Metallic Rouge – 06 – Killer Space Cruise

Naomi and Rouge try to enjoy a post-mission vacation aboard a luxury space liner en route to Earth, but Hell Giallon has stowed away disguised as a member of the crew. They’re at the pool when a general alert is issued warning of a murder on the ship. Vacation or no, Naomi and Rouge are on the case.

Unfortunately, Ash and his assistant Noid are also aboard, and when they cross paths with Naomi Ash arrests her, having watched security footage of her killing a passenger. There’s also the matter of Aletheia and Orchrona not being the best of buds. Naomi orders Rouge via bird to stay in their quarters, but Rouge isn’t about to sit around while others are murdered.

When Naomi manages to slip away and reunites with Rouge in the library, Giallon is already gone. He stabs Ash while disguised as Noid, and when Naomi and Rouge find him, he takes Rouge’s form and runs back to the pool. Naomi manages to tell the two apart because Rouge is terrible at math, but Giallon still manages to give them the slip.

When everyone the precise weight of 82.2 kg are rounded up (that’s the weight of Giallon’s original disguise upon boarding the ship), Rouge has the very simplistic test of determining who he is based on who withstands her punch. The last suspect is a St. Bernard, and just when you think she won’t punch the dog, she kicks it. Turns out it is Giallon, so she didn’t really kick a dog. This whole scene had me rolling.

Now cornered, Giallon transforms into his Gladiator form, Rouge follows suit, and the two have a nifty fight outside the ship with a lovely view of Earth as a backdrop. While his attacks are more crafty than Rouge’s brute force, the latter eventually wins out, cutting his legs at the ankles and causing him to fall into the atmosphere. That said, I’m not yet convinced a trickster like Giallon is truly dead. He may yet turn up somewhere – though odds are it will be in an ocean.

Rouge gets back in the ship and tracks down Naomi, and everything seems hunky-dory until a foreboding ship docks with the liner and dour looking officers approach them. Naomi identifies them as Ochrona’s Artifical Life Department, walks over to them, then places Rouge under arrest for violating the “Use of Artificial Life Code.”

Do you mean to tell me that after establishing these two as thick as thieves, somewhat artificially tearing them apart and then allowing them to reconcile, and then enjoying a sliver of down time, this whole time Naomi was the Ochrona mole Gene’s boss warned about?

If so, I don’t like it one bit. It cheapens all their previous interactions, and feels like a twist for twist’s sake. And speaking of cheap: I noticed a dip in animation quality this week, aside from the (brief) space battle. These two developments don’t bode well for a show I’m watching primarily for the visuals and the chemistry of the lead duo.