The Most Epic Fantasy and Sci-Fi Website

How Many Episodes Will Season 1 of MARS RED Have?


Credit: Signal.MD

MARS RED is a historical horror anime, one of the first to have premiered in the Spring 2021 season. The first episode aired early on Funimation and so far it looks quite artistic with a lot of research on the time period the events unfold. But how many episodes is MARS RED going to have?

First, a little overview of the newest Singal.MD creation: MARS RED takes place in 1923 and follows the main character Yoshinobu Maeda, a lieutenant who is called to return to active duty to tackle a vampire problem. His first task is to investigate the case of an actress who has been infected by a vampire and seems to have lost touch with reality.

How Many Episodes Will Season 1 of MARS RED Have
click to enlarge
+ 2
Credit: Signal.MD

Are contaminated humans beyond saving or is there any hope for them? Can they be useful to those fighting against vampires and is there any room for pity where they're concerned? These are a few of the questions the show is going to touch.

MARS RED is a particularly interesting case, being neither an original anime nor a work that adapts a manga or light novel series. Rather, the source material is a stage reading play by Bun-O Fujisawa. Already, a strong theatrical element is present in the show, evident in the actress' poetic, if tragic insistence to keep reciting her parts even after being infected. Of course, a manga adaptation of the play has since become available, but the fact that the original source is a play, already makes MARS RED an anime different than most.

How Many Episodes Will Season 1 of MARS RED Have 1
click to enlarge
+ 2
Credit: Signal.MD

According to the big anime database MyAnimeList, MARS RED is going to have a total of 13 episodes. Given the show's pacing so far, this seems like a good number that will give us a sufficient flavor of this vampire-ridden Japan, without ending up repetitive or resolving to the "monster of the week" format. It's still a bit early to tell if the MARS RED anime will cover the entire play, but given that plays don't normally run forever, 13 episodes might be enough.

If you're interested in anime that premiere this spring, you might also want to check out To Your Eternity and Shadows House.

Related: Who Does Tohru End Up With in Fruits Basket? Yuki or Kyo Relationship Explained

For more articles like this, take a look at our Anime page.