[Enchilada645]

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.