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

Takeuchi Main

Ishida, Akira Japanese

Kurusu, Shuutarou Main

Hatanaka, Tasuku Japanese

Yamagami, Tokuichi Main

Yamadera, Kouichi Japanese

Deflot Supporting

Sawashiro, Miyuki Japanese

Nakajima, Misaki Supporting

Takagaki, Ayahi Japanese

Tenmaya, Shinnosuke Supporting

Kokuryu, Sachi Japanese

Glen, Rufus Supporting

Furukawa, Makoto Japanese

Shirase, Aoi Supporting

Orikasa, Fumiko Japanese

Inoue, Kentarou Producer

Iijima, Emiko Producer

Nishiya, Yasuyuki Producer

Yoshio, Souta Producer

Reviews

May 6, 2026

fhdjk

Recommended

I've never written a review here because mostly I'm a complete non-believer in how valid or relevant those are, and I certainly never trust ratings - which is actually what brought me here. I like to test out anime with below 7 rating because more often than not I tend to find hidden gems and this is most definitely one of them!

Mars Red is simply beautiful in its execution, not as an anime, but purposefully as a piece of tragic theatre. From start to finish, it's a theatrical play - each character is putting on a performance for us as the audience. They have ... their dramatic moments that is elevated by the choice in classical music, their asides as they transition between the different acts of the anime, and character arcs that are intrinsically tied to the story-telling. Quite frankly, and this is ironic, the vampire aspect of this anime is probably the least important bit (at least that's how I interpreted it).

Sure there's dead bodies and blood, and most of the main cast are vampires, but that's really not the point! Instead, through the lens of this supernatural vampire filled world, Mars Red asks the audience these questions: what is a human life worth? How do we keep our humanity? What makes us lose sight of who we are and what we live for?

Of course, Mars Red isn't without its faults either. Some character arcs are more fleshed out than others, some of the "science" used to fill up what would otherwise become plotholes or world building holes are a bit too obvious, if not bluntly used. The ending was beautifully done to tie up the character arcs, but perhaps a bit too open-ended for the world itself. However despite these issues, I believe Mars Red fulfilled the purpose it had - a piece of theatre, characters giving us a performance, and the story asking us questions on our humanity.

And for my own aside: media literacy is truly down in the gutter these days because the poor reviews here tell on themselves. Probably the same people who think one piece is just a story about friends on an adventure.

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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	Poll: Mars Red Episode 13 Discussion ( 1 2 ) KANLen09 - Jun 28, 2021	56 replies	by speyederlilly »» Apr 22, 6:59 AM
	Poll: Mars Red Episode 1 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 ) Stark700 - Mar 29, 2021	186 replies	by Y-MELLY »» Jan 4, 10:56 PM
	Poll: Mars Red Episode 3 Discussion ( 1 2 ) KANLen09 - Apr 19, 2021	63 replies	by RGreatDanton »» Apr 21, 2025 3:38 PM
	Poll: Mars Red Episode 2 Discussion ( 1 2 ) KANLen09 - Apr 5, 2021	66 replies	by RGreatDanton »» Apr 21, 2025 2:39 PM
	Poll: Mars Red Episode 6 Discussion KANLen09 - May 10, 2021	47 replies	by BreakApart »» Sep 23, 2023 9:21 AM