"Tension building" is definitely a good way to describe the episode, both in terms of plot and characters. Because not only are there the extra details we learn about many of the passengers of last episode's' convoy, but the atmosphere of alot of the episode is very oppressive. It all works very well.

Reality is often disappointing.

Sure, the line became a meme what with Avengers Endgame and all, but it's something everyone has to deal with eventually.

It's so easy to get caught in the idea of something that we often don't take a step back to examine something objectively, or to wait and see what actually transpired. Our craving to make our dreams reality often results in us getting caught up in another dream. A delusion.

Likewise, just because someone showcases on behavior doesn't mean that they're never capable of the opposite. A doctor who saves lives can still kill. Someone who insulted you today can still dispense great wisdom tomorrow. The oppressed are still very much capable of becoming the oppressors. Anyone is capable of good or bad.

And indeed, that is the struggle Rouge herself deals with in this episode's' climax. Can she really call herself free, or someone on the side of the Neans, if she in fact takes orders from humans, and in turn, kills her own kind?

Likewise, Verde has a point. Can the Neans ever really call themselves free, even if they can dream? Verde still follows orders. The Neans still succumb to mob mentality. The government still takes a blatant excuse to invade a settlement that's meant to be owned and governed by the Neans. And of course, there's the matter of the Three Laws to contend with. This episode is all about the contradictory nature of existence, and I love it.

All that tension builds and then comes crashing down.

It is interesting to see what exactly the different Immortal Nine get out of life. Regardless of if Verde had a connection to the Alters or not, you can see that this is a man who has lived long enough to hold a very bleak outlook on life. He definitely raises some good points, and he gives Rouge something to think about, both directly and indirectly.

Since well, looks like Rouge is starting to get haunted by her recent past what with that hallucination she had before she snapped out of it. That said, we do get to see glimpses of the two who Rouge faced down before Viola, both their normal and Gladiator forms. Which I think is nice since we entered the story after they were dealt with.

I've not much else to say but fun fact about Afdal/Verde, his Seiyuu is Kenjiro Tsuda (Seto Kaiba, Kasshine from Zi-O, Vail from Revice). It's funny that I keep hearing him more and more these days. It was definitely a surprise when he first spoke up in Episode 2. It was also a surprise to hear him show up in another show that was airing at the same time, Bravern, but towards the end of that show's cour.

Yeah, I was actually thinking about this earlier, about how we're very much joining a story already in progress. The way it's been handled so far as been neat, and I wouldn't be surprised if we saw a prequel OVA at some point in the future.

"Happy Birthday, Rouge."

This episode is alot to take in. Visually, literally, and metaphorically. On its surface level, it's about Naomi saving Rouge from some Neans with Usurper tech.

Far more importantly than that though, it's a dream episode, resulting in some really out there visuals, jarring editing, and dialogue that's full of implications. And it's all done on purpose.

The ambiguity of the ringmaster is definitely what caught my attention most. He claims to be giving Rouge the ability to be free, but the implication that he's using her memories as a means of manipulation is definitely there, especially with that shot of the Copy Rouge during the ending bits.

Speaking of Rouge's' memories though, we do get a bit more elaboration on what exactly Rouge's' mission is all about, as well as a peak into her origins. She's out for revenge against the Immortal Nine for killing her creator; A mission started by her brother. Her brother also being the source of her love of chocolate, and is implied to be the one who set the Immortal Nine down their paths to begin with.

I did really like how Rouge has consistently been keen on noticing when things are off. While the past her set off on the mission of revenge without question, the current her realizes that the Neans she's been hunting are far more complex than what the feelings brought about by her brother would suggest. Viola just wanted to sing, and Verde hated how much suffering his people were going through on a daily basis. Did they really deserve to die? Does anyone?

No clear answer is presented, and the episode ends simply with Rouge deciding to follow whatever path her heart desires to head towards, with Naomi by her side. It really makes me wonder how exactly the last five of the Immortal Nine will factor into all this, given I assume they're the Gladiators we see in the opening credits. But who knows, maybe it's all been bait this entire time. I could see that setting some people off, but if they pull it off well, then I think I'd be happy to give it to 'em.

But ah, I'm getting ahead of myself. Excited to see where this will all go!

This was a fun episode, since that hallucination last episode was just a taste for a really jarring and surreal dream sequence. I'm always a fan of these, especially with a setting like Metallic Rouge's. There's parts to it that look to be true, but also parts that are the Puppetmaster using the dream to speak to and influence Rouge.

It's also why I thought your comment before this post was pretty apt. Despite basically learning more about the past, it's in a way that isn't too clear cut and more chopped together. So I can agree wholeheartedly that a straight Prequel OVA would kick some ass should they come back to this series.

On the dub side, getting to hear more of him... is it just me or does Eden feel off? The way he sounds, it feels like he's hiding an accent or something at points. Maybe it's just me *shrugs*

Speaking of Eden though, he by far has my favorite Gladiator form that isn't Rouge's. Just the shape of his silhouette alongside the black with the orange glowing bits, the coattail is a plus. And this episode very much surprised me since I assumed he only had gun arms like shown in the opening. Nope his coattail can split into six guns and can fire multi-directional blasts? Sick, instant favorite.

This comment actually got me to look up some of the voice cast and, to my surprise, alot of the actors are either relatively unknown or are pretty new to the industry. It's pretty cool to see, actually.

Oh that is always great to see.

This was a rollercoaster.

There's mystery afoot, as a luxury spaceship is boarded by Yellow Jacket from some previous episodes, who proceeds to murder alot of guests.

Thus, the hunt is on as everyone aboard the ship attempts to figure out who the real murderer is, as Yellow Jacket is able to copy the appearance of anyone perfectly. As well as their voice.

And with that sort of premise laid out, you might be thinking that's a source of some big drama right? Well, you're not wrong, as this episode does have some big dramatic beats to it, especially in the ending. But surprisingly it's also got alot of genuinely funny moments throughout.

Most of it comes from the character interactions between Rouge and Naomi, similar to how episode 2 was. But man did I laugh. Hard. And yet none of the different felt as though they conflicted with one another? Rather impressive given how much they manage to pack into this single episode. Almost too much, given how little of Yellow Jacket's' character is actually expanded on.

But hey, if they just wanted his character to be a psychopathic, unsympathetic murderer? Sure, I'm game. Dude killed a dog, I ain't about to pity him. He's also the one who killed Rouge's' creator while disguised as Rouge's' Gladiator form.

And on that note, while it was hinted at in the previous episode, this one basically outright confirms that Rouge's' memories have been messed with, though whether it was due to input by the Ringmaster or if it happened to her beforehand is somewhat unclear.

Regardless, this was a surprisingly nice breather after how heavy the last few episodes were, and I had a good time with it.

This was a fun episode in general, though there was definitely a lot of drama, especially towards the end.

When it comes to the Immortal Nine, Giallon (I question how we got from Jaron to Giallon but okay CR whatever you say) is definitely one of the ones that takes pleasure in the killing he does. Dude's a homicidal theater kid at his core. Really makes the other Immortal Nine we've seen so far look nicer by comparison.

But yeah, a bit of reflection, revisiting some older side characters while we introduce some new ones, this episode has it all. And as I've said, Metallic Rouge while sometimes shaky I feel, nails the character writing and interactions to an insane degree.

I also think it's a good showing for Ash and his partner Noid who while in the background kinda for a lot of the episodes since their introduction in Ep 2, really get to step a bit more into the foreground here.

But yeah, the ending definitely caught me off guard when I first saw it. Like there was that scene earlier in the episode talking about someone from Ochrona being in Alethia, but I didn't expect it to turn out like that.

I figured that something had to be up with Naomi, given some of her previous dialogue in past episodes as well as Yellow Jacket's' keen interest in her. Surprised it came to a head in the very same episode that a spy was talked about, though.

This one was kinda confused.

Like, I think I get the base of what it was going for, but unfortunately, when you set off to appeal to morality, it's something you need to take great care in.

To give the angle that the episode shoots for a bit of the benefit of the doubt, it seems as though the entire idea to get Rouge thinking. Make her question just who she should be placing her trust in and where she wants to take her journey.

And on paper, that's fine, however, there are a few problems. Firstly, Rouge has already been questioning the quest she's been on for almost the entirety of the show so far. We even outright saw that with her questioning the memory of her brother in episode 5.

Second, the reveals about who exactly the Immortal Nine are muddies things by alot. Alice claims that her and Ace are separate from them, but yet in practically the same breath she goes to bat for the other members of the group as if she's in league with them, claiming all they want is freedom, and that Rouge is evil for killing them.

And you know, maybe Alice would have a point, if not for the fact that Yellow Jacket has been going around killing humans indiscriminately for the entire story, ontop of the fact that Silvia shows up and does the exact same thing in this very episode. That Rouge never thinks to bring this up seems rather out of character given how keen on details she's been up to this point. I guess you could argue that she's under alot of stress right now, but even so. No questions, at all?

That's not to say the episode was all bad though. The elaboration on some of the hellish conditions that Neans have to endure on a daily basis was really interesting to see. Not just the situation on Venus, but also the conversation showcasing how corporations are very keen on the idea of dismantling Rouge for parts in an attempt at a goldmine. The new, ongoing mystery about where exactly Naomi's' loyalties lie has also been a neat new hook, as you could argue either way as to what her intentions are.

So, yeah. I overall found this one to be very half and half. Some really intriguing stuff, but the main moral core unfortunately fell pretty flat.

Man, I can't believe the Immortal 9 are the friends we made along the way :)

With that joke out of the way (seriously we met like 3 of them on one bus ride), this one's an interesting episode in dealing with the aftermath of our cliffhanger.

I'll totally agree that Sylvia's method of trying to win Rouge over falls flat. While she's fighting for a clear and noble cause, she's very much an extremist in her viewpoints and her actions which very much taints her standing.

From the way Alice spoke though... I feel like I interpreted it a bit differently, at least for the most part. I feel like she was speaking for herself and Aes mostly, wondering why despite being an Immortal 9, they had to die when they did nothing wrong. At least that's how I took it. Though Alice is definitely jumping the gun a bit with the villain remark, especially when she's confronting a Rouge who very much is being dragged along for the ride.

While the events of the episode are likely to get Rouge thinking further, I do think it's also to show how she's very much lost and caught in the center of everything going on around her. She's being pulled all these different directions by a lot of people with different motives and it's very much that these are uncertain times for her.

And those uncertain times are certainly going to keep growing what with Giallon still being alive, we've got Blouge now out and about, plus there's the matter of Ochrona likely hunting for Rouge and who knows what Sylvia's going to want to do next.

Admittedly, it's interesting to see that Rouge found the most unlikely allies in Ash and Noid who could've turned her in but instead took her and the Aerkos duo to safety. And while Naomi may have turned Rouge in, she's definitely got more to her than meets the eye given how much she's pushing back against everyone with her authority.

Yeah, it's nice to see that Conner and Hank are finally getting more into the forefront of things after very much being a background detail for half the show's' run. Hank's' intuition really is spot on, ain't it?

This overall structure of this episode was a smart move after the previous one.

It's mostly talking, with Rouge, the Detective Duo, and Gene all investigating more into Rouge's' origins and what exactly Rouge's' father might've been hiding that'd make the Immortal Nine want him dead.

The overall atmosphere does alot to carry this one, which is exactly what you should be gunning for in a dialogue focused episode.

And of course with that comes some rather significant plot reveals. Mainly in that Code EVE, the master code that would overwrite the Asimov Code for all Neans, is actually split into pieces between all members of the Immortal Nine. And Rouge herself is one of them.

There's also the debate between freedom and order that the episode brings up, and I was happy to see a middle ground being presented to the entire debate, as many anime would be quick to swing one way or the other. Civil Rights situations, as easy as it can be to paint them as black and white, do come with alot of hitches, big and small, that many aren't ever willing to talk about.

And while Gene is the one representing Order in this situation, I feel as though there's more to this than what he's letting on, given a very brief shot we got in a previous episode of him putting together the Ids of the I9. This of course though also brings into question: Should the Nine have to die in order to release Code Eve onto the world? Or are their lives too precious to give up for Neans as a whole? Noid's' situation even brings up that while the Asimov Code can certainly be abused, there are humans who won't treat Neans that way.

Lastly, the smartest thing I felt this episode did was show that the Immortals are not as unified a group as previously thought. Sure, there are alliances, but at the end of the day each Proto-Neans has their own thoughts and views. Viola just wanted to live a quiet life away from strife. Noir is willing to side with Rouge in the fight for equality between all beings. Sylvia is the main one pushing for the War on Humans.

Oh, and there's also the reveal of Cyan, who is very much the Hakaider of this show. But we'll talk more about her another time I'm sure.

Overall, a very interesting episode to sit through. I dug it.

Not much to say about this one admittedly. But we continue our escalation as we fully enter the latter half of the series. Really loved Rouge's speech to Sylvia at the end, as despite everything she's managed to find something to ground her in this riptide of a battle. But with this the stage is essentially set as nearly every Gladiator is in one spot.

Will say, shoutouts to Cyan Bluestar (still love this name) though who shows up, tries to kill Rouge, barely elaborates, and then leaves.

http://pbs.twimg.com/media/GHcllexWk....png?name=orig

She must've been inspired by Gackt.

Plot dump.

Yeah, that's pretty much this episode in a nutshell. Not that I didn't enjoy it, mind you, but yeah.

Turns out that the Usurpers are supporting the Alters, that the Venus terraforming project is for the sake of the Visitors, that Neans can apparently live without their Ids, and that Naomi was the first ever Nean.

And that last part, well, I felt that one was kinda obvious. Still, I think the biggest aspect of all of the exposition is the reveal that even the Visitors, those who first help design the Neans, also view the Neans as tools, and the whole social struggle them as simply an event that their enemies are taking advantage of, rather than any sort of big moral/social event.

Thing is, sure, I get that there are people who use big ideas of "social justice" for selfish or nefarious ends in real life; That commentary isn't lost on me. However, I also think it's the sort of thing where Metallic Rouge needs to really be careful going forward, else the intended message couldn't become very mean spirited very quickly. Having shades of gray is fine, but portraying those who want equal rights as inherently on the wrong side is another.

The show has been solid about walking that line so far, but with the Usurper twist, I dunno, it could get dicey in the future in not looked out for. Not to mention, I just kinda dig it alot more as a parasocial thing between Humans and Neans. Introducing a grander scale isn't inherently bad, but I do find it less interesting.

Not a bad episode, just a very straightforward one with not a whole lot going on to talk about.

The scale is definitely getting a bit bigger than normal what with the aforementioned aliens now more at the edges of the conflict than they were before. I feel like that's probably a side effect of this being only 1 Cour long. The staff wanted a longer run but broadcasting issues basically had to consolidate everything they believed was important into 13 Episodes. This is part of the reason I feel like the show could've been better with 2 Cours (24ish episodes) since it would have had a lot more time to space everything out.

The wrinkle of aliens is definitely part of my issue with Rouge, pushing these things when it was a fairly personal premise before. It definitely makes the conflict a bit bigger than I feel it needed to be. But the core of the show is still there, that being the conflict between the Immortal Nine and Rouge and what exactly will happen with Code Eve.

I'll probably talk more on the themes of Order vs. Freedom and the alien factions playing into those more towards the end once everything's said and done. But I do think the show is careful about it for the most part, mostly in how exactly the Alters and Usurpers are going about things. Clearly Rouge is still thinking about the freedom of Neans despite everything Sylvia and Co have done, and despite the idea that the Usurpers wish to take advantage of it. I think the series wants to land towards a somewhat complex answer even if said answer can be muffled because of the bloat.

But enough about deeper meanings! Let's talk about animation, because man was that the most animated hallway scene of all time. And also not the first animated like this. There's this weird fluidity and flow to the characters and their actions that we first saw when Naomi confronted Opera (the Pupeteer's right hand).

And what was their conversation? How both her and Naomi seemed to "smell" very similar. Very much a hint at Naomi's true nature at being the first Nean with her bosses being the Visitors since she very much assumed Opera was working for the Usurpers. Likewise we get an extremely fluid and animated scene once Naomi reveals herself to Rouge. Considering these are really the only scenes to get that treatment at this point, I'd like to say it's intentional.

Haha, yes. I noticed that too, even if I forgot to mention it. I was like "Why did the show suddenly become 60 FPS!?"

All talking, but all very interesting. This episode had serious .hack// vibes.

The short of it is that this episode is both about family, and the role memories play in the bonds we keep.

As our small band of heroes journey off to Venus for a direct fight against the Immortal Nine and the Usurpers, they find a stowaway Cyan whose personality seems to have taken a major shift.

And like with alot of the show, there are many things that are portrayed in a very down to earth way. Just like in real life, many will stick with others solely due to a perceived blood relation, just as how the Immortal Nine stick together despite half of them also wanting to kill eachother.

There's also Cyan and Hank, with their bonds they had with others despite the perceived lack of direct relations. Hank ended up seeing Conner(Noid) as his son despite everything, and although Naomi would argue against Cyan and Rouge being sisters, Rouge chooses to follow in the example set by Gene, and does her best to welcome Cyan with open arms.

But the underlying snake in the water to all of this: Can anyone's' memories really be trusted in all of this? The Puppetmaster has already modified Rouge's' memories, and they've yet to be fully fixed either. Ontop of that, the Immortal Nine all recall a past together that Gene has little to no recollection of, and Cyan notes a voice that takes command of her personality on occasion. With all the Neans in this line up, have all of their memories been modified?

There's some other bits of foreshadowing throughout the episode as well, but as I usually do, I'll wait until later to reveal if I ended up getting it right or not. Though let's just say I chose this specific thumbnail for a reason.

It's the lead up to the climactic fight on Venus, and I had a good time with it.

You know I wasn't expecting Cyan to go from "Kill Rouge" to "Yay Big Sis Rouge!" but hey, I'm here for a absolutely sugary sweet episode that basically gives me diabetes. This is an episode where Metallic Rouge specializes in what it does best, the character work and interactions.

It feels like there is some truth to the way the Immortal Nine speak of their time together, but considering how long its been since then. I forget if they've said how long its been since Eva died, but I could have sworn it was somewhere longer than a decade, long enough for memories to sort of sway and fade in regards to Gene.

But speaking of family, I love how there's this clear divide between both sides whenever we cut between them. You have Cyan, Rouge, Naomi, Eden and Ash hanging out, and it's all comfy, sweet, lot's of fun. Meanwhile the Immortal Nine have some dinner with Gene and while there is some light form of fondness here and there, it's more disturbing than anything else. It's only until Aes & Alice are alone with Gene that any reminiscing feels natural and not forced.

But overall it's one of my favorite episodes in the show where instead of rushing into the finale we take one final relaxing rest stop with all of our characters. The calm before the storm if you will.

Yeah, it's a smart move too, as it shows just how messed up the I9 are, Sylvia especially. And that despite their plight, it's Rouge and co who are more carrying the message of coexistence, rather than Sylvia who is very much corrupting the message.

So upfront, one of the major twists I was predicting did not come to pass.

To get it out of the way, I was speculating that Eva might've had an affair with Ash, given that Ash mentioned a divorce awhile back.

And while that ended up not being the case, the other twist I was predicting is not entirely off the table, and given how this episode was structured, I imagine we'll see if that one will come to pass next episode.

But no, rather, it turns out that Gene's' real father is Eden, which honestly raises a whole not of questions and concerns. Ones that I expressed during the only episode of the Kikaider anime that I felt a bit iffy on. If you know what I'm talking about, well, then you know what this episode pulls.

Outside of that, this episode continues with the show's' themes of examining freedom and the various ways people can use and abuse it. Sylvia continues to preach of revolution, but doesn't realize that she's doing the exact thing that she accuses the humans of doing. It's a slippery slope that we still see people fall into today. Perhaps even more so with the advent of the internet.

Shout out to Gene in this episode too, because not only does he get the rawest line in the show so far, but it turns out that I was right in my prediction that there was more to him than what he lead on. The reveal that he set out to kill the Immortal Nine because he learned of what Sylvia was plotting does not at all contradict what he said about wanting revenge, and shows that he has his own ideas about how to ease humanity into the idea of coexistence with Neans.

Rouge and Naomi have surprisingly little to do with this one, but that offered a nice change of pace, especially since it seems we're not headed into the action climax of the show as a whole, and I look forward to it.

I'll give Sylvia this, she at least admits that she has stained her hands with Nean blood as well. Does it absolve her of anything? Absolutely not. But I appreciate the self-awareness for what little it does.

Either way this is a fun lead in to our final two episodes after the breather we got last time. We've got a bit of action, urgency, some shocking revelations courtesy of Eden, and more of a mystery brewing with Cyan and that voice she's heard. Granted by this point people were wondering if the show was foreshadowing a bit too hard but I'll get into that next episode and how I might be slightly dense.

Side note, it's only now that I realize the ID Core analyzer has a blocky human shape indention on the top of it. Which you know, given what we saw it doing last time, I can only assume what or rather who that spot is for.

That said, the dub's been solid so far, but next episode is really the episode I've been waiting for to hear in the dub.

I actually didn't notice that. Huh...

There is ALOT going on in this episode.

Like, I haven't bothered looking into if the show was originally going to be 26 episodes or not, but I honestly believe it.

Because really, the content of this episode alone was enough to fill up like four episodes of any other anime. There's two climactic battles, the culmination of Naomi's' character arc, and the reveal of the Puppetmaster's' identity.

And yeah, I called that it was Rouge's' father, who turns out to not actually be dead. It was either going to be him or Eve, though I will say that I did briefly consider it to be Ash(hence my screenshot of him with the pancakes), and my mind was totally blown at that idea.

But regardless, despite just how much is going on in this episode, I do feel that it was all handled the best it could be given the circumstances. I've seen far worse pacing in many other shows, and if nothing else, the atmosphere was on point throughout the entirety of the episode, and the moment where Naomi gives Rouge her Id was very touching.

Alot of the episode also reinforces a big part of the driving theme behind Metallic Rouge; That no matter you choose to do, there will always be consequences, which is why it's important to stay true to your feelings and do your best to ensure you live with as few regrets as possible. Sylvia and Yellow Jacket might both be crazy, but they're doing what many others fail to do: Be true to who they are and fight for what they believe in.

Ideologies will always conflict, that's just a part of life, but by remaining true to your own ideals, you can at the very least live peacefully with yourself. And if not, well, maybe that's a concern you should address.

Very interested in seeing where the final episode will go.

Maybe not 26, 24 though, yeah. Honestly I'm just glad this show got the extra 13th episode since most 1 Cour stuff is usually only 12.

Anyway this is a pretty packed one with a lot of cool fights in it. I really love how the Sylvia fight ends with her catching Rouge off guard. I knew her staff extended but I never thought she'd go for a backwards extension to grab Rouge's ID like that. I also enjoyed Eden's and Grauphon's fight for how brief it was, though it certainly carried the weight and flash it needed. Fun stuff.

Speaking of fun stuff though, the scene where Naomi tries to put logic in front of her and detonate the black hole reactor only to rush back to Rouge was something I was waiting for. It's such a big scene for her and Rouge, and the VAs did a really good job nailing it.

Also let's talk about the Roy Junghardt reveal. When watching this the first time around and weekly, I completely forgot how Roy's voice sounded because he so scarcely shows up, especially when you watch weekly. Hell I don't think the original JP version put any filter on his voice in Cyan's head like the English Dub did. I only got the idea to play back certain scenes when a friend of mine noted that his voice was the one playing at that was his guess as to who the Puppetmaster really was.

That said I do find it interesting how each side basically has a similar structure with the main three of each one. You've got Gene and Roy, Rouge and Cyan, then finally Naomi and Opera.

Just realized how Yume Miyamoto who plays Rouge has three toku or toku-adjacent works for her resume now. This, Gridman, and Zenkaiger.

Speaking of Sentai-inspired anime, has anyone else taken a look at Sentai Daishikkaku? Looks like only two episodes have aired, and, yeah, Sentai is fully baked into its premise, as the story is told from the perspective of a villain-army grunt soldier. I'm diggin' it.

Read the first two volumes of the manga a while back, so the details are fuzzy, but I like to sum it up as a less-gorey version of The Boys with super sentai instead of the Justice League.

Even if this is offtopic for this section, I'll still write it. Dogengers and The Boys are two sides of the same coin. Yin and Yang, White and Black, Ahuramazda and Ahriman, Fear and Laughter. Even the plot is mirrored. There is a world where completely unheroic and very corrupt superheroes live, among whom there is a stern guy in black. An ordinary guy accidentally runs into them because of a girl, and then a stern man who loves to shove exploding things into the villains' ass gives him the opportunity to find out more about them. Our hero uses it and this is where the difference shows up. And even the structure of subsequent seasons is both similar and opposite. A new villain/hero appears, interacts with everyone, and then disappears/remains.

I won't lie, that is the most wild take on Dogengers I've read.

And for ?The Boys? too ;) But from the point of view of world balance, it works.

While there have been a couple small things I'd change, the dub in general has been rather good.

Now she just needs to appear in season 2 of Futo PI!

I can't believe this show came along and combined a Kikaider finale with a GARO one!

Joking aside, this is the sort of ending that I could see some finding contentious, given the big twist that it immediately pulls.

Said twist being that Roy, Rouge's' father, was the one behind everything. He even pre-programmed and altered the personalities and memories of the Immortal Nine(which I totally called), meaning he's the source of the Rebellion.

And while I won't argue that such a twist can be seen as harmful to the show's' overall message, I personally take a much more optimistic approach to the entire thing, and feel as though that, with Rouge activating Code EVE of her own free will at the end, it instead works towards an additional, other message.

Essentially, it doesn't matter if Roy, Eva, or anyone else started this entire mess. What matters is what the Neans decided to do with their own lives going forward. Yes, Roy might've been the one who brought forth the idea of Nean equality just so he could watch the chaos that would ensue, but that doesn't in turn mean that Neans still being treated as people is therefore an inherently bad thing.

Really, it's no different for people growing up. Our upbringing and our environment instill our base core values and attitudes, the ways inwhich we choose to carry them and evolve throughout our lives is what will have the most impact in the end. Even if they don't end up resulting in anything and grandiose as changing the whole world, they absolutely change the world in us, as well as affecting those around us.

I won't say that this ending is perfect, as just like last episode they gun through alot of different ideas rather quickly, and we don't even get proper epilogues for every character left alive by the end, I do feel that, like a vast majority of the show, they focused on the things that mattered most. And for that, I am mostly satisfied. Though I will say, I still vouch for getting a Prequel OVA at some point. And maybe an epilogue episode would be nice too. There's still so much more of this world to unpack, and I'd love to see more.

Final thoughts on Metallic Rouge as a whole will be posted tomorrow night.

There's something amusing about the dub punching up Naomi's dialogue in Episode 5 from "I want to save you" to "I want to save you like a Knight on a Horse". I doubt the JP run was on the final episode when they dubbed Episode 5, and I'm unaware of how much they knew of what was going to happen ahead of time. But how did they manage to basically alter a line and nail what happens in Episode 13 so perfectly?

Which is to say, Rouge gets a Final Form thanks to Naomi and a trick from earlier in the run. And admittedly when we saw Naomi give her ID to Rouge last time I thought we were going to get Winged Metal Rouge from the OP. Was not expecting Metal Rouge+ as an actual form in which she gets a fancy medieval styled energy shield alongside her usual blade.

This was a packed finale, but between us reaching the full culmination of Rouge and Naomi's friendship alongside the fantastic performance Roy put on, and how bittersweet Cyan's ending was, I think it pulled it off well enough.

But as the name of the episode implies, and as we've been building up to, this is about whether or not Code Eve will activate. And I think that was the most important part given well, we only have 13 episodes and even if we had more I doubt even a 2 cour season is enough to actually dismantle oppressive systems and class divides like what we've seen over the course of the show.

What we do get shown I think works out pretty well though. It's a big unknown but one our main characters are optimistic about. Who knows what will happen when it's all said and done? But they want to think on the bright side.

And I do kind of love how the final scene ties into Rouge's declarations during the latter half of the series. How she will "protect the freedom of Humans and Neans", which fits with her being the only combatant on a battlefield swarming with Usurper war machines. They don't need to be dragged into this pointless fight, if aliens want to cause trouble she'll deal with them herself. And yet it doesn't feel like this bleak overwhelming situation for her as it's just business as usual between her and Naomi, transforming to fight another day as we fade to white.

Yeah, same here honestly. If you think about it, almost the entirety of the OP is false advertising. And yet, hey, if it gets more people to watch this wonderful show, then I'm all for it.

Final Thoughts on Metallic Rouge

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WuoopaGi0PQ

I went to my first Pride Parade last year.

It ended up being alot more fun than I thought it'd be. Lots of music, dancing, food, and just great vibes all around.

Well, for the most part. It ended up raining later on in the day during some of the events, and even worse than that, as the event was beginning to kick off, some religious protestors decided they wanted to march through the crowd.

Here we all were, a bunch of LGBT+ people and their supporters, all gathered just to have a good time and celebrate our lives, and a small group decided that it was their mission to preach to us about how God hates us and we're all going to Hell. The thing is, they were small, but they weren't a single kind of person.

Oh no. Both men and women were in that group, and they weren't all white either. Half of them were black. It was a very blatant sign that despite cultural or ethnic backgrounds, people will unfortunately find a reason to hate on or try to hold back other people. Doesn't matter if they're not bothering or harming anyone, or even if they're doing good. Prejudice still exists.

I've read many comments from people here in the United States of America that often mock stories like Kamen Rider Zero-One, or Tales of Rebirth; Talking about how racism/homophobia is dead, or that "no cares so why celebrate." And yet, not only have I experienced such things even unto today, when it comes to toku circles specifically, I've read many a comment claiming that the Humagears in Zero-One should've been put into a camp, or that the Orphenoch in Faiz deserved to be subject to genocide(not helping that the third act of said show also seems to support that idea but I digress), all without a hint of irony.

Heck, just recently at the time of this writing, it was ruled that anyone not native-born Japanese wouldn't be allowed to participate in the Yu-Gi-Oh! Japan Championship qualifiers. Doesn't matter if you've lived there for years, are fluent in the language, none of that. Xenophobia at its finest. And it's not just a USA or Japan problem. It exists everywhere regardless of where you live or who's involved. Race, gender, doesn't matter.

This is why stories like Metallic Rouge are not only timeless, but incredibly important. Ones dealing with robotic lifeforms debatably even moreso given the current AI scare that alot of people are going through right now. How humans would treat anything they see as a non-person, even if -- especially if, they were the creators is something I feel we really need to consider for the future. How do we define a person? What does it mean to have your own thoughts and feelings? What exactly does it mean to enslave someone or something else?

These are the sorts of questions you'll find asked of yourself should you decide to check out Rouge or any story like it that deals in a similar subject matter(Blade Runner, for instance). And sure, stories like this can easily get pretentious or mean spirited(Kamen Rider Black Sun), but the core value remains intact. And thankfully, in the case of MR specifically, I think it was a rather unique, middle-of-the-road look into the hypothetical future of humans living amongst humanoid machines. It walks a thin line to be sure, but I overall felt that it did so with grace.

But hey, I get it, maybe that's all too heavy for you and it sounds like alot to digest. Well luckily, Metallic Rouge isn't just a seminar on race relations. It's an actually well done story full of great atmosphere, slick action, catchy music, some really nice scenery and animation, and most importantly, many very likable, real feeling characters that all play off eachother great. Yes, the show probably would've been better had it been twice its length, as there are some plot points that they just sort of gun through, but I overall felt like they hit all of the important points in the ways they needed to with some very impressively kept pacing(for the most part). I was never bored, I was never annoyed, and the show got me feeling every emotion from sadness to joy.

Do I still hope for a prequel OVA some day? Absolutely. But for what we got, I got alot of enjoyment out of a show that seems to sadly be getting overlooked in the anime circles I tend to look around in. I won't go claiming it's by any means perfect, but it's an introspective and enjoyable experience, and if it at all sounds appealing to you based on what I've said or even just some shots from any of the trailers, I recommend checking it out.

I give Metallic Rouge a very high 4/6. The only thing holding it back is lack of episode count, really.

I said it briefly while talking about it in my media thread on twitter, but Metallic Rouge is very much a series that has a clear vision it wants to give and a solid grasp on the world created. So much so that it helps break past most shortcomings and lands fairly well.

It's a show that's dripping from style with a fun Tokusatsu aesthetic that was clear from minute one of its unveiling.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yv8eVL4xBI4

Again, a really captivating trailer that sold me on being this cool Henshin Hero show about robots. It has the atmosphere, it has some sick music, it's got some of the best 2D action I've seen in a while and even the 3D animation we get is still pretty stellar.

I pretty much got what I signed up for, and that for me puts it at an 8/10. It's a shame we're in an era where 24-ish episode anime is dead unless you're a major adaptation. Shows like this and Bravern really could have used more episodes. But when I consider the flaw I have is just wanting more episodes of already solid anime? I think that comes off as a slight compliment in a sense.

Either way, I had fun watching through this and reevaluating my feelings on it since i saw a lot of opinions about it flying around after Episode 13. Needless to say I can see the cracks a bit more clearly and yet... I came out loving it even more somehow ha ha.

Unless that crimson life truly comes to an end... I'd like to hold out hope we may get to see Rouge and the others again one day.