Mars Daybreak Volume 1 (DVD) - Anime Reviews


	Number of Episodes 5 Language Options English/Japanese/English Subtitles Released by Bandai Entertainment Extras - Textless Opening/Closing Animation
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Mars Daybreak Volume 1 (DVD)

Mars is now almost entirely covered in water. Humanity exists in large city-ships that float through the open seas. But life is hard for those who live on Mars – the economy is in bad shape, work is scarce, and food is expensive and highly prized. Gram and his friends try to do the best they can, but the work keeps drying up.

Some have taken to a life of piracy to combat the corruption of the government, one such group is the pirates of the feared Ship of Aurora. And the Earth government, which rules Mars, has dispatched a new team of military pilots to combat them. In their specialized mecha called Round Bucklers, they must make the seas of Mars safe for humanity.

Caught in the wrong place at the wrong time, Gram finds himself on the run with the most notorious pirates on Mars. But here’s the thing – he’s starting to like them!

Science fiction series can make for entertaining anime, if they are done right. Mars Daybreak is a newly brought over property (about a year-old or so) and so it incorporates high quality animation with a darn interesting story and some strong characters.

Episode 01: Raid! The Ship of Aurora

The planet Mars has been terra-formed for human use and has become a gorgeous water-filled world, however, for the people living there it certainly isn’t paradise. Unemployment is high, food is hard to get, and people are more and more willing to do anything to survive. Besides humans, technology has allowed for the creation of additional sentient races – dolphins, cats, and some other animals can be found working and interacting with people. Our protagonist Gram, is a kind of easy-going guy but very caring towards his friends, and after another pink-slip from work he returns home to find an offer waiting for him. He’s offered a percentage from a theft of a government facility (that he was just fired from) if he will offer intel to them; he refuses, but one of his friends (Bon) doesn’t.

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Bon takes the job, but when the mission falls apart, he’s left behind; but Gram jumps to action the moment he’s discovered what happened. While saving his friend, the storage area comes under attack by the Ship of Aurora (a pirate vessel) and they are going to raid it.

At the defense perimeter, the local defenders are joined by a task force sent from Earth and are trying to repel the attackers. However, the pirates pull no punches

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and even send out their ace pilot, Yagami, who uses a very different Round Buckler than everyone else (it’s their personal armored suits, I’ll now abbreviate as RB). The ramming of the depot, causes some shaking of the facility and both Bon and Gram are knocked onto a perilous ledge. Gram sends Bon up first then will follow, but the ledge collapses while he’s climbing and he falls into the water. While underwater, another BC appears and picks up Gram… but there’s no pilot. He’s quite confused, and is now piloting a weapon in the middle of an attack as is confused as one of the pirates by the taskforce. Engaging their BCs, he manages to take out 2 of the 3 before being disabled himself but Yagami saves him and drags him back to base (taking him as spoils). On ship, everyone notices that the new BC resembles Yagami’s but before anyone can question Gram, the Captain offers him a job.

Episode 02: Ferocious Attack! Round Buckler!

Back in the city, one member of the taskforce is sitting at home watching the news highlights of the attack on the depot from yesterday. She’s not particularly happy about losing, but is shocked to see that one of the people in the raid is Gram (who has been “declared” a pirate for his presence during the raid). As he’s getting ready to leave the ship after his work is complete, Yagami comes up to Gram and suggests that he remain aboard and make some more money. Gram seems skeptical until he learns how much the pay is, but before he can decide, the Captain throws him a sword and rushes in with her own cutlass while yelling that she doesn’t want anyone who can’t pull their own weight aboard. The Captain is attacking mercilessly, and Gram is not faring well until she calls for an end to the battle and charges. In the exchange, Gram is disarmed but he managed to strike her head because her hair-band is torn. She decides to allow him to remain and calls for a general feast to celebrate the new crew member and successful raid.

During the party, their contact ship that is picking up some of the supplies has arrived and some of the crew are arranging the transfer. The supplies will supposedly be resold to the needy, and so the captain is taking a small amount of their value. At the time, Gram is meeting with the Captain and recognizes one of the men from Bon’s attempted theft in the depot. He rushes after him, but doesn’t get there in time; so he gets in his BC and reclaims the supplies on the ice-surface. However, he lingers on the surface for a moment which draws the attention of a satellite which then deploys bombers after him. The bombing run breaks up the iceberg, and the Ship of the Aurora is now visible from air – prompting a concentrated attack. All BCs are launched and the crew is now at battle stations against the attack of incoming torpedoes and enemy BCs. The continuing attack is intense, and so the Captain is forced to order a counter-attack: a wire-guided torpedo to the launching area for the military. Except the torpedo is intercepted and the wire cut; this live warhead is no longer receiving information and will now hit the city downtown – Gram won’t have any of this and guides the torpedo by hand into the bay. Yagami congratulates him and is going to guide him back to base, but Gram doesn’t want to considering how the attack was his fault. Yagami insists and restrains his BC and drags him back to base. On the side, the same girl from the taskforce sees the video of Gram on the surface, she knows him by name and even sighs about him becoming a pirate. She holds a picture of the two of them.

Episode 03: Junior’s Deployment Dream Fulfilled

Junior (the young man that works in Engineering) dreams of piloting a BC, especially Yagami’s or Gram’s but that doesn’t seem particularly likely. When he approaches Gram about it, he says that he will as long as he pays him 200 dollars (an amazing amount of money for a young kid). Junior is racking his brain trying to figure out how to make the money when he comes across Gram is making a mint cooking (his cooking is light-years beyond the food served normally on the ship); and so he asks Gram to make him an employee. While working with Gram, he’s trying to learn more about him, but he’s quite reserved in revealing any information. Junior reiterates that he really wants to be a BC pilot but when Yagami hears this, he says that he doesn’t think that he has what it takes to be a good pilot. Junior is extremely upset at Yagami’s blunt response and runs away. Back in the city, we learn a little about the female member of the taskforce – her name is Vestamona Lauren: she’s originally from Mars, and is the adopted daughter of one of the most powerful corporations (The Lauren Corporation). She still fondly remembers her time with Gram, but isn’t exactly the most people-friendly person in the military. The taskforce is going to head out on a test run of their new equipment that Vestamona finished prepping.

Junior turns up in the launch bay, and has decided to steal Gram’s BC for a joyride – Gram finds out nearly immediately and follows in one of the work BCs. While zooming around, Junior comes across the taskforce and their 2 BCs and decides that he’s going to prove that he belongs as a pilot and is going to engage them. However, actual battle is a whole lot more intense than the simulations that he’s familiar with and is quickly tied up by Vestamona’s BCs.

They use communication cables to link to the BC and Vestamona tries to talk down who she thinks is Gram; but Junior isn’t particularly pleased to be preached to and he struggles free. Just as he’s being overwhelmed again, Gram catches up and links with his BC and tries to flee the battle, but the cable is severed when they take evasive actions. Junior jumps back into the fight, and is able to disable one of the enemy BCs, but at the cost of his consciousness and some damage to the suit. Vestamona prepares to deliver the finishing blow, but Yagami arrives and so the taskforce must retreat. Back at the Aurora, Junior’s welcome is less than warm and he’s going to be washing dishes to pay back his “debt” to Gram.

Episode 04: Contact! Gram And Vess And A Submarine

The Ship of the Aurora has headed into port to get some repairs at the city ship that they just raided; but with the increase in security, it may be difficult to return later. With that warning, Gram decides to head into the city and visit Bon and his sister. Vestamona and the task force is given a day off, and so despite her drive to work, she heads into her hometown to look around. Almost immediately she runs across an old acquaintance and eventually is roped into helping at her food counter – she has a chance to see many of her old friends, and quickly falls back into the groove. Gram meets with Bon, gives him some food from the ship (which he paid for) and gives him some money to buy medicine for his sister. While going to visit some other people, he comes across a police patrol who recognize him from a poster – and the chase in on! He heads to the food counter, and Vestamona (nicknamed Vess by Gram) recognizes him after a moment and runs out to throttle him. She sees that he’s being chased and so she comes along to help him escape the dragnet.

At the docks, the Captain is happy with the newly finished repairs, but wouldn’t you know it, a sub scratches the entire length of the ship before running away. The Captain wants to chase after it, but Gram hasn’t returned yet and so they can’t leave just yet. The pair eventually make their way into the sewer system, and Gram leads them to the docks. Getting out of the sewers, he prepares to board the Ship of the Aurora but Vess pulls her revolver on him and calls for police support at the docks. She tries to talk him out of piracy, but Gram doesn’t seem particularly interested in changing his ways nor does he think that Vess will shoot… so he moves to point blank range… and kisses her. The Captain is interested in getting out of Dodge, so she yells at him to finish up and board the ship. The police arrive just as the Ship of the Aurora gets under way.

Episode 05: Anna’s Struggle! The Fleet of our Dreams!

The Ship of the Aurora is traveling quietly, but the Captain is still pissed off about the scratch on her repaired sub. The crew sits down for a dinner prepared by Gram, and is watching the usual propaganda from the Administrator of Mars, Anna Grace. Her usual speech is interrupted by Niall Poe of the Mars Liberation Organization, who just uses to chance to remind Anna of her actual power on Mars and to issue orders to the Ship of the Aurora (which he owns). At the end of his speech, Anna learns that the granddaughter (Enora) of the President of Earth has been kidnapped while she was studying on Mars. The kidnappers and the hostage are aboard the submarine that was berthed near the Ship of the Aurora and scratched it. Anna is going to prevent this information from being leaked to Earth (which might cause additional interference from their government) and wants to lead a rescue party on her own. From the intel, they believe that the Ship of the Aurora are the kidnappers and believe that the granddaughter is aboard that ship.

All of this time, the Ship of the Aurora has been tailing the sub in order to get a measure of revenge and is able to catch up once it enters a small ravine. Unfortunately, the Earth Forces have also been tailing and choose this moment to spring their trap; the Ship of the Aurora and the kidnappers are trapped between 5 ships and are going to have to fight their way out. The enemy ships are armed with fireworks, except these ones are filled with liquid nitrogen and when they explode, they form ice formations. So the two submarines are being covered in ice which makes maneuvering more difficult; so much so that the kidnapper’s sub is trapped on the bottom of the ravine. With no recourse, the Captain comes up with an insane plan – she fires a salvo at the flag ship, then shoots out an opening above her with torpedoes while traveling at full power, jumps with that speed, and then uses surface to air missiles to open up a new entrance on their descent. They are no longer trapped, but also no where near the kidnappers.

I must admit that the previews for Mars Daybreak did not interest me very much, and was rather cold about seeing the show. I believe the previews did not do the series justice at all and was very entertained by the first disc. Definitely recommended.

- Tazman

(September 2, 2005)

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