English Dub Review: Metallic Rouge “Marginal City”

Overview

Rouge wanders around, questioning her personal autonomy after an argument with Naomi gets out of hand. From there, she sneaks into a colony of Neans– assuming that she would find one of the members of the Immortal Nine. Instead, she only finds out just how hard they have it as second class citizens in the eyes of the public.

Our Take

Speaking personally, Metallic Rouge has been hard for me to sort my own feelings out on. From the initial trailers I was mildly intrigued; I’m not the biggest mecha nerd but by any stretch, I know Yutaka Izubuchi is a pretty big name within those circles (and Rahxephon does look like a pretty neat show!) and the staff behind it were all names I was well familiar with: Toshihiro Kawamoto as character designer of Cowboy Bebop fame, Motonobu Hori who’s now most recently known for directing Shinichiro Watanabe’s Carole and Tuesday, and tons of amazing mecha animators! It was enough to lure me in, but I wasn’t fully sold quite yet. 

Then the premier rolled around and I found myself feeling rather cold after sitting on it for a while. It’s not interested in holding your hand. New terms are constantly thrown at you every other line through casual conversations. It’s something I can respect on paper, since the ambiguity should draw the viewer in and compel them to want more– but for me it only had the opposite effect. Combined with the clinical tone from the seemingly dystopian setting and Rouge mercilessly murdering one of her own like it was another job, I can’t say my heart was exactly pounding out of my chest after the opener. 

Then episode two aired; a massive 180 compared to the one before it! Gone was the somber atmosphere and instead we got nearly an episode-long chase scene with tons of mech action and non-stop explosions until the very end once the action started ramping up in the back half. Rouge and Naomi’s dynamic, while still a little under-baked, felt more like a standard buddy-cop routine. Though Naomi telling the cyborg who could easily kick her ass in less than a second to “stay” like she was a dog was more original– and terribly awkward. 

Which brings us to today’s episode. Once again, it feels like Rouge and Naomi’s dynamic’s shifted once again. Rouge questioning her own autonomy is an inevitable plot-beat, but this feels like it should’ve been saved later down the line. Our dynamic duo’s separation feels much too early for it to have any real weight for the viewer. 

Throughout the episode we jump around from side-plot to side-plot: The detective from last episode trying to uncover Rouge’s identity as an Alter and as a killer, the doctor helping out damaged Neans within the colony, and a mysterious man in space shuttle playing piano mysteriously– Whom Rouge refers to him as his “Big-Brother.” Alongside the main plot of Rouge navigating the colony. It’s a lot to juggle, that clinical feeling returns once again as well, and as a result everything feels rather flat. 

After such a strong outing last week, I’m a little disappointed that this week’s episode was a few steps down. At the most, it’s set up for next week’s episode. Pure set-up alone isn’t enough however, and while the seeds of Rouge’s internal conflict are being planted– I wish it was done in a more organic way. Here’s to hoping next week’s episode will deliver.