MARS RED “Till Death Do Us Part” Review
MARS RED “Till Death Do Us Part” is the second episode of the MARS RED anime. Whilst, like episode 1, it has it’s slow moments. It’s generally a much more rewarding episode in terms of getting answers.
Plot
Almost immediately this episode throws us into the action again by showing Maeda in Siberia fighting. His squadron taken out by a vampire and he alone getting attacked but of course we don’t see what happens it cuts to the intro. And this is where the slow pacing of this episode comes in. Maeda is still inspecting the gramophone used to record the last vampire. When where introduced to the new Vampire Unit one by one. Apparently one of them is an A class though he looks like a kid and is a bit wet behind the ears. We have the freaky scientist vamp, the weird white haired vamp who wears a gas mask everywhere and the old style vamp who seems to be a veteran.
Maeda lets the new recruits know they’ll now be a new unit of Vampire only recruits. Code Zero is now created. Only the veteran vampire seems to know who Maeda is and immediately dislikes the idea of him running the show. Code Zero are given the task of hunting a vampire who has been running amok and suddenly stopped. Later in the episode we discover the reason.
The vampire has been drinking the artificial blood Ascra. Whilst it seems good, it’s almost like a drug as his vampire lover who’s older than him consistently complains that he’s changed since he started drinking it. A battle ensues as the vampires try to escape Code Zero but the man is killed the woman begs to be killed with him but Maeda doesn’t make it that easy. He kills her eventually but doesn’t allow her the pleasure of dying with her lover.
Review
Just as episode 1 was heavily influenced by Oscar Wilde’s Salome. This episode is on the nose about it’s Romeo and Juliet influence. Every play that’s in the local theatre influences that episode, the question is. Is that a writing choice for the artistic direction or is someone in the show influencing things to be that way? The kid from the theatre shows up again out of nowhere to quote Shakespeare to a local reporter. Her role in the story seems like it’ll be big seeing as her childhood friend died in Siberia and that’s where we see Maeda fighting in the beginning.
There’s also the flowers Maeda leaves near the station where Misaki died. It was a twist on Romeo and Juliet there too with Maeda being Romeo and Misaki being Juliet. However, Juliet (Misaki) died alone and Romeo (Maeda) lived on. The last words said (by Maeda) are “I should be the only one to become a monster.” And it cuts immediately to the flowers.
I am loving this show. It’s inclusion of classic works and it’s twists and turns along with including it’s own storyline in there. It takes more than one viewing to catch everything and I love it for that!
