Metallic Rouge – 03 – Under the Sheen

Turns out Naomi and Rouge weren’t headed to Wellstown on a lark. Naomi delivers the “id” or core of Viola to a fellow agent and receives a new cybernetic bird in return. Wellstown is also the site of the largest Nean-only settlement on Mars, which is where they hope to find Phantom Verde, their next Immortal Nine target.

The ladies grab a steam bath and Naomi orders a giant crustacean to dig into, when Rouge notices all her chocolate is gone—Naomi gave it to the kids while she was asleep. She gets up to buy more, but Naomi wants her to stay for their strategy meeting. An upset Rouge says she has the right to free will, at which point Naomi calls her a “tool” of Aletheia and a “piece of equipment.” Rouge storms off, and when Naomi tries to call her, she smashes her gold earbud on the ground.

We’ve seen these two thick as thieves, but even the closest couples fight sometimes, and this is unfortunately one of those times. It also creates tension the whole rest of the episode, as I wanted more than anything for them to reunite and make up. In the meantime, while defending a Nean boy from jackbooted thugs calling themselves police, Rouge ends up with a way into the restricted settlement.

That way is provided by Dr. Afdal, who thanks her for helping his assistant by telling the police she’s with him. Not only is the doctor human, but he’s not above bribing the cops with Nectar. As we learn observing one of his terminal patients, at some point in a Nean’s life even Nectar isn’t enough.

The settlement is basically a Nean ghetto, with spartan accommodations, limited resources, and a dearth of light and color. Dr. Afdal is someone who deals with Neans in all states of disrepair every day and seems resigned to it, for even these Neans have it better than the wretched legions slowly terraforming Venus at great cost.

Rouge’s presence in the settlement soon gets around to the CFN, or Council of Free Neans, of whom Huey, the Nean from the truck, is a member. They’re led by Juval, a permanent child originally built for those who couldn’t have children. Their Wellstown settlement was originally designed to be a self-governing home for Neans returning from war against the Usurpers, but their neck has fallen firmly under the humans’ bootheel.

Worst of all, due to the Asimov Code forbidding harm to humans, a true resistance is impossible for the vast majority of Neans. Their only hope is the more humanlike Alters, of whom Rouge is one. It looks like Juval wants Rouge to join the CFN as their great red hope, but he gives her some time to think it over.

The next time Rouge is summoned by Juval, it’s at a suspiciously abandoned building where she finds him lying dead in a pool of blood. Just then Naomi finally locates Rouge with her bird, but they can’t make up yet; the situation is too volatile. Three CFN members arrive and see Juval, whom Naomi declares a “big fish.”

One of them, Dumas, believes they should keep the death quiet lest the human police get involved, but as we see at WPD headquarters, a force is already being dispatched there, which means this was clearly some kind of setup. Who is behind it, and why they’re involving Rouge, remains to be seen.

Dr. Afdal, whom I left the episode thinking might be Phantom Verde, believes it’s not a simple matter of granting Neans freedom. They were made in man’s image, which means like man, mere freedom will never be enough. Eventually, some, perhaps many will want revenge, most likely leading to another bloody war.

We’ll see if Rouge and Naomi can prevent that, and if Naomi can do some growing up and apologize for the ugly words she said to Rouge, which ended up informing so much of what Rouge went on to see. Perhaps some chocolate bars will help smooth things over.

Metallic Rouge – 02 – The Stairs to Adulthood

Metallic Rouge swaps the Blade Runner aesthetic for the sparser, dustier Mad Max as Naomi and Rouge book a commercial transport across the Martian wastes to Welltown. Among the other passengers is a wealthy couple with a Nean servant, a journalist named Jill with an optical camera, and a granny with two bickering young siblings.

Naomi kills two cyberbirds with one stone, providing exposition for us while entertaining the kids with knowledge about the hulking spaceships half-buried in the sands they pass by, which were part of a war between humanity and evil “Usurper” aliens, which are different from friendly “Visitor” aliens.

Apparently neither Naomi nor Rouge believed anyone would be hunting them after their hijinks last week, otherwise they would have traveled alone. Instead, when three mercenary tanks attack and board the truck, Rouge climbs out of her hiding spot to dispatch them before they hurt any innocent people.

No matter the situation, Naomi and Rouge have an MCU-like playful bonhomie about their banter. Rouge negotiates Naomi’s unrealistic estimate for taking care of the baddies down to 90 seconds, but does it in 120. Meanwhile, the kids’ granny shows off her skills as a retired driver.

They manage to lose the mercs in a forest, making for a sudden change of environment, atmosphere, and palette. While Naomi heads to a military site with the driver to find parts to repair the truck, Rouge stays behind with the others.

Seeing that the little sister Emily is told by her brother she’s too little to take good pics, Rouge helps her find something neat to photograph. Unfortunately in the process Emily accidentally activates a “Cylinderhead” giant alien killbot from the war. Whoops!

When the mercs show up and fire at the killbot, their shot bounces off its shields, and it returns fire with a hell-beam that cleaves their tanks in two. The bot apparently has a taste for blood, so it doesn’t stop its rampage once all of the mercs are destroyed. Instead, it targets the truck full of civilians.

Knowing she’s the only one who can save the passengers, Rouge transforms into her battle mode (a very cool sequence, btw) and engages the bot, which soon becomes more than one bot. No matter, she picks one up and throws it at the other, blowing them both up.

While the truck looks awfully close to the gigantic blast, it doesn’t seem to suffer any damage. I really dug the pulsing choral and breakbeat-studded music that accompanied this confidently storyboarded and animated battle. Also notable is that Rogue’s battle mode is not CGI but traditionally animated. The effort and artistry is appreciated.

All’s well that ends well, with Rouge independently choosing to save the day (no orders from Naomi), and even giving some of her precious chocolate to Emily as a reward for snapping some cool photos. It’s on to Wellstown, unless next week’s episode picks up somewhere else entirely, and Rouge (at least in her red battle mode) is still being pursued by an investigator named Ash. Whatever trouble she and Naomi end up in, I’m sure they’ll try to keep things light and breezy.

Metallic Rouge – 01 (First Impressions) – The Colors, Children!

On a terraformed, cosmopolitan Mars of the distant future, there are still nightclubs with sultry singers in gowns and long gloves. One such singer is Sarah Fitzgerald, and the less glamorous but cute Rouge (Miyamoto Yume) works for her. In this world, humans and “Neans” or androids coexist, but it’s super clear who the Neans are, because their skin is embedded with seams and circuits.

I assumed Rouge was just a human until she goes home and injects herself with the same Nectar as the more overt Neans at the club (Neans need Nectar to keep functioning). She just happens to be a more advanced model that can pass for a human. That, along with the cyberpunky neo-noir setting, calls to mind the replicants of Blade Runner, never a bad thing.

Rouge’s supporter/handler, Naomi Orthmann (Kurosawa Tomoyo, eff yeah) initially maintains communication via a robotic bird, but when the bird is destroyed she meets with her in person. While Naomi may actually be human, the singer Sarah is also a advanced Nean in disguise, and she’s attacked by a robotic “red gladiator” that is later shown involved in murders.

There’s also Jeron (Yoshino Hiroyuki), a very theatrical dude in Lennon glasses trying to get his hands on a large shipment of Nectar. Jeron and Sarah know each other from way back, and the latter warns the former while in a confession booth that Rouge may be a plant up to no good.  Sarah arranges to meet with Rouge, then takes her somewhere secluded.

When it becomes clear a fight is about to go down, Rouge makes ready, only to be accosted by the red gladiator and tossed a long distance. She’s fine, and returns in that same red gladiator form: turns out that’s her battle config and Jeron possesses the ability to mimic other Neans’ forms.

Sarah also reveals her battle mode and real name, Purgatory Viola, and they have themselves a robo-rumble. Jeron and Sarah’s models reminded me of Gatchaman, while Rouge’s closely resembles Asuka’s Eva-02, which is probably not an accident.

Rouge ends up winning, and  Naomi gives her a chocolate bar as a reward (it’s Rouge’s go-to-food). Sarah and Jeron are two of the “Immortal Nine”, elite Neans who aren’t subject to Asimov’s laws and thus may harm humans. Rouge and Naomi are charged with taking them out, so I suppose it’s one down, eight to go.

Bones celebrates its 25th anniversary by sparing no expense with the production. Virtually everybody and everything looks and sounds hella slick and cool while color, light, and camerawork are utilized expertly to immerse the viewer in the coolness. The eye and ear candy is so satisfying I almost don’t mind the super-simple and derivative plot, but I’m sure our pair of Nine-hunters will encounter some complications.

Koimonogatari – 04

Kaiki finds a note reading “Stay out of it” on the floor of his hotel room. He flushes it and calls Senjougahara, reporting on his encounter with Ononoki and Gaen’s warning. The conversation evolves to a discussion of whether anyone is aware of Senjougahara’s contact with him, then Senjougahara warns him about visiting Nadeko too much, lest he become “charmed” by her; he considers scaling back his visits. The next day he gives Nadeko an offering of ¥20,000, more string, and a bottle of Sake, which she accepts. When he leaves the shrine he encounters Hanekawa, who is back from overseas to exchange. They share a cab back to the city and meet in her hotel room to exchange information.

In case there was any doubt, this episode makes it abundantly, cymbol-crashingly clear: we’re dealing with noir here. He may not wear a hat or smoke a cig, but Kaiki is every bit the cynical, trench-coated, hardboiled private dick, while Senjougahara is the Damsel in Distress. The overarching mystery to be solved? How to keep her and Araragi alive. In this regard, Nadeko is the mob boss Senjougahara owes, big time, while Gaen represents the commissioner warning him to stop snooping around her town, while Ononoki being her beat cop liason. Finally we have Hanekawa: while she may not carry herself like a femme fatale, we know from her striped hair and troubled past that that’s kinda what she is.

What made this episode and the arc in general so enjoyable is that it pays homage to those historic, timeless archetypes while putting a decidedly Monogatari twist on them. Indeed, it’s twisting them into a cat’s cradle; something of a very precise pattern and structure; every movement fussed over. Kaiki’s call to Senjougahara is sumptuously decorated by the constantly changing colors on Kaiki’s phone, the undulating patterns on the floor and walls, and the dazzling city outside. Dotted with natural gas flares and sporting a giant LCD panel showing Senjougahara performing very familiar movements, things get very Los Angeles 2019…”Kaiki Deishu” even sounds kinda like an anagram of “Rick Deckard”. Will we get the abruptly happy ending the financiers pushed for here as well?

Rating: 8 (Great)

Stray Observations:

• Kaiki’s shower requires comfort with one’s own body, as it displays it for all to see, as rich people’s showers tend to do.
• Not sure we’ve mentioned this before, but we love Kaiki’s notebook is full of chibi diagrams. The art style is identical to the Bakemonogatari next episode previews, the Fire Sisters’ first appearance.
• Kaiki pulls a Catherine Tramell in Hanekawa’s room.
• We never did find out what was in Nadeko’s closet, while this week we don’t figure out exactly what Hanekawa has to say.
• A couple more references: Kaiki’s red sports car in the OP is very Magnum P.I., while Tokyo is lit much like Neo-Tokyo in Akira.
• Another nod to black-and-white of film noir: Tsubasa’s B&W hair.