Mars Red “Dawn” Review
Mars Red “Dawn” is the first episode of original “Mars Red” anime. It is based on a stage reading play written by Bun-O Fujisawa. The animators Signal.MD are a relatively new studio. Established in 2014 and not quite having anything of note to their name yet. Though they are set to animate quite a few new series’ this year.
Plot
Mars Red takes place in 1923, and vampires have existed for quite a while. But now, the number of vampires is increasing and a mysterious, artificial blood source called Ascra has appeared.
The Japanese government, in turn, creates “Code Zero,” an unit within the army tasked with taking down the vampiric forces. And what better way to track vampires than by using vampires?
Created by Lieutenant General Nakajima, this unit has historically been in the business of information war, but has been re-assigned to solve the vampire crisis.
This episode in particular deals with introducing Yoshinobu Maeda, a major in the army, who’s clearly seen some vampire action before. And the mysterious Misaki, a stage actress who was crushed by a very heavy prop during rehearsals. When her normally fatal wounds healed in just 6 hours special ops were called as it was clear she was a vampire.
When questioned Misaki simply repeats the lines of her play and only sometimes does she break character and converse normally. She is obsessed with her apparent true love from the play “Jokanaan” and seeks him everywhere. Whilst investigating the theatre where the accident happened. Maeda comes across what looks like a young boy who claims to be an actor there. Though there’s something about him that’s clearly off.
With Misaki escaping her prison and finding Maeda. The episode finishes with her accepting her death as the sun rises to leave the same mark that was on her tongue. A mark that shows someone as infected.
Review
I actually really like this show already. This episode in particular is very slow and very info dump heavy so it may leave some people reason to give it up but I’m invested. There are so many questions. They know about the mark but why is it there and what’s the significance? Why are vampires becoming stronger lately? Who’s that dodgy kid in the theatre who knows way too much? And what’s Maeda’s story? Right at the end he seemed to really care about not letting her die. Is she the fiancé he eludes to during the start of the episode?
So many questions! I’m hoping they get answered in episode two but for now I’m happy with Mars Red to take it’s time to tell it’s story. Depending on how this is handled it could turn out to be a gem or an absolute waste of time. I’m hoping for the former but won’t rule out the latter.
Either way I’d suggest giving Mars Red a go. Episode 2 will hopefully pick things up pace wise.
