Reviews

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.