Mars Red

In the year 1923, a vampire crisis takes Tokyo by storm. Provoked by the illegal trade of "Ascra," an artificial blood source, the population of vampires begins to rapidly increase within the city. Under orders from Lieutenant General Sounosuke Nakajima, the Special Forces Unit 16 gathers vampires within the military to create a new undercover vampire-hunting unit known as Code Zero.

Leading the unit is Colonel Yoshinobu Maeda. Responsible for locating the source of the Ascra trade as well as capturing and killing vampires, he is pressured into producing fruitful results amidst the growing criticism that threatens to decommission the unit. To make matters worse, the vampires within the unit are struggling to grasp their newfound powers and identities now that they are no longer human. With the world at odds against them, the members of Code Zero must find a way to curb the crisis or otherwise fall victim to their own demonic natures.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Suwa Main

Suzumura, Kenichi Japanese

Maeda, Yoshinobu Main

Suwabe, Junichi Japanese

Kurusu, Shuutarou Main

Hatanaka, Tasuku Japanese

Takeuchi Main

Ishida, Akira Japanese

Yamagami, Tokuichi Main

Yamadera, Kouichi Japanese

Deflot Supporting

Sawashiro, Miyuki Japanese

Nakajima, Misaki Supporting

Takagaki, Ayahi Japanese

Glen, Rufus Supporting

Furukawa, Makoto Japanese

Tenmaya, Shinnosuke Supporting

Kokuryu, Sachi Japanese

Shirase, Aoi Supporting

Orikasa, Fumiko Japanese

Cook, Justin Producer

Inoue, Kentarou Producer

Terakawa, Hidekazu Producer

Iijima, Emiko Producer

Reviews

Jul 20, 2023

APolygons2

Recommended

Well-written

Show don't tell

Is one of the first and most important rules of story telling. it's a rule that pretty much everyone knows, everyone understands why it's important, but next to no one actually cares about it.

I mean we all acknowledge that most shounen anime explain what is happening in the fight, while it's happening. and we all make fun of it, but from everything that I have seen rarely anyone actually cares.

there is a certain truth that I have learned from looking at people's takes when it comes to this subject, and that's the fact that the casual watcher would rather have info dumps, ... than to have to pick up small things to get the story.

now don't get me wrong, if the show don't tell is used for a simple to follow enough story like a silent voice, people do understand it's magic, but when it's used on something a little more complex, that's when we reach a problem

which brings me to this show. If you go though and read the negative reviews, you will start to see a pattern. half the people claim this show has many plot holes, doesn't make sense and is boring, and the other half of the people claim it to be absolutely amazing.

there isn't really a middle, people either didn't like or loved the story.

Now here's the thing, 90% of the time, when someone uses the phrase "you just didn't get it" it's just a lazy excuse to ignore actual, real criticism.

or it's used when two idiots are arguing about a show that has clearly left things for interpretation over if it has meaning or not.

but this is not that. this show has a clear story, there isn't anything to be interpreted. so when I say the fact that this show had heavy use of show don't tell is the reason many people actually didn't get the story, I'm not being an asshole, that is actually pretty much the case.

the first episode alone was one of the best first episodes I have ever seen, and you can go read the comments on it. you will find people praising it like it's the greatest thing ever, while also having people calling it dull, boring, and uninteresting.

Now that you know why the reviews are super mixed, and the why the rating is so low, let's get to everything else.

*********************************************************************


Story 7.75/10

A semi-historically accurate Tragedy with vampires and military. Just as everything else, the story embraces that stage play feel, which if you didn't know, is what the show is based on.

the show has three aspects to it's story, the character driven subplots, the overall military plot. and the overall tragedy plot.

out of these, the tragedy plot is near perfection and the character driven subplots are amazing...

but the military stuff, their kind of just, ok. that aspect has a villain who is pretty uninteresting and one dimensional. and honestly, it's a little dragged out.

nevertheless, that's only a third of the show, and even that plot line has some great character moments.

The ending is also extremely good, which if you're anything like me, you will care about it a lot.

*********************************************************************

Art 9/10 - Animation 5/10 - overall 7/10

the art is stunning, but the animation doesn't do it justice. there is a pretty shit looking fight in the second half. although the last episode fight which was by far the most important was pretty damn decent animation wise.

for the most part, other than that 1 fight ,the animation was good enough when it mattered.

*********************************************************************

Voice acting (dub) 9/10 Music 9.5/10

I haven't seen the sub, but the dub was pretty damn good, with a pretty damn well written script

and the music is, one of my favorite soundtracks in all of anime. there is nothing but praise to give it. in fact I'm listening to it while writing this. it's just too good.

*********************************************************************

characters 8/10

Not all, but most of the main characters were fully 3 dimensional, well realized, developed characters with clear motivations and story arks. of course there were a few characters that got the short end of the stick, but you can't expect a full cast of complete character arks in 13 episodes.

not every show can pull off an odd taxi.

*********************************************************************

enjoyment 9/10

despite the fact that many people call this show boring. I enjoyed every second of it.

I was more hyped for the fights than most battle shounens, even though the animation isn't even that good.

I cried, I laughed, and I Felt for the characters.

and that is something special. I was fully invested, which at least for me, doesn't happen too often.

*********************************************************************

Overall my final score is an 8/10

It's certainly not for everyone. but if you think you're the type of person who would like a uniquely directed, tragedy that doesn't hold your hand, watch it.

thanks for reading.

Edit: it's now a good 2 years later, and I finally got the chance to rewatch this series, and frankly, it's far better than what I remembered, so keep in mind that even this review, is underpraising the series. I will likely make a whole video essay on it the first chance I get on my Youtube channel. so keep an eye out for that.

Reviewer’s Rating: 9

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Jul 30, 2024

AnimeEnjoyer420

Mixed Feelings

Mars Red is a series whose biggest problems often stem from execution rather than conception. There's definite cinematic ambition here, but the animation production from Signal MD consistently fails to match the weight of its imagery. Likewise, the broad strokes of a good vampire thriller laced with tragedy are here, but the writing doesn't connect the different pieces in a way that's satisfying. Too many things are left unexplained and Colonel Maeda is too much of a cipher for the ending to come together.

It's not a series without its merits. Kurusu is a strong protagonist, even though his importance to the story isn't necessarily centered ... up front. When the writing is on point, the excellent premiere episode being a prime example, it can be really good. But that ultimately makes it more frustrating in the end because it's not hard to envision a version of this series that's far better than the final product we ended up with. I wanted to like Mars Red more than I actually did, and I do feel more positively about it than the score I gave, but it's hard for me to recommend it objectively based on what's actually there rather than what I was hoping it would be.

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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Jul 3, 2021

waszner13

Not Recommended

I feel like it had potential, but it just falls flat on it's face pretty hard.

You probably know the trope of over explaining things in anime, well
this is the opposite, most things that would need an explanation aren't explained. Be it character motivations or actions, effects, twists.

Because of this, most of the time when there is an emotional moment, you just know that it SHOULD be emotional, but it really isn't.

It's theatrical, which is something you either like or not, but a lot of times it just felt out of place fore me.

Overall, it's pretty forgettable; even though based on the premise and what actually ... happens in the anime, it really shouldn't be.

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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