English Dub Review: Mars Red “Dawn”

Overview:

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,” a 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.

Our Take:

Mars Red took me completely by surprise for so many reasons and has skyrocketed up my spring anime watch list. First, it’s actually based on a stage play. Usually, an anime is based on a manga, light novel, sometimes novels, and of course there are anime originals. So this show is really unique just because of the source material and I’ll go into that a little more later.

Second, I usually save my voice actor thoughts for near the end of the review but I have to say something now. Sean Schemmel plays Maeda, the main character for this episode at least. If I hadn’t done research in preparation for this review I would never have been able to tell that was him. I was blown away by his range and have seriously been underestimating him. If you’re not aware Schemmel is best known for voicing Goku in the Dragon Ball franchise. I’ve only heard him in a few roles outside of Dragon Ball mostly in Berserk but now I really hope he gets more work cause I was very impressed.

Mars Red hooked me from the start with its setting. I know vampires have been done before but I feel this is a pretty unique take on them. The show also wears its stage play source on its sleeve. It opens with a woman who was recently turned into a vampire quoting the Oscar Wilde play Salome. Apparently, she died on stage and was turned into a vampire there so she was reliving her last moments over and over. She would occasionally speak coherently but for the most part, she was reciting lines.

Another quick shout out to Dawn M. Bennett who played Misaki the actress. Her delivery of the lines was amazing, I hope we get more of the character but I umm doubt we will, unfortunately. Misaki stayed in the morning light and we all know what happens to vampires in the sun. My one hope is there was a character briefly introduced named Aoi who strongly resembled Misaki so maybe there is something to that.

Mars Red looks really interesting and I am very excited to see where this show goes. I hope the rest of the cast performs as well as Schemmel and Bennett did in this opening episode. Right now the only shows I am more interested in than this are the fifth season of My Hero Academia and the upcoming 86. I think spring 2021 might just outperform winter 2021 which is saying something.