On some level, I think it’s shows like Mars Red that give me the most joy of all as an anime fan.  Not necessarily the very best (though this series is pretty great), but an unexpected pleasure.  Shows that come from almost completely off my radar (I did preview this one but it was far down the pecking order) to completely entrance me do more to bolster my faith in the medium even than great series that I expected to be great.  As long as anime can still surprise me and gems can be found where you least expect them, it’s hard not to feel hopeful (even if hardly anyone outside Japan seems to be watching).

I’ve suspected (and argued) for a while that Defrott was the key character in determining how the last act of this show will play out.  Rufus seems to have come to the same conclusion, and it’s not surprising.  Defrott is the ultimate wild card here, and as such he poses a great threat to Rufus’ plans (in which Nakajima is surely just a tool) – even if thus far he’s show no inclination to act like one.  Rather, he sulks and wallows is depression over how dismal Tokyo has become – “not beautiful” hardly begins to cover it.  The only one keeping him anchored is the clueless Aoi, who still thinks of him as a child genius.  And Defrott clearly appreciates it, no matter how irritated he acts.

I think it’s pretty safe to assume at this point that Defrott is not evil in any conventional sense.  He’s not a sadist, and appears not to hunt humans in any way in order to survive.  He’s detached to be sure, but not incapable of forming bonds.  When Aoi pushes him to perform a benefit of “Orpheus and Eurydice” at the Imperial Hotel in order to lift the people’s spirits (especially his), Defrott agrees despite panning the play she’s chosen.  Where one might be tempted to say it’s only on stage where Defrott feels truly alive, the ironic truth is closer to his own words – it’s only on stage where he can feel death, even if fleetingly.

With very few exceptions, the vampires in this story – the ones that retain their sense of self – all seem more entranced by the idea of death than anything else.  Takeuchi is a notable exception of course, seeming to take great pleasure in the luxury of time for his intellectual pursuits.  And again ironically, one of those is the nature of vampirism itself – with the promise to potentially (in “one or two hundred years”) offer vamps the chance to age and die.  Ayame is especially taken with this idea.  One gets the sense that if she didn’t have En and Yoh to look after she might have walked into a sunbeam already (though she and Suwa do seem to be showing some chemistry).

Takeuchi’s big dreams – a “cure” for agelessness, a flying machine for Shutaro – and the lure of the escape to the hidden village keep the Tenmaya group looking forward.  But you sense that these are siren’t songs, that their fate has already been decided.  Rufus, meanwhile, shows up at the Imperial to pay his respects to a “noble vampire”, but the mutual disdain between he and Defrott is thick enough to cut with a knife.  Rufus has decided to eliminate this potential threat pre-emptively, using Aoi as bait.  And for all his denials, it’s obvious that Defrott was lured in by more than curiosity.

What seems clear is that Rufus is a pleb of the vampire world, someone far below Defrott in stature – and he definitely seethes over it.  He may have Defrott in a seemingly inescapable and rather elegant trap, but if I were betting I’d say he’s underestimating the one he’s now made into an enemy.  The X-factor here is Maeda, who arrives on the scene seemingly dispossessed of his senses and declaring that he’s going to end all vampires (including himself, presumably).  How he chooses to apply that in the current situation is going to be an interesting reveal.