"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 in 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!"

Rather than flesh out the scenario early on, the series seems to be willing to let the audience fill in many of the blanks as to how Mars became a water world and colonized by mankind. Whatever the case, the primary factions shown in the first five episodes were the local Mars government, the ruling Earthers, and the pirates like those on the Aurora (who are tied to a rebel leader of sorts but this relationship isn't completely explained by the end of the DVD). The lead protagonist is Gram, a man in his early twenties who scrapes by on whatever work he can get. His problem is that he gets pissed off easily and those around him aren't as willing to forgive his sins when there are dozens who'll replace him at the drop of a hat. He acts as guardian to a couple of kids and after turning down a creepy guy wanting to break into Gram's last place of employment, finds his charge more than willing to take the job. Needless to say, this leads Gram into a life of crime with circumstances putting him at the helm of a powerful mechanized robot (Round Buckler) and working for the most notorious pirates on Mars in their submarine. As time progresses, he finds out the government propaganda about the pirates to be as accurate as it was about the bright future of Mars so he joins them in their quest to plunder for the masses.

On the other side of the coin is the governmental forces that seek to prevent the pirates from stealing everything not nailed down. One of the troops is a life long friend of Gram and upon seeing him listed as one of the criminals in a warehouse burglary, she takes it personally and tries to apprehend him now that she's assigned to Mars. On the face of it, he's just another thug in her eyes since the supplies the pirates have stolen are desperately needed on the watery world of Mars (water is often considered a virtual universal solvent and the main supply stolen was tons of desiccant needed to prevent the moisture from eating away at the infrastructure of the floating city it was stolen from). Neither side is pure and noble, making their actions all the more interesting as the characters live their lives, fight their battles, and engage in a series of battles for what they believe in.

So, with this fairly limited overview of the first five episodes, you ask me how good it is, yes? Well, that depends on what you're looking for. If you're in the market for a mech-robot fighting show; you'll have that in spades. If you're looking for a bit of political and personal intrigue; you'll have that too, along with some quirky humor that fleshed out the majority of characters quite nicely. On the downside though, there were a lot of stereotypes and clichés of such anime so if you really want a series that breaks a lot of new ground, you're going to be left hanging. I rated it as Recommended due in large part to the way the various aspects of the show were handled and for how much potential it showed but I wasn't without my reservations either so you may want to check it out first but keep in mind that there was a lot to enjoy in making your decision.

Picture: Mars Daybreak 1 was presented in the original 1.33:1 ratio full frame color it was shot in by director Kunihiro Mori for release on Japanese broadcast television. The colors were properly muted for the undersea action, the depressed areas properly dirty as if to convey the underlying economic times, and the elite offices of the provisional government and other factions looked pristine (trying to subtlety push the notion that the upper levels of society have it much better than the rest of us). The animation was the current combination of traditional anime and CGI with decent, if unremarkable, results. The character and setting designs were nicely handled; looking a bit different than the usual offerings you'll see in shows by other companies (this was another collaboration between Emotion and Bones as distributed domestically by Bandai). There were no compression artifacts and I don't think anime fans will be unhappy with the majority of the visuals here.

Sound: The audio was presented with the usual choice of the original 2.0 Dolby Digital Japanese stereo track or the newly made 2.0 Dolby Digital stereo English dub. I liked the vocals of the dub better this time even if a couple of background characters didn't seem to fit all that well. In terms of the sound effects and music, both seemed about equal to me with limited separation between the tracks and a dynamic range less pleasing than some of the other modern releases I've listened to lately. In all though, it was well enough handled that no one should complain too loudly (as some extremists tend to do).

Extras: I'd like to report that there were great extras here, including interviews with both vocal acting casts, the directors, and a host of cool supplements but sadly, that was not the case. The only extras were the clean opening and closing as well as some trailers. Thankfully, there were five episodes on the DVD to mitigate this issue for me.

Final Thoughts: Mars Daybreak 1 was far from a perfect anime release but it contained a lot of interesting aspects and the potential to shape into a very entertaining series. Series like this that rely on a hostile environment (due to both the living and non-living aspects of the planet) can go either way but I think that this one will transcend the routine series I get to see so often in this genre by plundering a host of rich sources to weave a complicated story based on human nature. It was a bit offbeat but that added to the fun for me and I'm guessing it will add to the replay value too. Check it out!

If you enjoy anime, take a look at some of the recommendations by DVDTalk's twisted cast of reviewers in their Best Of Anime 2003 and Best Of Anime 2004 article or regular column Anime Talk