Metallic Rouge

This is an anime original series apparently produced to celebrate Bones’ 25th anniversary. And they mostly did a great job with it. A story that drops you right in, some memorable character designs, and a sci-fi setting with especially notes of cyberpunk in its initial episodes. Add in some great music and you have a pretty good setup going. However, I said “mostly” for a reason.

There does seem to be a dip in animation quality as the show continues. It’s minor things here and there, but disappointing for what, while great if it continued, is likely a one-off passion project. Additionally the story becomes a little rushed towards the end. It does almost feel like they cut down the number of episodes during production, rather than it being planned as 13 episodes. The story is still good, though some may not appreciate that not everything is fully explained. Personally I don’t need every aspect of the plot or world to be explained, but in this case I think there were likely some bigger questions left open, plus they do end on a cliffhanger of sorts. I think if this had been done as 24 episodes it might have been perfect. Overall though if you want some robot fighting action and a bit of mystery in a sci-fi world, this delivers. However, I don’t think it lived up to its full potential, which is a shame when the studio was using this as a celebration piece.