Mars Red is a 2021 Spring Anime that has 13 episodes. If you love vampire series and a touch of the historical era, Mars Red is quite a perfect pick for you. Mars Red shows the 1923 era when vampires suddenly increased, and certain powerful military personnel had their own idea to create a Vampire Unit to address the situation.
Code Zero is an anti-vampire hunting group led by Maeda Yoshinobu, Kurusu Shutaro, Yamagami Tokuchii, Takeuchi and Suwa. Lieutenant General Nakajima who established Code Zero, had the weirdest idea that immortal soldiers can decrease war casualties like wow, crazy much.
Who is Misaki?
The opening episode 1 of Mars Red was good but quite confusing. Suddenly an anti-vampire unit Code Zero started operating headed by Maeda Yoshinoubu who was tasked with interrogating a theatre actress who became a vampire. The said actress plus vampire Misaki (Nakajima) was the protagonist of the play Salome.
Due to a stage accident, Misaki ended up getting injured and almost on the brink of death. A fellow actor Defrott, who is an old vampire, saves Misaki by offering his blood. However, Misaki becomes unstable and later gets captured by Nakajima.
Maeda & Misaki
Here’s the plot twist if you haven’t noticed by now. Misaki is General Nakajima’s daughter. Yes, that crazy man captured his own daughter. If this wasn’t the worst, Nakajima sent Maeda to capture Misaki.
The series of events unfolded in Mars Red episode 7 which serves as a flashback event to show what happened. Maeda was engaged to Misaki and was supposed to get married after Maeda returned from war.
Misaki and Maeda had never met and only communicated by exchanging letters. Misaki was engrossed in her role and wanted to show the perfect Salome to Maeda.
When Nakajima captured his daughter Misaki, he pretty much treated her like a test subject. After Maeda returned he met Misaki but didn’t realize it was his Misaki, his fiance now turned vampire.
Defrott & Misaki
Misaki left her home and entered the theatrical world. As a live-in actor, she met Defrott. Defrott is a talented child actor from England working in Japan.
His appearance may be like a child, but the show hinted he could be one of the oldest and pure lineages of vampires.
Defrott resented Maeda for not showing up in time to see Misaki’s version of Salome. When Maeda visited Defrott to investigate the case, Defrott explained that Misaki was waiting for her lover. Maeda didn’t realise that Defrott hinted at him being that “Lover”.
It was clear that Maeda and Misaki had mutual feelings for each other. However, the biggest issue was they never met in real life. Misaki finally got to show Maeda her perfect version of Salome.
She kept repeating the lines from the play in Episode 1. She didn’t really go mad but was so entranced in her role, maybe she wasn’t conscious of Maeda’s presence.
Misaki’s Painful Reunion with Maeda
Misaki escaped from captivation. Maeda acted on orders and tried to capture Misaki. In the flashbacks, it showed that when Misaki had consciousness, wrote to Maeda and asked him to stop his father, Nakajima. Misaki witnessed the vampire business Nakajima and Rufus Glenn was doing.
It’s ironic that Nakajima’s daughter Misaki became a vampire, but he couldn’t care less. General Nakajima wanted to enroll “Misaki the Vampire” as a trained agent in the Code Zero unit.
Maeda informs Nakajima that her mental state was unstable and there was no way to communicate with her. Heartless Nakajima ordered Maeda to dispose of the vampire (Misaki).
Misaki escapes the confinement and gets reunited with Maeda at dawn. She was going to bite Maeda but stopped herself. It was the first time Misaki introduces herself as herself, which was clear that helped Maeda realize it was her fiance Misaki.
However, Misaki exposed herself to the sunlight and perishes, leaving behind ashes. Maeda was in disbelief as he stared at her fiance dying right in front of his eyes.
This could have been quite different has Maeda had known that Misaki was her Misaki. Misaki died tragically but was able to show Maeda her last performance.
Thanks for reading!
