Metallic Rouge

Episode 8

I'm still enjoying this limbo state where I cannot tell whether Metallic Rouge has a brain the size of a pea or a planet. This is the magic of weekly television, and this is why the batch release format has failed streaming services so spectacularly. It's quite possible (probable, even!) that Metallic Rouge as a complete package will be disappointing. But the week-to-week experience has been fun as hell, and it's only fair to factor that into an assessment of the show's successes and failures.

Metallic Rouge spends most of this episode teetering into stupidity. It is, however, a teeter. It's not yet a tumble, and that's because I have to weigh the possibility that the show may very well know exactly what it's doing. For example, let's take Dr. Junghardt's memory library. Its presence necessitates a suspension of disbelief that far outweighs the ultimate upshot of Rouge and Gene acknowledging that their dad might have been a dick. It reeks of narrative convenience. But its discovery cracks me up. Practically every episode of this anime has featured “Clair de Lune,” so when Gene comes across a piano that hides a secret underground lair, what does he play to open it? That's right, it's a major C chord. That's a perfect setup and punchline. Not only does that chord appear nowhere in “Clair de Lune,” it's the musical equivalent of making your password “password.”

Here's another example: Ash remarks on how sketchy this situation is before the party descends into the library. He's portending a trope the audience is already aware of, and he's laying it on so thick that it's hardly surprising when nothing bad happens down there. It's another subversion, but an expected one. In this case, though, it's a double bluff. The show advertises an obvious danger, lulls its audience into a sense of security when nothing comes of it, and then pulls the rug out by killing Noid later in an entirely different location. Is that a clever misdirection, or is it the sign of a messy drafting process that never got completely cleaned up? The choice is yours.

Those examples are largely structural and inconsequential, so let's look at something more integral to the show's themes: the morality of the Asimov Code. In Rouge's argument with Gene, Metallic Rouge draws a lot of misguided equivalences between the horrors currently inflicted upon Neans, and the violence and chaos that would arise should the Neans be freed. Ash interjects to say that both sides of the argument are correct, which is the kind of mealy-mouth centrism that sounds smart and measured until you realize it's saying that freeing slaves is as bad (if not worse!) than maintaining the status quo. It's an argument that ignores how the “order” that Gene values is anything but. His is a society built on incessant, foundational, and systemic violence exacted upon people who have had their liberty, dignity, and power stripped from them. If that society can only function under those circumstances, it deserves to crumble ethically.

I was tempted to write off the show's politics as unsalvageable. It had flirted with both sides-ism before in the Nean slums, but it seems to double down here. And despite all those episodes of soul-searching, Rouge agrees with Gene in the end. That's the final nail in the coffin, right? Well, not quite. Ash stepped in as the voice of reason, but he's a cop, so it's not surprising for him to think that way. And the show rewards him for that perspective by killing Noid in the cruelest and most senseless manner possible, at the hands of a couple of trigger-happy security guards. It's a scene that lays that systemic violence at Ash's feet and asks him what he cares about. Is he going to be radicalized now? Is Metallic Rouge smart?

I can't say anything for certain, but the possibility is there, and that's enough to draw my attention for yet another week. That's the secret to Metallic Rouge's success so far: keeping its cards close enough to its chest to keep its illusion going strong. Overall, this is the most perfunctory episode the anime has had in a while. There's hardly any connective tissue between any of the plot points. Cyan's entrance and exit are particularly hilariously abrupt. And I don't understand why the writers think it's a good idea to keep Naomi and Rouge separated. They are the show! They had better kiss and make up next week.

Rating:

Metallic Rouge is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

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