Mars Red: How to introduce a character

 

"That was weird in a way that I was interested, creeped out, engaged and completely confused at the same time for all the duration of the episode.

I have no real idea where this is going, this seemed like a prologue. There was barely any action which I don't complain about but this being about vampires I'm interested on how they'll do it if the want to stay away from it.

Finally, I found the animation good for what it showed. It was slow and no action in it, so if it is bad, it might not be showing. That said the direction, composing, even the music and sound design were absolutely gorgeous."

This was one of the top posts on the discussion for the first episode of Mars Red. (Courtesy of Frankuck99) And the reason why I picked out this comment in particular is because it seemed to echo what the majority's, and even my, feelings on what was a beautifully confusing mess of a first episode. 

Now I don't want to sound like a snob, but whenever I watch a show, one of the first questions I'll ask myself is: "What is the point?"

What is the point to, for example, 86 that is airing this season? From the first episode, the anime shows us that our protagonist Lena is the only commander who treats this highly-discriminated group of soldiers with human rights. We see her get completely distraught when she fails to do so but still, she holds true to her ideals even when the entire system was adamant on telling her otherwise. And like a cruel twist of fate, the hook of the series reveals itself to her and to us at the end as well -- The new squadron of yours has made people gone insane till the point of blasting their brains out with a shotgun. Good luck, commander!

In one episode, we understand a few things. We learn about the character motivation of Lena, which is to change the system to respect the 86s' human rights. We learn about the enemy, the racism that Lena is bound to face. And we learn about the personal stakes; To fail in leading the new squad means to die.

Motivation, enemy, stakes -- Those are probably the most fundamental ways to create a meaningful first episode. In our busy lives, we look for these first twenty-four minutes to present itself to us, quite literally like a show-and-tell; Introduce us to who you are and what kind of person you are. We want to know why we should be interested and invested, and even though us anime fans love our "three episode" rule, I doubt anybody will disagree that almost all our most beloved anime has first episodes that are truly memorable. You can ask the master of the pilot episode hooks, Shounen Jump, about this one.

Now then, what is the first episode hook for Mars red? People seem to love the music. Understandable, its opening symphony is pretty rad. Good animation, good direction, good composing; Ingredients of a highly successful show. But... Confusing? To further quote: "I don't know what I just watched but I like it"? 

"Honestly I have no clue how the story is going to develop and whether it will be good or not, but the art, music and direction were all top tier." (Courtesy of Melongrip)

Do you know what that sounds like to me? It sounds like the moment during show-and-tell when you were just nodding off till suddenly the cute girl in your class starts presenting, and there is literally no way in hell you care about whatever she is saying, but you damn well am making sure that every single word enters your brain.

We only learn that our main male lead's fiance is the vampire during the last 5 minutes! I just can't get this thought out of my head. We spent seemingly minutes upon minutes not truly understanding what was supposedly the emotional crux of the show, until the last 5 damn minutes! We see this weird vampire lady dancing around performing some kind of play none of us know about, and this soldier who just goes around speaking with people who we don't know whether we should remember or care about, about vampires who are described in such vague terms that we don't even know what we should be afraid about. 

Where are my exposition dumps from my main character telling me that their life goal is to avenge their family? Where are the gruesome, bloody scenes that show the carnage that the vampires can inflict? Where are my juicy stakes whereby my sister would remain as a vampire if I don't kill the big Michael Jackson ripoff? 

Okay, not to rip on Demon Slayer too hard (I like the show), but you catch my drift. In fact, why I am so surprised is in the fact that I shouldn't be. Like I said, the emotional crux of the show was right there to begin with: The vampire was Misaki, Nakajima's Fiance. You have the character motivation and emotion, ala him feeling sad that his fiance is now a monster. You get the enemy, ala he is forced to put down his fiance cause of military laws. You get the stakes -- He loses someone he cares about. This is the sort of thing you introduce to us immediately upon the first five minutes of the show, and then you build upon it for the rest of it, to which you play up the tragedy of the death (and this is without losing the epic symphony). 

Imagine this episode going in that direction, with the same directing, composition and music that everyone loved. Imagine how much more everyone will love the show. They will probably even call that the best opening of this season! And just imagining that is why this is so intriguing to me. Why did the writers leave all of that, last?

Title-holder

I don't know if there is a proper term or technique for this in literature, but for now, I will just name it as title-holder. A title is something that we all intrinsically have. For example, if we go to school, our title will be "student". If you are close to someone, you can be known as "a friend" but if they only know you through someone else, you are maybe known as "his brother" or "her friend".

If I will to ask you to give a title, for example, to Nezuko from Demon Slayer only based off of the first episode, what title will you associate her with? Chances are its either "cute anime girl" or "Tanjirou's sister". The reason why you will be so quick to associate her to Tanjirou is because the anime spares no little effort in emphasizing and connecting you to that fact. The writer, like I said, wanted you to instantly understand the connection between Nezuko and Tanjirou so that her becoming a demon would instantly create the emotional hook; Nezuko being Tanjirou's sister is the point of the show and why we watch it.

Now, try this thought experiment but on Misaki, no, before she became Misaki. Try this thought experiment on the first 18 minutes of Mars Red on the lady vampire before her identity reveal. Wipe your mind from the title that is Nakajima's fiance and watch the scene once again as a "first time viewer". 

At this point through exposition dialogue, we understand that there is a vampire that is a stage actress being locked up. She no longer has a sane mind as "conversation with her is sometimes possible". Plus, the characters have to traverse deep underground and pass many iron bunkers just to reach her cell, raising a lot of danger flags.

At first she doesn't respond, inanimate almost, making me somewhat put off by her and her hint of threat. But upon receiving her play script, my initial impression of her subverted itself completely. Her voice was gentle, and yet somewhat hiding regret, exaggerated by her gazing up to a sky that doesn't exist. Her first introduction was not of hers, but a character she plays; A girl named Salome. She cares for a man  -- a man I do not know or care for -- Yet ultimately remember because of how much emphasis she calls out his name "Jokanaan", dragging out the syllables like she longs for each of them. At this point, I was simply pulled in by her voice alone. She may not be "herself" but I was charmed, almost seduced. 

She plays not just herself as well, but others. She was seemingly embodying her lover afterwards. She gestures as she was "seeing the moon". As if it was just like her love, she reached out and grasped at a flickering light that was ultimately out of reach. And when she thinks about her lover's virginity, she even lusts, clasping her own shoulders tight. Now, I was not just charmed by her voice, but her pale hands and long finger nails. 

And lastly, she even engages a dialogue by herself in Rakugo-style, being able to form unique vocals more surprising than her initial gentle voice. Now, I am charmed not only by her physical traits, but by her passion and skill towards acting.

Three of my biggest impression of who she is; Her sweet voice, her long finger nails and her passion -- And this was all done without knowing a single thing about her, without knowing her title. Imagine this, what if instead of this introduction, you get a scene whereby upon meeting, Nakajima says "Misaki" and reveals her as his fiance. Nakajima might continue to act unfazed, but for the next few scenes, we will probably be having subconscious expectations for Misaki. Now, we expect her to either --

1) Be the motivation, to be the damsel in distress waiting to be saved by her husband

2) Be the emotional baggage, to conflict her husband on whether to kill her or not

Both of such expectations will make her the secondary focus to our main focal protagonist, which while doesn't sound that bad, is actually quite harmful to Misaki's character when you think deeper about it. After the reveal our full attention will be focused solely on Nakajima's reactions. We subconsciously want to know how he feels about his fiance being turned into a vampire, we want to know what he will do next. We just want to know more about him, our protagonist -- We now don't have time to spend one full minute just watching Misaki dance around, that shit will just be too jarring after the reveal.

Us viewers place so much attention on the protagonist role of any show. Through the hundreds of shows that we watch, we have come to link the protagonist to be the driver of a show. Their goals is where we ultimately expect the story to head. Their fights are often where the biggest climax are. Their stakes are where the biggest tension comes from. It is not a stretch to say that the protagonist is where we often look for if we want to learn the point of a show. 

But in that one minute, we barely even get a single reaction from Nakajima or thought about him. In that one minute, all our attention was on this intriguing woman performing. In that one minute, Misaki was our protagonist.

On my second rewatch?

I don't want to jump to a conclusion to say that Misaki's "delayed" reveal was better than other conventional introductions. After all I'll have to admit, on my first watching, I had the very same "what the hell is going on" thought running through my head. Having your show run seemingly directionless for 18 minutes was bound to lose the majority of your audience.

However what I do want to state is that it is because of the delayed reveal that I found myself utterly intrigued. So many possible interpretations opened up. For example, did Misaki herself knew since the beginning that her fiance was Nakajima? Did Nakajima knew about Misaki? If one of them did know, then why did none of them bring up such an important thing to begin with? Why did no one show a reaction? And thus, begun the rewatch. 

I was invested in going back through the episode and sifting through the character dialogues and scenes. It was because of that intrigue that I rewatch Misaki's one minute performance and found so much more character in it which I had missed. All my thoughts of "what the hell is going on" that once distracted me was gone. With my new need to dissect the characters, so was the characters born anew in my mind.

Like, look at this reaction from Misaki when she noticed that Nakajima was smoking. On my first viewing, I thought nothing of this weird one-off shot, but now, it gives so much more personality to Misaki. Did this gesture change in meaning between the first viewing and my rewatch? Probably not. But was this so much cuter and more meaningful? Yes! Because now I am invested to know about her.

If you were to ask me whether the writers of this show purposefully delayed the reveal so as to increase the rewatchability, I won't be able to answer that with confidence. This might just have been a happy coincidence. But what I will say is that I am hundred percent sure that the writers placed a lot of care to portraying the character of Misaki.

In many shows, this would have been someone throwaway. Everything is meant to just build up to their death, which is ultimately serving for the emotional needs and growth of the main character. In those shows, you don't need to give them anything more than just the basic cookie-cutter personalities. Mars Red feels differently. It sees value in showing us the details, from the animated passion for acting to even the delicate care drawn on their finger nails. 

I might not have known Misaki for long. But god, now I fucking miss her.

What is the point of Mars Red?

Everyone has different answers to this question. And often times, we have high expectations. We want shows to truly impress us, or to fill up some specific niche of others and tell us all about it in its first 24 minutes.

That is why Mars Red's first episode feel so special to me now. It felt as if the writers fought against all conventional story-telling instincts of appealing to the masses and told us: "No, instead of us watching you, we will have you watch us."

It's respect. You do that only when you have respect for your audience.