The Mars Daybreak is a science fiction anime series that was co-produced by TV Tokyo, Dentsu, and Bones.

The series is set in the future, where the planet Mars is covered in one massive ocean except for the peak of Olympus Mons. The planet's economy is based mostly on water, which is Mars' main export. However, a cease fire in the Pan-Galactic war has reduced the demand for the export of water, and driven Mars' economy into recession.

On Mars, there are pirates who use submarines to raid Mars' city-ships for supplies. The most feared of these vessels is the Ship of Aurora, where the crew resell the booty they steal cheap, so it can be redistributed to the less fortunate. The pirates have become such a problem that the Earth government (which also controls Mars) uses elite units to deal with the piracy threats. Special underwater mecha, called Round Bucklers, are used underwater to fight the pirates.

The main character of the series is a young man named Gram. He is fired from yet another job due to the recession. He is approached by a man offering him a job to help steal goods from military warehouses. Gram refuses, but one of his friends goes to help instead. Gram goes to the warehouse to help his friend. As he's there, the Ship of Aurora attacks, and Gram falls into the ocean while saving his friend. Gram is saved by a Round Buckler that appears to come from a pendant that Gram is wearing. With this mysterious link, Gram ends up joining up with the team on the Ship of Aurora.

The Mars Daybreak tries to incorporate some 3D computer graphics (especially when the Ship of Aurora is going through the water), but the computer graphics end up calling too much attention to themselves, which can be distracting to a viewer.

As for the writing, I found the pacing to be a little on the slow side. By the end of the first episode, I found myself thinking that the majority of the characters really hadn't been developed much. This makes it harder for me to motivate myself to watch more of the series later, because I didn't really feel like I knew most of the characters well enough to really be able to care about what happened to them.

There was really nothing inappropriate in the visuals for this series for younger viewers. However, with the pacing of the storytelling, I don't think younger viewers would want to sit down and watch this series. Personally, I would recommend The Mars Daybreak to anime viewers who are 13 or 14 years of age and older.

Title	Episodes	Release Year(s)	Director	Studio	N.A. Licensor
The Mars Daybreak	26	2004	Kunihiro Mori	Bones	Bandai Entertainment