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Mars Red TV Anime Reveals 2 More Cast Members, April 2021 Debut

The official website for the television anime of Bun'ō Fujisawa's MARS RED dramatic stage reading productions revealed two more cast members on Sunday, as well as the show's April 2021 debut.

The new cast includes:

Kōichi Yamadera as Tokuichi Yamagami, a smart vampire who is part of the Code Zero unit, but low-ranking

Miyuki Sawashiro as Deffrot, the oldest vampire, who has the appearance of a child

The anime's story features the members of the "Code Zero" unit, and stars:

• Tasuku Hatanaka as Shutaro Kurusu, an A-class vampire and rookie on the squad
• Junichi Suwabe as Yoshinobu Maeda, captain of Code Zero and the “most powerful human”
• Akira Ishida as Takeuchi, a D-class vampire and mad scientist with an immortal brain
• Kenichi Suzumura as Suwa, a veteran vampire since the Edo era

Other cast members include: (left to right)

• Ayahi Takagaki as Misaki, the actress playing the protagonist in "Salome"
• Makoto Furukawa as Rufus Glenn, a mysterious Englishman
• Fumiko Orikasa as Aoi Shirase, Kurusu's childhood friend and a reporter
• Hiroshi Yanaka as Sōnosuke Nakajima, a lieutenant general
• Sachi Kokuryu as Shinnosuke Tenmaya, the head of the Tenmaya employment agency

Funimation, which is co-producing the anime with Yomiuri TV Enterprise, describes the story:

MARS RED takes place in 1923, and vampires have existed for quite a while. But now, the number of vampires is increasing and a mysterious, artificial blood source called Ascra has appeared.
The Japanese government, in turn, creates “Code Zero,” a unit within the army tasked with taking down the vampiric forces. And what better way to track vampires than by using vampires?
Created by Lieutenant General Nakajima, this unit has historically been in the business of information war, but has been re-assigned to solve the vampire crisis. It's up to Code Zero and the S-class vampire Deffrot to investigate this increase and put a stop to it before society crumbles.

Kouhei Hatano (Freezing Vibration, Angels of Death episode director) is directing the anime at Signal.MD. Jun'ichi Fujisaku (Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, Blood+, Blood-C, The Beast Player Erin) is writing and supervising the scripts. Kemuri Karakara (Donten ni Warau), who is drawing the franchise's manga adaptation, is credited for the original character designs. Yukari Takeuchi (Norn9) is adapting those designs for animation. Original creator Bun'ō Fujisawa is the sound director. Cellist Toshiyuki Muranaka (In This Corner of the World) is composing the music.

The first stage production of MARS RED debuted in 2013, with more shows in 2015 and 2017. Karakara launched the manga adaptation in Mag Garden's Monthly Comic Garden magazine on January 4.

Sources: MARS RED anime's website, Comic Natalie