The Winter 2024 Anime Preview Guide

Metallic Rouge

In a world where humans coexist with androids called Neans, a group known as the Immortal Nine rises up against society. Tasked with disposing of the revolters, a Nean named Rouge Redstar (aka Metal Rouge) and investigator Naomi Orthmann head to Mars to track them down...but first, Rouge wants some chocolate.

Metallic Rouge is an original anime project by Studio BONES. The anime series is streaming on Crunchyroll on Wednesdays.

If I hadn't already used up my Meme Score Quota with that Gushing Over Magical Girls preview, I probably would have had to award Metallic Rouge with a GIF of that one Gordon Ramsey clip where he says, “Finally, some f#@&!%& food!” Between the one-two punch of the Sengoku Youko premiere and, now, this, I can't help but revel in all of this good food that we're getting to eat after a week of (mostly) underwhelming new series. (No disrespect to my homies in the Delicious Dungeon, of course.)

Something I really appreciated about Metallic Rouge's premiere is that it's the kind of opener that I feel like you don't see as much of these days—where we're just dropped right into the middle of one of our heroes' missions, and only given scant, passing clues about what the hell is even going on. Granted, this kind of beginning is incredibly hard to do well, so I suppose it is no surprise that a lot of shows have simply not bothered to even try. I guess I could hedge my bets and complain about the overabundance of proper nouns (what are the differences between Neans, Immortal Nines, and Gladiators, again?) and the relative lack of character development for our leads, but I actually really dug this episode's approach to bringing us into its world. The vibes are just pitch perfect for a viewer like me.

Granted, said vibes are very clearly inspired by the likes of Ghost in the Shell and Blade Runner—but cyberpunk and its adjacent genres have always been defined by a liberal use of “homage” and self-referential callouts, so I'm not too bothered. Also? It's cool as shit. I would complain so much about the seasonal glut of worthless isekai clones if some of them managed to look and sound this committed to literally any artistic perspective—let alone the one that makes you want to dig out your old reflective wrap-around shades that you bought back in 1996 and rock out to some Nine Inch Nails and Skinny Puppy.

Besides, you know what neither Blade Runner nor Ghost in the Shell featured nearly enough off? BADASS anime babes (and the occasional murder clown) who transform into color-coded, tokusatsu inspired robot fighters that look like if an Evangelion Unit and a Kamen Rider had a baby who grew up to be obsessed with kung-fu and cosplay. That one simple ingredient automatically makes any show ten times better, and I would be happy to watch Rouge and Naomi's Weekly Adventures at the DMV if it meant that Rouge would get to "henshin!" and kick some robot ass for a couple of minutes before the gang got their licenses renewed.

If nothing else attracts you to Metallic Rouge, the visuals alone should. This sci-fi tale has a lot of familiar elements, but its use of light and color (and, of course, the absence of both) is remarkable in this opening gambit. Even if we don't consider that three characters have color words in their names (rouge = red, giallo = yellow, viola = violet, although that's a bit more of a stretch), the sight of bright curling vines across android skin or the color accents against dark backgrounds and mech suits is striking. The fights are slick, and one character's entrance has so many swooping camera angles that it's almost like being on a roller coaster, in a good way. It's just exciting to look at.

I'm a little less sold on the plot, although it's not without enough to make this an easy show to give a second episode. In an indistinct future, the world seems to be populated by humans and Neans, which appear to be a type of android. Most Neans are easily identified by the lines and patterns on their skin, but we quickly learn that others are indistinguishable from humans, with even their intake ports for the injections that keep them functional hidden behind panels or under clothing. There's a clear social divide between the two types of people, so it's not surprising that Neans who can pass for a human would want to, although the real question is whether or not they also must follow Asimov's Laws, which we know that the more obvious Neans do. More human Neans also have names that help them pass – Sarah Fitzgerald, for example, rather than Scar Head. It's a stratified society, and seeing how it's used as the story unfolds right now seems like one of the most interesting elements of the episode.

There are also rumors of an Immortal Nine, a group of human-like Neans who are immortal and able to don color-themed mech suits for reasons? I'm not sure their purpose, or at least their raison d'être (which would be more personal), is deliberately murky. There's a real risk that underneath these shiny trappings, the story doesn't quite know what it wants to be or do, and that's something that feels more and more of a danger as the episode goes on, and Rouge and Viola end up facing off. There's no rhyme or reason to it, and Giallon being unhinged and using jester iconography doesn't help because it's so pat. But there's still something fascinating about this and the world it's setting up. It may be best to regard it as a prologue and see where it goes from here – especially since "giallo" can also refer to a genre of Italian cinema that uses many slasher elements centered around a mystery.

This would be an easy five if I judged premieres purely on their presentation. Between the appealing and varied designs, moody direction, bold use of color, spectacular action animation, and the all-around fantastic music, everything about watching this episode is a joy. The problem, and what drags down this premiere for me, is that the writing feels needlessly obfuscated in a way that hampers this introduction.

It's not unusual for these kinds of sci-fi-noir stories to start in media res, throwing us into the deep end with characters, conflicts, and world-building, trusting the audience to keep up until all their questions are answered. Done well, that can hook viewers and leave them hungry for more. Here, however, it leaves many blank spaces that would have been a lot more satisfying if they were at least partially filled in. Just something as simple as a hint as to why Rouge is hunting these "immortal" robots, or some hint as to her outlook on killing her kind, would go a long way in giving the climactic fight some narrative weight. As-is, it's a beautifully animated battle, scored to perfection with the cheesy insert song chanting, "THE MOMENT HAS ARRIVED FOR FIGHTING," as brightly colored metal fists fly. Still, I have no idea what I'm supposed to feel about why it's happening or who's fighting.

That disconnect keeps the episode from really functioning as a whole, even as individual characters or scenes are entertaining in their own right. Rouge herself is considerably more spacey and hard to read than expected from all the marketing. Still, she has a certain charm, especially when she's with Naomi, who takes her partner's weirdness in admirable stride. The world-building is undoubtedly familiar if you've watched any cyberpunk story from the last 30 years, but it's still a solid foundation that works perfectly for the tone they've set through this premiere. The action is fast and exciting without wasting too much time or stalling the pacing. There is a good foundation here for a solid, fun show with a high ceiling for spectacle. It's hard to say right now if it has a chance of fulfilling that potential, or if we're just in for a nicely animated waste of time.

The basic plot of Metallic Rouge seems to be that there is a group of immortal androids masquerading as humans on Mars. Rouge, a human-looking android herself, has been tasked with hunting them down and assassinating them. Of course, in this episode, we don't learn why this is—what exactly is wrong with an android living as a human singer and why it is a crime punishable by death. We don't even know if Rouge is actually on the side of the angels—or even if she cares about her situation's moral dubiousness. In the end, all we are left with is a mountain of questions—which is exactly the point.

Simply put, Metallic Rouge is one of those anime that immediately throws you into the deep end in the hope that the absurd amount of mysteries brought up throughout will hook you enough to come back next week for answers. And for the most part, the anime does an okay job at this. It also helps that its cyberpunk Martian setting and great-looking animation go a long way toward making the show visually and thematically appealing.

Unfortunately, the nature of this episode also makes it hard to judge. It is all setup and no payoff—and there's no way to know if it will be worth it when it eventually comes. At the moment, I'm willing to bite—to come back for another episode or two to see what the show is actually about—but that's about it.