MARS RED 1

Mars Red #1

by Kemuri Karakara

The historical vampire thriller that's now an anime!Aoi is an enterprising young journalist living in Taishō era Tokyo. Though the city is thriving, a string of murders have left people shaken. As Aoi investigates the crimes, she sees her old friend Shutaro. But Shutaro died years ago, didn’t he? What Aoi doesn’t know is that Shutaro is a vampire, working for the government as part of an elite unit. Can he protect Aoi from the dark forces battling for the city’s soul?

Genres: Manga, Fantasy, Vampires, Horror, Comics, Historical Fiction, Historical

Comic

First published May 29, 2020

Reviews

[Victoria ✮⋆˙ · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was honestly a really interesting concept, I’m not exactly sure what they’re gonna do with the story but I have high hopes! The art is great and I really like the character so far.

[Winter · Rating 4 out of 5]

A slower pace than my previous Mangas, but it's interesting. The artwork is stellar😶.

[Anna Boklys · Rating 4 out of 5]

3,5⭐
Трошки крові, трошки вампірів, трошки оригінальності та краплинку інтриги. Нормуль, цікаво вийшло.

[Mizuki · Rating 4 out of 5]

So in this historical vampire period drama, Tokyo was destroyed by a massive earthquake right from the start...

So the vampires in this story are actually afraid of sunlight? Good.

It is a vampire adventure + fantasy series with good artwork, a refreshing setting and decent plots. Not only the idea of a vampire army (?) in 1920s Japan is nice, the fighting scenes are exciting, and how the vampire soldiers (among the 1% lucky humans who were turned into vampires and survived with their sanity still intact) who must leave their loved ones behind, living in secret as vampires to serve their country is a rather engaging topic!

I am interested in knowing more about the young soldier who was turned unwillingly into a vampire on the frontline, his reporter girlfriend (?) who didn't believe he was dead, the supposedly super-powerful S-class vampire who looks like a handsome and cheerful teen, and the interesting vampire soldiers/spies in the army!

However, not enough has been mentioned about the higher-ups in the army abandoning the lower-ranked soldiers and the ugliness of humans in general, one of the characters said "Humans are more scary" but I hope there can be more in the upcoming volumes!

[Mark · Rating 2 out of 5]

It’s the Taisho era and Aoi is a young journalist investigating a string of murders. She’s partly doing this to look for her childhood friend, who died years ago. Unless, of course, he was actually attacked by a vampire and is now part of a secret government unit. Just in case it wasn’t clear that this was a shonen manga.

Nice art throughout this book and I like the designs for the main characters - I feel like Aoi might have an anachronistic amount of agency, but that’s honestly something I’m okay with (especially since they end up damseling her anyway). The designs for the vampire squad are mostly interesting.

They also manage to generate a surprising and welcome level of pathos from the situation these soldiers find themselves in, with their former lives written off and they themselves counted amongst the dead. A fairly maudlin chapter where some of them say farewell is a more thoughtful moment than I would expect from something of this nature.

Unfortunately, everything else is exactly what I would expect from something of this nature, minus the gratuitous boobery. This book starts off in media res, but without enough context to make any sense or be interesting and it seemingly focuses on a character who’s probably a bad guy (when he finally reappears, way too late, his major actions are flirting with Aoi and zapping her with vampiric hypnosis in less than honourable fashion).

Really my big issue is that while the art is nice for doing quiet moments, the way this mangaka draws action is incredibly difficult at illustrating flow and whether it’s a movie or a book or an anime, I do want to be able to tell precisely what the hell is going on. Without it, you’re losing a large part of this book. I still have no idea what exactly happens during the Siberia section and I read it three times.

And all characters are certainly not created equal - most of the squad works, character-wise, but the book appears in love with the steampunk mad scientist who’s always after test subjects to an annoying degree.

Besides the fact that this one character would give these guys away as peculiar the second they went anywhere, he’s the source of a large chunk of the book’s woefully juvenile attempts at humour. Again, I never like these pointless smash cuts to jokes even in stuff like Full Metal Alchemist so rest assured a book like this isn’t pulling it off.

And it’s not like this book can’t be funny without going for the easy gag. There’s a great moment when Aoi is talking to the police and they figure out she isn’t a great detective and the interpersonal politics of the unit’s new commander make for some organic laughs as well. It comes off way better than the visual gags.

2.5 stars and while I might round this up if a second volume was a bit better, I don’t know if I’ll bother. Admittedly, and this is clear reviewer bias, I don’t typically care for shonen unless it’s extraordinarily good. This is one case where checking out the anime might yield better dividends than the book.

[harumambura · Rating 2 out of 5]

Задумка манги наче й непогана, але виконання підвело. Герої картонні і не викликають ніяких почуттів, мальовка симпатична, але сюжет поданий дуже поверхнево і рвано, кілька разів при перелистуванні сторінки я поверталась назад, бо здавалось, що я пропустила розворот, але ні, діалоги просто закінчуються у випадковий момент і напівслові.

[Tess · Rating 5 out of 5]

Дуже класна мальовка

[Liubava Hromak · Rating 3 out of 5]

сюжет класний, мальовка класна. але я хотіла більше тексту. перша моя манґа і я розумію, що це не зовсім мій тип літератури. а от повноцінну книжку з цим сюжетом я б читала!

[Balerion · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a great first volume for this series, it’s just such a shame that the whole story is only three volumes. I didn’t realize that this is an adaption of a musical stage reading (would love to check that out someday). I was only aware of the anime, but after reading this I already know for sure I’ll be checking out the anime when I finish the series!

The art by KarakaraKemuri is gorgeous (those character designs are swoon worthy lol) and the characters themselves are very compelling. I’m already loving Shutaro and Colonel Maeda.

The author (and creator of the musical stage reading) Fujisawa said in the afterward that “This is a story that focuses on the physical and mental weaknesses of vampires. However, because they’re weak, they desperately try to remain human. So, to me, they aren’t monsters, but very relatable people.”
I feel like that really explains the tone of this story well, that alone would have made me jump to read this right away if I saw that quote earlier.

I’m excited to read more !!

[Oleksander Lysenko · Rating 2 out of 5]

Абсолютне марнування часу і нічого цікавого. Текст і багато супутніх елементів екосистеми створено на основі п'єси і, можливо, сама постанова дивовижна, але манга настільки посередня і мені настільки байдужа, що й відгук не писатиму.

[Shae · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this take on vampires! Check it out!

[Kate Elizabeth · Rating 1 out of 5]

Did I have no expectations and need to finish a book quick to finish my year goal? Yes, was I dissatisfied yes.
It just felt so lacking in originality and the way everything is thrown at you is just too quick and comes across as sloppy I’m SORRY! And like the characters have the barest hint of depth and the lack of actual emotion conveyed in the art for most characters bugged me the main guy were supposed to be focused on doesn’t even feel present in the narrative and also HOW can he just magically use a katana after being bit by a vampire? He was downed in freaking Siberia assumably in the First World War ? He used only guns ? And the narrative never shows him being able to be a badass before the bite it just immediately seems to cut (no listed time jump either just immediate resurrection and continues plot) to him being that bitch and it’s just what is the timeline? Why are we just jumping scene to scene with no real reason! Why is this description leading you to think the female childhood friend is the narrator when she is so not….. I’m so tired I MISS TOKYO GHOUL! I MISS ISHIDA SUI, I miss my mans.

[Cátia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Quando vi esta obra em pré-venda comprei sem pensar duas vezes. Vampiros e Japão é uma receita que tem tudo para ser interessante. Estava certa.
Mars Red trata de jogos político-militares ao mesmo tempo que aborda temas como o luto e a perda. Tem uma boa dose de acção, algum humor e até momentos que nos deixam com o coração mais apertado.
A ilustração está incrível e eu mal posso esperar por ler os restantes 2 volumes (esta série só tem 3 volumes).

[MariHR3 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Початок на 3,5
Сподобалась мальовка, хоча в деяких моментах було важко зрозуміти що коється, але персонажі дуже гарні :)
Ще не зрозуміла, чи подобається мені сюжет, поки не дивує і читалось з відчуттям що ти щось схоже вже було.
В цілому сподобалось, чекаю на наступні томи, буду купувати)
Переклад і видання - Nasha idea ❤️

[Megan · Rating 5 out of 5]

5/5 stars

[Musical_literature_of_vannah · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh.
Décevant. Aurait pu être plus intéressant que ça...

[Etienne · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not for me. Too slow, the vampire are too chill, very teeny and the action/art isn't always quite clear. I won't continue!

[Svetlana · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 rounded up. The author wants to show us the vampires with many weaknesses, the vamps that they desperately try to remain humans.
Hover, the story, draws and the writing did not deliver this drama.

[Blančitos · Rating 4 out of 5]

Není to vůbec špatné...

[Helga Victim · Rating 3 out of 5]

Намальовано гарно, але на кінець тому не відчувається якоїсь «родзинки».

[Aesop Carl · Rating 4 out of 5]

i have high hopes and i love the characters so far

[taylor clonce · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5

[sberatelka.knih · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,5/5

[Skjam! · Rating 3 out of 5]

It is 1924, and the Great Kanto Earthquake has hit Tokyo. In the ruins of a lavish performance hall, the star actor awaits death. A girl comes to rescue him, amusing to him as he is a vampire and she a mere human. Sure enough, they’re soon both trapped, until another vampire saves the pair–at least for now. But how did things get to this point?

Several years earlier, the Taisho Era of Japan was in full swing. Progress was being made on many social fronts, the Japanese were absorbing the parts of Western culture they liked, and new technologies were making life interesting. However, military adventurism was taking hold among certain elements of the armed forces and government, and there were increasing incidents of secret violence.

Rookie reporter Shirase Aoi has noticed that several recent corpses attributed to wild dog attacks are concentrated in one part of the city, and no one’s actually seen any wild dogs lately. Indeed, no one has actually seen the killings, suggesting that the perpetrator has at least some intelligence. The police laugh off her silly notions of a human(ish) murderer, as she is both a woman and works for a notorious tabloid.

Shirase, an orphan, became a reporter to uncover the truth. She understandably is suspicious of official denials since the mysterious “death” of her childhood friend Kurusu Shutaro on a mission in Siberia.

She stumbles on a trail of blood, and then runs across some suspicious-acting soldiers. They battle what appear to be vicious vampires, and when Shirase awakens the next morning, she’s told there was a movie shoot at the building last night. Riiight. She overhears a soldier talking about something called “Section Zero.”

We switch to Section Zero’s point of view. It turns out Private Kurusu is not entirely dead. He was one of two soldiers to survive a vampire attack in Siberia (90% of humans die due to incompatibility with vampire biology) and turn into a vampire himself. He was forced to join Section Zero, which fights rogue vampires and studies them to either find a cure or how to replicate them en masse as super-soldiers. The existence of vampires is, of course, a government secret.

Meanwhile, there’s a new very powerful vampire in town, one that likes the spotlight, and seems to be taking a liking to Shirase.

This manga is based on a stage musical, and was essentially done as a test bed for turning the story into an anime. As such, there are many theatrical touches.

One of the big themes is that while vampires become stronger, faster and more durable, they get a number of weaknesses that make it not a particularly good tradeoff. Losing your mind to blood thirst if you don’t get properly fed and burning in sunlight are the two big ones right away. (Religion doesn’t seem to enter in at all, these being biological vampires.) Also, there are variable levels of power given, so Kurusu is top-tier for former humans, while Major Yamagami is barely above human and would lose in a fair fight against almost any other vampire.

Also, there’s an undercurrent of grief. As far as any of the civilians know, the vampire soldiers are dead, and especially Shirase is heartbroken as Kurusu was her last emotional connection to her family.

Since I haven’t seen the anime, I don’t know exactly where this is headed beyond fighting vampires, but the opening tells us that at least three characters make it to 1924.

In the first volume, most of the characters are “types” who need more filling out; Major Yamagami is the most interesting so far because of his very human behavior and concerns. I don’t trust the general who created Section Zero one little bit as his thinking seems to be the sort that got Japan into Manchuria and China and eventually the Pacific War. Plus some folks are likely to have issues with our “heroes” basically being military police black ops.

Content note: Bloody corpses, murder. Period sexism.

It has some appealing points, but I think this one is primarily for people who want the vampire to be the hero of the story.

[Enairolf · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bien que je ne sois pas très portée vampires d’habitude, je me rends compte que je me laisse plus souvent tenter par les histories de vampires, que ce soit dans les mangas ou dans les romans. Je pense qu’avec la sortie de Twilight il y a des années, on a trop bouffé (et sans jeux de mots) du vampire. Et clairement, je n’en pouvais plus de voir ça partout. Et j’ai donc fui les histoires de vampires. Mais je dois avouer que ce thème me dérange beaucoup moins qu’avant et, comme je viens de le dire, je me laisse plus souvent tenter par ce genre d’histoires. Si c’est bien amené et que ce n’est pas cul cul la praline, ça passe et ça me plait!

Je dois avouer que ce qui m’a attiré en premier avec ce manga c’est sa couverture. Elle est d’un rouge sublime avec un peu des reflets brillants. Je la trouve vraiment très belle et elle donne envie de nous intéresser à ce manga. Je me suis penchée sur le résumé et j’avoue que l’histoire me tentait vraiment pas mal! Elle parle de vampires ok et n’avait pas l’air de partir sur une genre de romance infecte à lire. C’était tout bon pour moi je me suis laissée tenter et je l’ai lu. Et bien je peux vous dire que j’ai beaucoup aimé ce premier tome. J’ai vraiment envie de découvrir entièrement cette série.

Dans ce premier tome, on se retrouve au Japon dans les années 1920 durant l’ère Taishô. Un virus transforme les humains en vampires. Quatre hommes qui sont justement des vampires, intègrent une unité spéciale de l’armée, le « Code-Zéro ». Leur mission? Neutraliser les personnes contaminées qui ne savent pas se contrôler. Aoi, une jeune journaliste enquête sur des meurtres très glauques qui se déroulent parfois la nuit à Tokyo. De fil en aiguille, elle va apprendre l’existence de ce virus et de ces agents qui travaillent pour l’armée. Elle va finir par nouer un lien avec ces vampires, elle connait notamment un des membres, Shûtarô, sauf qu’il est déclaré mort durant la guerre du début du siècle..

J’ai vraiment beaucoup aimé ce premier tome. J’ai adoré l’histoire mais c’est surtout les personnages que j’ai beaucoup aimé. Aoi est une jeune femme très touchante. Elle a perdu son frère et il ne lui restait plus que Shûtarô dans sa vie. Il a été un soutien sans failles pour elle. Sauf qu’elle reçoit un avis de décès officiel qui lui annonce que Shûtarô est mort à la guerre. Elle se sent complètement perdu et refuse de croire qu’il a décidé lui aussi de l’abandonner. Aoi est vraiment une jeune femme qui m’a beaucoup émue par son histoire. Mais c’est une femme déterminée et quand elle a décidé quelque chose, elle fera tout pour arriver à ses fins. J’ai également beaucoup aimé les membres de la brigade Code Zéro. On a tout d’abord Shütarô que j’aime beaucoup, j’aimerais tellement qu’il puisse dire à Aoi qu’il est devenu un vampire et qu’il est encore là.. Takeuchi c’est clairement celui qui m’a le plus plu! Je le trouve complètement barjo et tellement drôle! Je trouve qu’il apporte un vrai plus à l’histoire! Suwa quant à lui est un personnage très intriguant, j’espère que l’on en apprendra plus sur lui par la suite.

Ce premier tome est vraiment très plaisant à lire. On y trouve un univers très intéressant qui soulève pas mal de questions. Les personnages sont très différents les uns des autres mais forment un combo qui fonctionne. Je suis vraiment très impatiente de lire la suite, j’ai été happé par ce premier tome. J’avoue que je ne m’attendais pas à autant apprécier ma lecture et pourtant! Comme quoi! En tout cas la fin de ce premier opus nous promet une suite qui s’annonce vraiment palpitante!

[Anna · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fairly standard story of secret vampire police squadron, featuring a recently-added member whose transformation is covered up by faking his death, though his childhood friend/probably love interest, now a plucky tabloid reporter, refuses to believe he's dead. The art is nice, showing some skill at expressive faces, and it gets an extra star for giving the side-character (our hero's comrade, turned at the same time as him) some poignant background development that rounds out his personality so he's more than just the comic relief. I also liked the touch that the characters' vampire classifications (different vampire-types (species?) having different power-levels) and human military ranks were contradictory, throwing their social ranking upside down (the private was turned by a higher-ranking vamp than his superior officer). I hope they play more with that angle.
Minuses: I didn't like the time-jumps used: it does that things where the opening scene seems to happen a bit after the end of the volume (maybe halfway though vol.2), and we spend the rest of the volume catching up to that point, with a few flashbacks mixed in. Fine, except it took awhile to piece together the fractured timeline, leading to confusion. Also, the mad-scientist squadmate was a little too over the top; it strains credulity that someone so obviously unstable would be allowed 'out in the wild' instead of keeping him confined to HQ where his skill-set could be exploited more safely.
I am willing to give this series another volume based on the art quality and side-character development to see if they make something more of this than the standard secret-vamp-cops story it seems on the surface.

[78sunny · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dieser Auftakt hat mich positiv überrascht. Es geht hier um den jungen Soldaten Shutaro, der auf dem Schlachtfeld zum Vampir gewandelt wird. Da er besonders willensstark ist, wird er in der Spezialeinheit 16 ausgenommen in der Vampire, die sich kontrollieren können, gegen die wilde Vampire kämpfen. Diese Truppe aus gerade mal 4 Vampiren, ist wirklich ein genialer und interessanter Haufen. Jeder ist komplett anders, hat besondere Fähigkeiten und es macht Spaß diese ausgefallenen Charaktere zu begleiten. Doch Shutaro hat eine Jugendfreundin (Aoi), der er geschworen hat, immer für sie da zu sein. Diese ist nun völlig allein, da Shutaro als Vampir keinen Kontakt mehr zu ihr haben darf. Doch so ganz kann er das nicht akzeptieren und auch Aoi will nicht locker lassen und glaubt, dass Shutaro noch lebt. Nebenbei verfolgen wir auch ihr Leben, da sie als Journalistin versucht mehr über die Vampirmorde herauszufinden. Dabei gerät sie natürlich auch in Gefahr.
Ich finde die ganze Story, das Thema und die Charaktere unglaublich originell. Die Zeitsprünge, die gemacht werden, fand ich etwas störend. Da hätte ich mir eine andere Erzählweise gewünscht, aber das ist auch alles was ich zu bemängeln habe.
Die Geschichte war teilweise überraschend emotional für einen Manga, was mir sehr gefiel. Der Zeichenstil ist genau das was ich liebe. Er ist eher Comicartig, spielt viel mit starken Kontrasten und die Gesichter sind einfach genial und ausdrucksstark.
Die Reihe wird definitiv weitergelesen.

Story 4,4/5
Emotionen 4,6/5
Charaktere 4,6/5
Unterhaltung 4,4/5
Zeichenstil 5+/5
Lesegefühl 4,4/5
Gesamt 4,6/5

[Кіра Ендрю · Rating 4 out of 5]

Це дуже насичена й динамічна манґа, де події перемішані в часі й місцями незрозумілі одразу, але під кінець все встає на місця та обривається потужним кліфхенгером на наступний том.

Мені сподобалася мальовка, особливо там, де статичні сцени (в динаміці я все ще плутаюся, хто де й куди) й харизматичні персонажі. Рідко так буває, щоб характер кожного став зрозумілим одразу з першого тому, але тут автори постаралися. Мабуть, тому що "розмазувати" зав'язку немає куди — в історії всього три томи.

Сюжет в принципі схожий на якісь інші аніме, що я дивилася, проте світ цікавий й добре прописаний. Це по суті альтернативна історія, де йдеться про російсько-японську війну та її наслідки, але з упором на спецпідрозділ з вампірами. Є елементи стімпанкової естетики та місцевий "божевільний вчений", який прагне проводити експерименти. Цей хлопець прибацаний на всю голову, тому вже став моїм улюбленцем 😅

Не оминула оповідь і щємкі теми втрат на війни та смерті близьких, тому останній розділ довелося читати крізь сльози. Авторам дійсно вдалося передати стан тих родин, родичі яких не повернулися з фронту. Щоправда, з деяким нюансом: ті не загинули остаточно. Тож на подальшу зустріч принаймні деяких з них точно можна.

P.S. зустріла в тексті слово "кровосісі", вжите в іронічному сенсі одним з негативних героїв, і заволала як гієна 😅 От де мемна відсилка в тему і не вибивається з атмосфери.

[Vivienne Garrido · Rating 5 out of 5]

Esteticamente falando, se passa no período Taisho que é de longe o que considero mais bonito em desenvolvimento das artes tanto no ocidente quanto no oriente, logo já me conquista fácil pelo visual e também por ter os signores de la nuit com suas auras emboadas de mistérios e melancolia...

A história vai crescendo com perdas, impasses, política, generosidades e amor, adoro como há o bom uso de símbolos que firmam o caráter do enredo. Personagens cativantes, que aguçam o interesse pela força, em vários aspectos, pela lealdade, argúcia mental e inesperadamente gentileza, são militares, não mais humanos, mas têm decisões humanistas, por assim dizer, até certo ponto claro. Tipo de obra que fico feliz de não ter imaginado que poderia existir, mas encontrei no caminho.

A experiência do anime expande isso com texturas e riqueza musical, vira uma obra prima extasiante para amantes de ópera e teatro.

[Dylan · Rating 3 out of 5]

If the one-page author's note included at the end of this volume was instead presented as the front matter, I think my appreciation for this one would've been increased.

Sadly, I didn't really care about this book in the earliest chapters, which meant that I was reading for the sake of reading without any investment. It would've been more effective if the first chapters were spent making connections with the main character so that when they are turned into a vampire (this is not a spoiler, it's literally the premise of the series) you would actually care about the consequences. Of course, that's asking that this be entirely rewritten, essentially, but in terms of narrative structure, it would prove all the more affecting for the reader.