys suggests that the “red specs” might be good as military engineers, because we already know they're not much better than mindless automatons. I'm sure there will be further violence and petard-hoisting in the future, courtesy of whatever Rufus' secret “Danny Boy” project is, but it's nice to see Nakajima begin to reap what he's sown.

We end this stage-setting episode with a lot of things in motion: Tenmanya moving the vampire refugees to the secret quarry village, Maeda wandering closer to the rest of Code Zero, Rufus feeding a lot of vampire blood to something, Nakajima resenting his superiors even more so than usual, Defrott moping like a true theater kid, and Shirase being Shirase. MARS RED still knows how to tie itself together with striking and moody setpieces, but it's probably inevitable that the writing would have to stumble a bit in order to pull us towards the final act. While I'm still very interested in where the story and its characters are going, the absence of a unified theme this week hurts this episode in comparison to its predecessors. I like MARS RED the most when it's making grand, boisterously confident gestures in conversation with the immortal voices of past artists. And considering next week's episode title isn't shy about referencing Shakespeare, I expect we'll be back on track then.

Rating:

MARS RED is currently streaming on Funimation.

Steve is hungry for anime and on the prowl for Revenge this season. Learn about this and more (i.e. bad anime livetweets) by following him on Twitter.