Mars Red – 05

「ペルソナ・ノン・グラータ」 (Perusona Non Gurāta)
“Persona Non Grata”

Methinks something rotten is in the state of vampire-ridden Japan, with undreamt of possibilities of intrigue in the government’s philosophy. Japan imports S-Rank vampires for their army, while Glenn hints at Britain’s own plan for using the undead. It is no coincidence that Code Zero is dissolved when the British S-Ranks land on Japanese soil. The vampire forces consisting of foreigners who owe no loyalty to the Japanese government makes it easy for Japan to become the invaded rather than the invaders. A secret invasion would be the most reasonable explanation for one country to provide their high-class forces to another country vying for world domination. We don’t know what Japan’s end of the bargain was- perhaps a promise of neutrality with Great Britain (although paper agreements are easily ignored).

The government sees the vampires as weapons, depersonalizing them so far as to refer to them as “units”. Glenn also treats his vampires as products-bringing them playthings and bloody refreshments (I don’t think they use tomatoes in their cocktails!) while confining them to a glorified pen until the transaction occurs. Just because they are undead doesn’t mean vampires don’t have their own wills and emotions. The vampire couple from a few episodes ago, Yamagami with his wife, and Suwa with the prostitute have achingly demonstrated that vampires are capable of emotions powerful enough to motivate their actions. The downfall of both governments will be insisting that vampires have lost all vestiges of humanity and can therefore be controlled.

Among the British vampires, the higher ranked undead look down on the lower-ranked Glenn, even though he does the planning and caretaking. Glenn never protests his treatment. Was he aware that these S Ranks’ time in the proverbial sun was limited? When Nakajima kills the S Rankers, Glenn survives and is more impressed than shocked at the secret vampire unit. Was Glenn aware of Nakajima’s plan?

At this crucial time, Colonel Maeda is hospitalized- supposedly due to fatigue. Recent episodes showed him clutching his chest, implying heart pain rather than exhaustion. Is it really fatigue or is there another condition? It would fit with Nakajima’s cunningness to plan a hospital stay for Maeda on his secret unit’s release date to ensure there would be no interference.

Maeda’s suffering is not only physical, but also emotional, with repressed grief for Misaki. Misaki was apparently investigating something she shouldn’t have, something affecting Maeda’s father and that she wanted to apologize for. Could Misaki have found something linking Maeda’s father to one of the vampire intrigues? If Misaki got in too deep while investigating, it would make sense that Deffrot would silence her.

Shirase visits Maeda, snooping for information on Kurusu. Between making clear her determination to find Kurusu and contacting scheming vampires, Shirase is blindly placing herself in a situation where she could be murdered by vampires for blood experiments or killed by the military for investigating confidential information. Another possibility could be that she and Maeda cooperate in a shared quest to uncover the truth about their loved ones. With her cheerful personality and his moroseness, this seems like a genki-girl and somber guy pairing in the works, although this show hasn’t stooped to such stereotypes yet, so maybe it won’t go in that direction.

Our Code Zero crew is placed in the uncomfortable position of realizing they didn’t get the memo about the new immortal vampire unit. The military officials didn’t get the memo either for that matter. Nakajima’s ineffectiveness was a front to hide the menacing forces he was developing. While having a unit of immortals would provide the efficiency the higher-ups were asking for, it would also create a problem if the vampires decided to rebel, as there would be no way for the humans to regain control over them.

Nakajima is no better than the officials who cared more about results than the members. With the unveiling of his secret force, Nakajima brushes aside the old Code Zero and uses S-rank vampires as targets to prove his unit’s strength. Unleashing them en-masse will alarm the public-something Maeda sought to avoid. Now, Code Zero is stuck between the vampires they need to contain and the immortal vampires they need to evade. Maeda will have a lot to deal with after his hospitalization and it already looks like he is tackling one mystery by heading to the underground rooms where Misaki was kept in episode one.

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