Audience reviews
20 · Sample from the first available page, separate from the total number of ratings.
fhdjk
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, a…
Read at the sourceAshesOnFire19
ive had this show recommended to me by a friend who loves it, so i finally decided it was time to see what the hype was about.
its one of those shows that starts off way more interesting than it ends up being. a secret japanese army unit made up of vampire?that’s a fantastic hook and the 1st few epis really sell the idea. It’s brilliantly written and directed in parts and for a while I genuinely thought this was going to be something special. the pacing, the dialogue heavy scenes, the big dramatic momentw, a lot of it feels theatrical in a good way, which is fitting since it's based on a stage play.
the real standout, tho, is the art direction. This show is gorgeous. i love the animation style, the way shots are framed and that muted color palette with the bold, vibrant reds popping out…
Read at the sourceAPolygons2
Show don't tell
Is one of the first and most important rules of story telling. it's a rule that pretty much everyone knows, everyone understands why it's important, but next to no one actually cares about it.
I mean we all acknowledge that most shounen anime explain what is happening in the fight, while it's happening. and we all make fun of it, but from everything that I have seen rarely anyone actually cares.
there is a certain truth that I have learned from looking at people's takes when it comes to this subject, and that's the fact that the casual watcher would rather have info dumps, than to have to pick up small things to get the story.
now don't get me wrong, if the show don't tell is used for a simple to follow enough story like a silent voice, people do understand it's magic,…
Read at the sourceHenriqueNeves
Mars Red creates a theatrical and chaotic universe, from the way it creates and positions the elements in the plan, to the way the story unfolds.
The anime's plan transforms the scenario into a kind of stage, leaving the characters or some object always located in some part of the scenario. These more fixed and direct shots always show something from more objective perspectives.
It's notable that even the anime's cinemascope helps make these shots even more asymmetrical. This wider window makes this centering of the plane even more important.
In some more specific moments (especially in the first episode), the anime assumes a freer relationship, especially in moments when the characters recreate plays. The image follows the movement of a character's hand, it moves in its own way, almost…
Read at the sourceBanzono
Finally got around to finishing this. What an intresting anime. I have a relatively mediocre impression of it, because there were several things that didn't work for me. I feel like it had the potential to be incredible, but fell quite short.
Artistically, I think it had some truly beautiful aspects; Karakara Kemuri's character designs never disappoint and the art was interesting yet comfortable to look at. The animation was just okay, nothing special. The Taisho setting made for some lovely backgrounds, clothing and color palettes. I also enjoyed the music a lot, and the voice acting was very good.
Story-wise ... this is where the anime lost me. While it's not a plotline that's difficult to follow, exactly, it's told in such a disjointed and ambiguous way that I found it very irritating…
Read at the sourcePixelB
"Do my words not reach you anymore?" Kurusu's voice actor speaks with powerful delivery, yet only his mouth is animated, and he's standing stock still because the animators were lazy.
Mars Red is truly what you'd call, "theatrical." I'm not quite impressed. Just on a purely animation standpoint, it cuts corners with bad CGI, not super amazing fight scenes, lots of scenes where people are standing still and talking with nothing going on. Of course, the animation is not actually that bad. Creative shots, good backgrounds, and still, some nice animated scenes overall still make me rate the animation quite well. But this show kind of still sucks. Even if the art was 10/10, it still wouldn't save Mars Red.
Does quoting shakespeare in a show really elevate it? How about cryptic dialogue and mys…
Read at the sourceSenpaiMars-Barz
I honestly don't at all see how people enjoyed this for more than 3 episodes. The production value is there but everything else is just terrible. My itch for Taisho Era stuff was the only thing that got me through this dumpster fire.
The story and characters are especially terrible...well...the story could have been "fine" at least if the characters were well written. I cannot tell you the name of a single character because they really had absolutely zero buildup in the story. You do not get to know ANYONE. There are minimal backstories and minimal setup. You see characters rise and fall before ever even getting to know them. Everyone seems to have this intricate relationship but because of how the story is told you do not get this intimate understanding.
As it is the big bad villian of…
Read at the sourceSkardo
ENG:
After I read the synopsis, I really wanted to see this anime and after seeing the first episode, despite it being a bit confusing, I was very involved with the story and just wanted to know more. All the characters revealed a lot of potential to be explored and the story had a lot of paths it could follow, leading Mars Red to end up as an excellent anime. The big problem is that Mars Red starts to get quite confusing as the episodes progress, giving the feeling that important parts of the story were skipped, to the point of making me wonder if I had skipped an episode. This feeling starts to be frustrating after some time and I was about to drop the anime several times. However, I saw Mars Red until the end, and, despite all the plot holes, I don't regret it nor do I feel like I waste…
Read at the sourceissen-ken-taka
Mars Red is a work of art. It's a pity that so many people were unable to understand it and gave it such a low score.
The most frequent criticisms levelled against this show are about consistency or plot holes. The problem is that these don't hold water if you were paying actual attention. I myself missed many details. This is a show that requires paying a lot of attention. Rewatches and reading discussions about it online helps a lot. The latter greatly increased my appreciation for the show.
TL;DR This is a very good anime, but it's arguably too good to succeed in this age of trash tier harems and brain-dead fan service.
Read at the sourcewaszner13
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.
Read at the sourceGleefulViolin
I can't believe not many people talk about this underrated masterpiece!
Yes, this is not merely an anime about vampire, but a classic and poetic vampire story masterpiece!
To be completely honest, I could write pages upon pages of compliment for Mars Red. However, I won't do it. I saw there's a review which pretty much shares the same view as mine, and it's very well-written review. So, I won't do it. Since I don't think people will read my review anyway.
What I can say about Mars Red is that it doesn't feel like anime, but rather like a very well-crafted movie documentary that directed by A top class director. It's sentimental and poetic. It's raw and perfectly imperfect.
As an audience, I was taken to a journey I've never experienced and yet by episode 13 I feel like I lived through t…
Read at the sourceResident_Green
Pretentious, chaotic, and lazily open-ended. And pure relief when I managed to finish the last episode.
∞ Who is Mars Red aimed at? Definitely not an average anime follower.
I doubt that even folks drown to niche shows are going to find Mars Red charming. It's very theatre-heavy and into the most confusing way of storytelling. Don't get me wrong. I love me some mental challenge, but that lack of explanations would frustrate even the most chill person.
Those with a degree in English literature could be the ones to enjoy this, but even there I'm not so sure. I still believe that anime isn't all that deep.
∞ Why so low score? Confusing world. Dull characters. Nonexistent purpose to the story.
World. The more you get into it, the harder it is to figure stuff out. Especially after the ma…
Read at the sourceEdenharley
Mars Red definitely has a lot going for it but ultimately I found it a little boring, there were some elements that really did stand out to me however, firstly the art and direction. I loved the artstlye and how almost realistic it was, there were a lot of really nice shots too - the 2.35:1 aspect ratio was pretty nice as well. I also liked the realistic take on vampires, it's definitely one of the more unique views on the vampire genre which was nice to see. Overall I think a lot of people would enjoy this show but it didn't really click for me, but there still were a fair few things I did enjoy.
Read at the sourceTimidGazelle
NO SPOILERS REVIEW
This show was so frustrating to watch, because it was actually amazing up to episode 6. Then each episode following, drastically got worse and worse.
It's like the studio was told they had 24 episodes to work with, and then 5 episodes in they were told they were only getting 13.
Story: 3 Poor
As good as it was at the start, by the time you finish the show, you'll feel empty inside. Random gaps of events just missing for no reason, extremely predictable, plot armor present. Legit hyped up the same character reveal at the end of the episode six times in a row. Breakneck speed level of rushing towards the end.
Art: 6 Fair
Pretty good character designs and backgrounds, animations were average, nothing crazy.
Sound: 8 Very Good
The music was very memorable, the OP, E…
Read at the sourceEDOSHINRATENSEI
This was the most confusing show in terms of storytelling. The first couple episodes were pretty okay as things were slowly set up. However, about after an earthquake, the show spiraled into a mess where every time I watched a new episode, I thought I just missed some episodes before. The plot jumped between characters at a seemingly random fashion that I had no idea what’s going on. Despite this, I still get the general sense of what was going on.
The animation was not an issue here. It looked different from other anime, and it made the show felt more mysterious and like a play. There wasn’t much vampire action, as the animators seemed to try to avoid animating the fight scenes in full sequences.
With a confusing story came confusing characters. Maeda was a MC for the first half, and f…
Read at the sourceFlexySpagoot
I think that I probably wasn't quite the right person for this anime. I think that it had some great elements, but it just didn't really grab me, and had some things that detracted from my experience.
The story was sometimes really interesting, and other times really confusing. I mean confusing in a bad way, I love me a good mindfuck anime, but this wasn't really one of those. I still think that overall it was a pretty fine story, its just that to me it sort of felt really deep while also at the same time felt really simple.
Art and sound was also a mixed bag. The OP was pretty good, but the majority of the music I don't really remember. Artwise it was either really good or really bad. The most obvious example of it looking bad is the atrocious CGI, animations were frequently reused in m…
Read at the sourcePhantom08
This Anime is really underrated. Artwork is new and catchy, Characters are good, Story is simple and straight forward, but what makes this anime shine is it's theatrics the dialogues scene transitions and emotions they are just breath taking.
like books references used in Psycho Pass and Bungo Stray Dogs this anime uses Theatrical(Drama) element which is really beautiful.
It's been a long time since we have seen an anime with simple story and stunning visuals with a new element, Mars Red falls in this category.
Some people say it's story is not clear but it's just a way of narrating story by the end all the pieces add up and ending doesn't disappoint us.
It's like watching a beautiful drama played by excellent actors at stunning locations. Give it a try and you will definitely like i…
Read at the sourceniekisacreep
I really would like to give this one a 8 or higher but these damn plotholes. With every episode you end up asking yourself "did I miss something? When did that happened?“ and that’s the Elefant in the room because the story relies on you understanding what things are happening. There ist not that much exposition or a character that tells you what happened or something like that and that’s a shame. This anime has a fantastic stageplay and I liked the artstyle and it’s simplicity. There is so much potential but it ends up getting nowhere because you can’t follow what’s happening and that’s why I gave it a 7. It’s nothing more than good and even that is expressed with positive will.
Read at the sourceExemplarCayman
This review contains an optional spoiler section at the end.
- How does it end?
- It’s a tragedy.
One word: cinematography and theatrics.
If someone told me before I have seen Mars Red that it’s a TV anime entirely drawn in cinemascope size (2.35:1), my first thought would’ve been, “Well, that’s pointlessly pretentious. Not like a TV anime is shot on 70 mm film and meant to be projected on cinema screens.” Boy, am I happy to be wrong on this one. Every other scene of Mars Red is an absolute masterpiece of shot composition, properly utilizing the wide aspect ratio for grand panoramic views and pensive camera pans. It wouldn’t be weird to think you’re watching Quentin Tarantino’s work, so skillful the presentation on the pure craftsmanship level is.
And it’s not like I’m implying this is…
Read at the sourceKANLen09
When was the last time we truly got a serious depiction of vampires in anime, much less Frankenstein, Werewolves (e.g. Sirius the Jaeger) and so on? I sure as hell can't remember one in recent memory, not even in the past decade. Hollywood though, has some variables ones like the mediocre Van Helsing movie to the iconic Bram Stoker's Dracula. On the other hand, you have famous people like theater director and writer Bun-O Fujisawa, who is the brainchild for this show: Mars Red, a story of vampires living in the Taisho era of Tokyo.
Largely influenced by the learning journey in theater due to his family upbringing, Bun-O Fujisawa experienced many theatrical shows, even trickling down to even opera and musicals. His expedition to London to study theatre in London is quite liberal, and being…
Read at the source