Even as things start the shake themselves out in Mars Red, we still have a lot of unknown factors.  I can’t shake the feeling, though, that – as with most good vampire stories – this series is at heart a tragedy.  The existence of vampires in this mythology is a tragedy, really.  Takeuchi is an exception but generally speaking, even the ones who’ve survived and adapted for a long (maybe very long) time have a sense of fatalism about them.  They understand what they’ve lost and can never regain, and give off a vibe as if they’re simply waiting for their time and to come and will go without much of a struggle (as Yamagami did) when it does.

Shutaro is sort of in-between in this sense.  He (along with Yamagami) seems the most distinctly human of any of the vampires we’ve met.  He’s apparently lost little of his idealism or innocence.  While he’s found a place helping Tenmaya-san, he agonizes over his aloneness in the world and longs for the company of his comrades.  Ayame, oldest of the three child vampires Kurusu rescued last week, tells him of a rumor of a masked killer preying on child vampires near Tsukishima Island.  I might ask why he failed to check there already as it was Code Zero’s HQ, but perhaps he was afraid of what he might find.

What he finds, in fact, is a phonograph playing a message from Maeda (in fact left by Rufus) telling whoever hears it to kill “larval” vampires and Kurusu himself.  He also finds Suwa in the act of doing just that (to a child vampire), and the two of them set about fighting.  Takeuchi eventually arrives and puts a stop to it with one of his natto stink-bombs (just the thought nauseates me) but Suwa has a lot of explaining to do.  And he’s not the sort of fellow who’s fond of explaining.

Suwa’s reason for doing what he’s been doing cuts to the heart of this episode.  The plight of these child vampires is truly desolate.  They’re of no use to Nakajima of course, as they can’t be turned into soldiers.  They’ll never grow, so staying in one place and blending in is impossible.  They’re weak in all the ways vampires are weak, and strong in none of the ways they’re strong.  In Suwa’s ancient mind, he’s doing them a favor by ending their miserable existences.  I get his perspective, but Shutaro simply can’t think that way – it’s not how he’s wired, human or vampire.

Tenmaya is the only refuge for these miserable souls, but it’s not sustainable.  There’s talk of a hidden vampire village somewhere outside Tokyo, but that sounds like a siren’s song to me.  In any event it’s the stated and probably only hope to save any of these people, and things are sure to only get worse in Tokyo.  Nakajima is growing more and more embittered and unhinged, as the government continues to defy his wishes.  Food is scarce and more refugees are appearing all the time.  And the vampire units continue to patrol the night, terrifying humans and vamps alike.

I spoke of wild cards, and there are two whose role in the denouement remains something of a mystery.  Maeda is alive – we knew that – but has made no attempt to contact the others.  He could play a part in the final act, depending on which side (if any) he chooses.  And then there’s Defrott, who seems to have taken to silently wallowing in depression as the Tokyo he knew slips away forever.  We don’t know how powerful Defrott truly is, but surely it’s more powerful than any vampire we’ve seen.  And just as surely he won’t content himself to be a passive observer forever.  Just what the means in practical terms, however, is very much an open question.