Mars Red

I thought the first and last two episodes of Mars Red were really great, but unfortunately, the rest of this anime series is rather average, even weak at times. The first episode’s aesthetic and theatrical style of storytelling and exposition is surprising, making you feel like you are watching a theatrical performance. The use of Oscar Wilde's Salome was a pleasant surprise; after all, in Japan, they mostly borrow from Shakespeare’s plays (and even his works turn up eventually), as well as the well-used Vivaldi’s "Four Seasons" (Summer is used at the beginning of the twelfth episode). However, the second episode is then a big come down, where everything is suddenly told in a more conventional form (for an animated series) and even though the subject matter is pretty respectable, the main storyline is not really anything unexpected, spectacular or even engaging. In fact, I even became bored with it after some time, from which I was occasionally snapped out of by an interesting subplot with one of the supporting characters. In short, the charm of the first episode was definitely lost and it only returned in the last two episodes, which I enjoyed and, especially thanks to what I think was a good job with the well-produced soundtrack, I got a bit more enjoyment out of it than I originally expected. Still, even though the impression of the finale is quite good and I even found the after post-credits scene enjoyable to some degree, I just cannot forget the rather average to below-average three-quarters of this anime series. Still, I can easily end up right in the middle with the overall rating. I am awarding this five out of ten. (2021.06.29)