Forum - View topicEP. REVIEW: Metallic Rouge
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Raebo101
 Posts: 794 |
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Just as a reminder for people that don't know, this series is also being dubbed in multiple languages, including a pretty solid English dub, led by Monica Flatley and Cassie Ewulu. Okay, back to your regularly schedule programming. |
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whatev
Posts: 13 |
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There's something that I don't like about the show that's hard to pin down. Is it the feeling that I've seen it before in lots of different earlier shows? Maybe it will serve as a counterpoint to those who believe execution is what matters over novelty. Or maybe there's something wrong in the execution of the show that's the problem. I can sort of feel that the cheesy fight song seems to clash with the overall tone of the anime (and the fight itself).
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Dnautics
Posts: 78 |
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The writing isn't that great and the characters we have all seen before. I would give it a 6 so far. It could get better though, I still have hope. It's a shame because the animation is so beautiful. I don't mind the cheesy theme music either, I just wish it was presented better. There is also the possibility of me being an anime elitist/snob after reaching my 600th title recently. 
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darkchibi07
 Posts: 5469 |
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I figured there's something special with Rouge's and Naomi's relationship, and I'm glad episode 2 solidified how much fun their banter is.
I'll admit, the first episode did make me feel a little cold because of how obfuscated it presented itself. It really did take the next episode of Naomi explaining to a pair of kids about the origins of the Neans that made me understand the world easily (go figure). I have no complaints with Rouge's fight scenes so far in her battle suit since so far they're fun to watch even with its theme song power up. |
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Gnarth
Posts: 175 |
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Not a fan so far. Both episodes felt random, with a lot of stuff thrown in but very little cohesion or narrative hooks. Both episodes had pretty much the same exact structure, too, and both times I couldn't care at all about the final fights which both ended in Rouge transforming into a mini-Evangelion and being unbeatable. This is honestly the way not to do in medias res, in my opinion. I love cryptic, complex shows, but this merely thinks it is.
Unfortunately, the non-obtuse bits were possibly even worse. I'm so tired of AI being used as metaphor for racism, we're not in the 90's anymore, we should know what AI is and that it's not comparable to humans in any way. We should also be able to explore so many interesting themes related to it, mostly about that very difference, yet we constantly make shows which message is, for some reason, that android are "the same" as humans, and we're still recycling the "programmed not to kill humans" trope. It's exhausting, and we just had Pluto, like, give me a break. |
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Arale Kurashiki
Posts: 752 |
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The lack of exposition is exactly what I'd expect from a show written by the director of RahXephon (nevermind the fact that this used to be much closer to the standard! I feel like viewers have been trained out of the ability to simply exist in a world, and that's the only reason Metallic Rouge stands out so much now), so I'm quite happy with it.
Personally I get the feeling the fairly cliche robophobia plot might just be a cover for the wilder things going on under the surface - or that's what I'd hope at least. I find that robophobia as a direct social justice allegory tends to be of very limited use. |
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Kicksville
 Posts: 1175 |
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Sure, it's got stuff that's been done before, but execution does count for a lot, and I think they're killing it here. Just electric presentation. Rouge and Naomi are a very fun leading pair.
It's great to finally get some hand drawn mechanical animation outside of Gundam and it's amazing - really put that episode 1 fight scene over the top. The integration with 3D parts in the second episode was very smartly done too. I was curious about this, but now it's my favored show of the season. |
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Thesarum
Posts: 405 |
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This show feels retro in the best possible way. It's just got a certain vibe.
I thought for a moment the "miscellaneous cast from disparate backgrounds are isolated on a long trip where they can't leave the vehicle" was setting us up for a classic murder mystery for a bit (clearly the sleazy business-guy would be the one to die first). That episode would have been fun, (if murderin' wasn't already well established as Rouge's job description I guess?). But the episode we got was good too. Some lore, some action, some goofing around. And it's visually striking. |
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Series5Ranger
Posts: 42 |
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Felt the first episode was a little weak because it's almost like Rouge & Naomi were guest stars in their own show.
Second episode made up for that in spades in that we got a bit of back story and plenty of action and was solid from start to finish. oh and since this takes place on Mars, and is done by Studio Bones, if a certain Singer / Songwriting duo doesn't at least get a decent cameo in one of the episodes, I'll be disappointed |
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sirdano1
Posts: 294 |
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This show is fantastic, easily the best this season.
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Vanadise
 Posts: 496 |
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Man, I wish that was true, but you cannot throw a rock on social media without hitting a techbro who will try to convince you that text and image-generating LLMs "learn just like humans do" just because they're really good at plagiarizing the works that they're trained on. |
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Emerje
 Posts: 7338 Location: Maine |
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Totally agree. First episode kinda bored me. It was all stuff we've seen a bunch of times before and didn't feel like it did a single new thing while keeping us entirely in the dark about the actual plot of the story or how things got to the point we're at. They could have called it New Bubblegum Crisis and nobody would have been the wiser aside from Priss now being a chocolate monster. Then episode two happens and suddenly the characters actually come to life! They aren't quite well defined just yet, but they actually interact with other people like real people and not, well, robots. And we finally get a backstory, and not just explained but we get to see it, right in front of them, with proper show and tell exposition that actually lets us see why humans didn't stand a chance. They seriously should have done this episode first, have the two meet on the transport, hit it off, choose to work together after the robots attack, go back to the city with a bunch of lore in our back pocket and start taking down the enemy from there. It's not like they've layed down everything that's going on, there's still plenty of mystery about, but starting us off empty handed and ending the first episode with less was a huge misstep in my opinion. Emerje |
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KaidoYuji8Shinji
Posts: 118 Location: Manchester, NH |
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Having seen Raxephon years ago, I have to agree episode one was classic late 90s early 2000s first episode. Second episode was significant better IMO. I’m really curious to see where this show goes.
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Barciad
 Posts: 130 Location: St Andrews |
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What we have is a solid throwback to the 2000's, and it's great.
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Arale Kurashiki
Posts: 752 |
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Unfortunately this one really felt like a mess to me.
Using robophobia as a 1:1 comparison to actual real-world racism is almost never a good idea. I can treat fictional conceits as fictional, but if we're asked to take this seriously, all kinds of problems spring up. The argument between Rouge and Naomi becomes not just Naomi being insensitive, but Naomi outright saying that Rouge's place is to be a slave! Similarly, the doctor becomes not just someone jaded about revolutionaries, but someone who considers the abolishment of slavery an unacceptable slippery slope. If the show wants us to take this world seriously, then these characters become not just flawed but outright monstrous. But maybe the even bigger problem with this type of story is that an oppressed class of robots is very different from an oppressed ethnic group, because the robots explicitly aren't equal to humans - a robophobe in this fictional universe could make a logical case for treating them unequally, without relying on pseudoscience or lies. As a portrayal of racism, this kind of allegory really only says "racism is bad because it's mean". At the same time, the scene with the brother on the satellite was perfect Anime Mysteriousness, and Rouge herself is always enjoyable to watch. But it's difficult to get around these issues. |
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