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Metallic Rouge (TV).


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Tony K.
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Joined: 18 Nov 2003
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Location: Frisco, TX
PostPosted: Wed Jan 03, 2024 3:00 pm Reply with quote


Metallic Rouge (TV)

Source: Original

Demographic:

Animation Studio: Bones

Genres: action, comedy, drama, mystery, science fiction

Themes: androids, artificial intelligence, conspiracy, crime, cyberpunk, detective, factions, Mars, police, transformations

Plot Summary: 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.

Air Date & Platform:
January 10, 2024 (Wednesday)
Available on: Crunchyroll

Episode Count / Runtime: 12 episodes
----------------------------------

Sounds like a female Blade Runner-esque buddy cop show with one being human and other being an android. I also highly recommend the short-lived series Almost Human (2013) starring Karl Urban and Michael Ealy for another contemplative and occasionally banter-filled cyberpunk-inspired buddy cop show.

Not that I can tell if this series will be anywhere near as good. But Bones is usually very reliable, and they did manage to surprise me all those years ago with another original in Darker than Black.

Here's hoping for another pleasant surprise.


Last edited by Tony K. on Fri Apr 12, 2024 5:01 pm; edited 5 times in total
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smurky turkey



Joined: 30 Jan 2022
Posts: 1969
PostPosted: Wed Jan 10, 2024 2:56 pm Reply with quote
Well, that sure was a first episode. It looked great with some amazing views and use of color, it sounded good and the setting is very interesting and not unlike Ghost in the Shell. It takes place on Mars, we have a society in which humans and androids exist and the and the latter do not seem to be treated all that well. As for the rest, the mc works with her partner to take out androids posing as humans while being one herself (possibly a faulty one at that). That is kind of it answers wise, the first episode left a hell of a lot unclear, which makes me curious enough to keep watching.
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Blood-
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Joined: 07 Mar 2009
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PostPosted: Wed Jan 10, 2024 8:27 pm Reply with quote
Episode 1

Well, nobody can accuse this show of overwhelming viewers with info dumps or spoon-feeding pertinent information. However, I think there's a happy balance between doing that and just leaving behind a heap of questions and I don't think this show is striking it. At least not to my taste. Plus, it would be great to watch a SF show that wasn't about, "zomg, what does it mean to be human?" as seen through the lens of cyborg/robot/whatever - human relations. Love the visuals though so I'm sticking with it for a bit.
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Edjwald



Joined: 03 Aug 2017
Posts: 1149
PostPosted: Wed Jan 10, 2024 8:42 pm Reply with quote
Welp, I went along with the "Yeah! Who Cares if I know what it means! This is awesome!" first episode too, but that's not enough to carry a show once the adrenaline rush wears off. So I'm still waiting to see if there's really a plot. And like Blood said, I'm hoping there's more to it than the usual Android/human existential crisis thing, because there's been an awful lot of that lately..
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Yttrbio



Joined: 09 Jun 2011
Posts: 3653
PostPosted: Wed Jan 10, 2024 9:29 pm Reply with quote
I have a notebook with 20 random things I've seen in Sci Fi movies or TV shows that I thought were cool and wanted to just throw them together and call that an anime.

Oh, wait, I see it's already done.
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Gisan Otaku



Joined: 25 Mar 2023
Posts: 88
PostPosted: Wed Jan 10, 2024 9:30 pm Reply with quote
Is it just me or does this show remind you a bit like Armitage from 1995 and 2002?
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smurky turkey



Joined: 30 Jan 2022
Posts: 1969
PostPosted: Thu Jan 11, 2024 4:02 am Reply with quote
I can see several parts that might make one think of Armitage (talk about a callback).

As for the answers versus questions: a lot depends on the next few episodes. If they slowly fill in the many gaps then it could be an interesting watch, if they keep things very vague then I can see it feeling hollow and becoming boring, no matter how good it looks.
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Edjwald



Joined: 03 Aug 2017
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PostPosted: Thu Jan 11, 2024 4:41 am Reply with quote
Armitage huh?

:::::::::::studiously puts another anime on his try list:::::::::::
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Gisan Otaku



Joined: 25 Mar 2023
Posts: 88
PostPosted: Thu Jan 11, 2024 6:14 pm Reply with quote
Okay kiddies, let's talk about something that you would say is really old.

The disposal truck used to pick up the non-functional android reminds me of the riot crowd control trucks used in the 1973 movie Soylent Green. Now let's see you find that one on your streaming services. Very Happy
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DuskyPredator



Joined: 10 Mar 2009
Posts: 15482
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PostPosted: Fri Jan 12, 2024 4:23 am Reply with quote
Are we really sure this isn't something like a sequel series or retelling to some obscure 90s anime that just throws us into the world setting without explanation because if we didn't watch the old season we are expected to have read the wiki article? Because the first episode really acts like we are meant to have a general idea of what is going on.

I could think maybe only some level working if by episode we start back to actually introduce the characters, explain the mission and give us a bit better understanding of the mechanics of the world outside of Mars, robots and nectar. Maybe false memories, but I kind of remember some older anime used to similarly not really explain much in the first episode, but does look like everyone is agreeing it is a pretty bad first episode.

I do like the Naomi character, her design feels a little more interesting.
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Edjwald



Joined: 03 Aug 2017
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PostPosted: Wed Jan 17, 2024 6:27 pm Reply with quote
What a difference a week makes. I was about 70 percent sure that i was going to be putting this anime on my cut list after this week, but now I'm seriously hoping that I'll be watching it all the way to the end. Even with tons of action, this week felt sedate compared to the pilot episode, which - to me anyway - seemed like the anime equivalent of a frog packed to the ass with firecrackers by a bunch of demented adolescents. There was some world building, some coherent character introductions, a plot arc inside the episode...and plenty of room for great visuals and animation. I really enjoyed it. Plus, I'm a sucker for the bus/restaurant/plane/elevator full of random characters thrown into chaos scenario.
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Blood-
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Joined: 07 Mar 2009
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PostPosted: Thu Jan 18, 2024 8:54 pm Reply with quote
Episode 2

Yeah, I agree, this episode was much better than the first. It's amazing what a difference coherence makes in the enjoyment of a piece of popular entertainment. Still a couple of unanswered questions, though: what's the deal with the "doctor" and that guy in uniform? Plus the Martian authorities should do a better clean-up job. Leaving around pieces of alien kit that can be booted up by a child casually touching it can't be a great idea...
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DuskyPredator



Joined: 10 Mar 2009
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PostPosted: Fri Jan 19, 2024 2:45 am Reply with quote
Came in figuring what I would say, and you both already said it. Didn't quite get the sort of explanations I expected, but the pacing felt much more enjoyable with the random group of people that came across well done. The sort of character tropes we could expect to have seen in a bunch of other stuff, but to this setting that I would say give character to the breadth of characters that can exist.

Without really needing to explain we find out that people travel between big cities across deserts on Mars, and passengers can include veterans to a past war to her innocent grand kids, rich tourists to their android/alien? guard, and open journalist to a mystery man doctor. My guess is that more than a doctor he maybe is a combat doctor or something. Also some new guy who just kind of suddenly integrated himself in, and I guess might know about who Rouge is?
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DuskyPredator



Joined: 10 Mar 2009
Posts: 15482
Location: Brisbane, Australia
PostPosted: Fri Jan 26, 2024 2:43 am Reply with quote
Episode 3

The third episode went further into the themes of racism. The doctor from the previous episode is specifically for Neans, and is probably a complex one. A large part of his character points to him caring about the Neans, but not entirely altruistic as he hinted as largely working for others and thus keeping them alive so they will be happy. He does seem to care, but largely seems concerned with keeping a peace, and thus he think that a call for more equality will be met with more violent action, probably when those requests are not met.

I know that this is a Japanese anime, but in general my mind is going to racism regarding the likes of what I heard was the split between Martin Luther King and Malcolm X, which I am going to preface that I mostly heard from looking at X-men as an analogy. Where one ideology pushes for equality only through peaceful protest, while the other is something along the lines where there is a point that a group won't be taken seriously without more violent rebellion like a riot. This is what the doctor seemed to be against, which I honestly think is rather selfish, that it is way too easy for someone part of the privileged to look down and say that those being disadvantaged should not rock the boat. When all the same that the status quo is clearly not fair to those already being hurt,

The doctor himself seems to be seeing that the system is not fair, and in my interpretation is trying to force himself to ignore the problems with the system, so that he can live with himself. Following this, my current theory is that someone above the doctor ordered him to disrupt the civil rights group, and so he ordered his own assistant to kill Juval. That or the guy with the hat that wanted it swept under did it.

Other points, Naomi was a butt for calling Rouge a tool, which was totally not cool and she better make it up to her. The chocolate seems to be something Rouge does as a display of her own autonomy, that it isn't something she has to do, and thus the fact she does it because it is something she wants is empowering. And I really love the retro feel of the OP.
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smurky turkey



Joined: 30 Jan 2022
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PostPosted: Wed Feb 14, 2024 2:16 pm Reply with quote
I am still watching this one, though at a rather slow rate. I love how the show looks and sounds, but it feels like a lot of ideas do not really come together to form a cohesive whole.
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