English Dub Review: Mars Red “His Dream”

Overview:

Humans are illegally transporting the artificial blood “askra”. To their loved ones the members of the vamp squad are officially dead. Kurusu uses his super-speed to allow Yamagami to say goodbye to his wife. Aoi might be on a date with a vampire?!

Our Take:

Have I mentioned how much I love well-done character moments? In the first two episodes, Yamagami wasn’t exactly what I would call endearing. This episode changed all that, it was a much slower-paced episode but that’s okay if done well. Let me tell you this show did it well.

As I was doing a bit of research for this I came across something interesting, this show is in the same time period as Demon Slayer. It takes place in the Taisho Period of Japan, which was from 1912-1926. So if you were a fan of the period aesthetic of Demon Slayer maybe give this a shot.

Kurusu got to show off what exactly makes him an A-ranked vampire, I hope he has more tricks up his sleeve as well. You see Kurusu apparently has super-speed at his disposal and since all of their family thinks they’re dead they can’t exactly see them. There is a festival going on and it involves traditional lantern lighting, a ceremony where some say goodbye to loved ones. Kurusu uses his speed to place Yamagami in front of his wife, and due to the setting, she thinks it’s his spirit come to say goodbye.

This was a really awesome and touching moment. He told her that she should remarry but she essentially said she would remain his until she left to join him. You could almost see a little bit of pain in his face because he is immortal now, he may never join her. It was sweet how he offered to come to see her every year at the festival and Kurusu of course agreed to continue to help him. This is character moments done right, I really love how this show handles them. I just wish they hadn’t all been so sad and bittersweet but I suppose that comes with the territory.

The title of this episode “His Dream” is reflected throughout by multiple characters. The most obvious one being Yamagami, who wishes for his wife to be happy. This is probably the most heartwarming example cause the other notable one is the commanding officer above Maeda. He has been trying to get this vampire unit together for twenty years, I think that constitutes his dream as well. We later have a scene with Maeda clutching his chest in pain, a classic tell for heart problems. I believe his dream is wanting to accomplish whatever he needs to before succumbing to his heart. I imagine we will find out more about his aspirations as the series goes on.

We are three episodes in and I can’t recommend this series enough. I think it just might be the sleeper hit of the season. There’s a lot to like here if you are wanting non-stop action however it might not be for you. This show is a slow burn so far and really humanizes the vampiric cast. One of my favorite lines from the episode is when Takeuchi describes vampires as “weak, they live in constant fear.” It just cast vampires in a unique light I haven’t seen too often before.