[DreamSword]

Final Thoughts on Metallic Rouge

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.