Metallic Rouge is Studio Bones celebrating its 10th anniversary by going back to its routes with an original anime series, with an action show about a pair of ambiguously lesbian characters going on a journey – in this case a science fiction trip through various planets in the solar system, in the process uncovering several mysteries about the world. The problem is that the series, at 12 episodes, doesn’t quite have the time to really do justice to all the themes that they want to cover.
Spoilers below the cut.
The concept of the series is that in the future, humanity, with the aid of some alien allies known as the Visitors, created human-form androids called Nean to help them fend off invading hostile aliens known as the Ursurpers. After that war ended, the Neans became a labor force for humanity, with a series of protocols known as the Asimov Code inflicting the Laws of Robotics onto them. However, the cores, or id, of a group of Neans known as the Immortal Nine, could potentially disable the Asimov Code, allowing the Neans to claim their destiny. Complicating this is the fact that the Neans are dependent on a drug known as Nectar to not die – but humans can also get really high on Nectar as well – meaning that not only are Neans second-class citizens with limited rights and no way to fight back, but some humans are willing to just straight up deny Neans the thing they need to live for their own pleasure.
A Nean named Rouge Redstar (the titular Metallic Rouge), with some special combat abilities, is sent to take out the Immortal Nine after they are determined to be responsible for the murder of a scientist who helped design the Nean. Together, with her handler, Naomi, they travel through Mars and Venus to hunt down the Nine and discover the truth of what’s going on.
The core underlying problem with the series is that a lot is going on and not enough time to explore it. There’s the oppressed underclass and class privilege metaphors going on with the Neans. There’s the mystery of the Immortal Nine and why Rouge needs to fight them, and what kind of threat they are. There’s Rouge’s backstory. None of this gets much time to breathe over the course of the series.
What we do get a fair amount of, thankfully, is character interactions. Rouge and Naomi (our ambiguously lesbian leads) have really great chemistry and interplay – which works because as our leads the series lives and dies by their actions. When they do dive into the larger implications of some of the setting – efforts by the Neans to get civil rights, for example – it does become clear that the writers did really think about what they were setting up. Unfortunately, they also only have one cour, which means that all these larger ideas that they definitely thought about are only hinted at, instead of fully being explored – aggravated by the fact that there’s no plans for a second season – and also really not much room for one at the end of the show.
The animation for the series is great, not only in terms of the action scenes, but also some of the character’s facial expressions throughout the show, particularly reactions from Naomi & Rouge. With this are some great performances as well – I particularly need to shout out Hiroyuki Yoshino as Jaron Fate/Hell Giallon – who definitely understood the assignment, that his character thinks he’s Lupin III, and leaned into it hard. Also, one of the big fight themes through the series, “Crimson Lightning” is on the nose in a way that I really appreciate.
It’s just something of a bummer that the show never really has the opportunity to explore everything it’s setting up. It prevents me from giving the show the recommendation that I’d otherwise like.
Metallic Rouge is currently available for streaming on Crunchyroll.
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